I had recently brewed an extract (with steeping grains) Amber Ale for a ski trip (5 gallons gone in less than 48 hours) and it was a hit among both BMC fans as well as Micro/Homebrew fans. I've been toying with the idea of doubling it and lagering for a long time and would appreciate any thoughts on it - here is the recipe.
1# Wheat Malt (steeping grain)
1# Munich Malt (steeping grain)
12# Amber Malt Extract
1 oz Cluster (60 Min)
1 oz Northern Brewer (60 min)
1 oz Mt Hood (5 min)
1 oz Hallertauer (5 min)
Irish moss (15 min)
* the four different hops is from what I have - origional recipe was just cluster and mt hood
60 min boil,
primary for 14 days (or until fermentation has leveled off which ever is longer)
secondary at 33 degrees for 60 days re-rack off yeast into clean keg, carb, and enjoy.
My questions are is 30 days lagering enough for this Ale? I don't want it to taste like rocket fuel, but I would like something clean, strong, and smooth - any ideas on the lagering - it really cleaned/cleared up the "single version" and would hope it would do the same for the "double version" but at the same time I want something that will be quite strong, a little heavier wouldn''t but if it all fermented out thats ok too.
What I'm afraid of is jet fuel that I have holding up in a keg for 10 months.
Any thoughts, additions, changes, etc would be appreciated.
-edit- what yeast would you suggest, I was planning on a large starter, but origional recipe used general run of the mill dry ale yeast - obviously need a liquid yeast (preferably white labs) that can handle all this work.
1# Wheat Malt (steeping grain)
1# Munich Malt (steeping grain)
12# Amber Malt Extract
1 oz Cluster (60 Min)
1 oz Northern Brewer (60 min)
1 oz Mt Hood (5 min)
1 oz Hallertauer (5 min)
Irish moss (15 min)
* the four different hops is from what I have - origional recipe was just cluster and mt hood
60 min boil,
primary for 14 days (or until fermentation has leveled off which ever is longer)
secondary at 33 degrees for 60 days re-rack off yeast into clean keg, carb, and enjoy.
My questions are is 30 days lagering enough for this Ale? I don't want it to taste like rocket fuel, but I would like something clean, strong, and smooth - any ideas on the lagering - it really cleaned/cleared up the "single version" and would hope it would do the same for the "double version" but at the same time I want something that will be quite strong, a little heavier wouldn''t but if it all fermented out thats ok too.
What I'm afraid of is jet fuel that I have holding up in a keg for 10 months.
Any thoughts, additions, changes, etc would be appreciated.
-edit- what yeast would you suggest, I was planning on a large starter, but origional recipe used general run of the mill dry ale yeast - obviously need a liquid yeast (preferably white labs) that can handle all this work.