First Recipe: American Amber Ale

[ludomonster]

This is my first recipe that I’ve made from scratch. What do you think? It’s a partial mash.

Cascadian Rhythm
American Amber Ale

OG: 1.053
FG: 1.015
ABV: 5.05%
IBU: 35.43
SRM: 13.69
Assumed Efficiency: 75%
Boil time: 60 minutes
Batch Size: 5.5 Gallons
Boil Size: ~3.25 Gallons

Grain:
4lb American 2-Row
1lb Crystal 80L

Extract:
3lb Light DME (Late)
1lb Amber Candi Sugar (Late)

Hops: (Cascade 7% AA)
1 oz First Wort
1 oz 60 minutes
1 oz Dry Hop

Yeast:
Safale US-05

Infusion Mash in 6.25 qt water at 158F. Ferment at 65F.

Without the Candi Sugar, the SRM is about 10.6. I could also substitute some of the 2-row for Victory, but I would like to keep my ingredient list short.

 

[Hanso]

Give it a shot and post back how it turned out. At a glance that looks more like a pale ale than an amber simply due to the 1 oz of FWH and 60 min, might add quite a bit more than 35 ibu. Also why the high mash temp?

 

[rockfish42]

Also why the high mash temp?

I'm guessing he's trying to keep it from drying out too much with the candi syrup being completely fermentable.
You might consider using munich, biscuit or victory, or some english pale malt in place of the 2-row. Also some hop complexity from blending in a bit of centennial or chinook would be welcome.

 

[ludomonster]

I used the brewer's friend calculator to get the IBU's. From what I understand, first wort hopping is slightly less bitter than a boiled hop addition.

As for the mash temperature, I'm aiming for a medium to medium-full body. Also, the kettle I mash in has a lot of head room, so the temperature will probably drift. I'll probably add a quart of boiling water when it gets to the low-150's.

Also, I looked up the recipe from Brewing Classic Styles and made some changes to mine based on what I saw.

Grain:
3lb 2-row
1 lb Crystal 120L
1 lb Crystal 40L
0.25lb Victory

Hops:
1 oz Cascade FWH, 60 minute boil.
1 oz Chinook, 45 min.
1 oz Cascade, Dry Hopped.

Yeast:
US-05

Brewer's Friend estimates:
Original Gravity: 1.056
Final Gravity: 1.016
ABV (standard): 5.29%
IBU (tinseth): 37.38
SRM (morey): 16.85

 

[ludomonster]

Quick update: I used this hop schedule:

1 oz Chinook (60 min)
1 oz Cascade (1 min)

It's in primary right now. In a week or so, I'm going to split it up and drop 1 oz Simcoe in one of the secondaries to do a side-by-side.

 

[ludomonster]

Here's another update.

I bottled the beers last night.

The Amber Ale without the dry hops tasted pretty good, but the Amber with Simcoe dry hops was awesome.

 

[Hanso]

Did they turn out like a APA or like an amber?

 

[ludomonster]

There's definitely too much color for it to be a pale ale.