American Amber Ale...recipe in progress

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discgolfin

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For some reason I have never made an amber ale recipe. Im looking for a american version something like maybe Bells Amber...this is what I have thrown together:

10# 2 row
.75# Crystal 60L
1/2# Munich
1/2# toasted malt
.25 Crystal 120L
.5oz warrier 60 min
.5 oz warrier 20 min
.5 oz Cenntennial and .5 oz Cascade 10 min
.5 oz Cenntennial and .5 oz Cascade 0 min
1.055 OG 44 IBU 12 SRM
s-05 ale yeast
mash 153 keeping fermentation temps low..

This is almost an APA with more crystal malt and a bit of munich for more malt backbone..but with 44 IBU and the late hop additions I am hoping for a hoppy amber ale that is easy drinking..like most amber ales can be..

debating of removing the toasted malt..but figure it will help with both color and mouthfeel..most amber ales have a nice mouthfeel...

thoughts??
J
 
why the 120? i htink you would be good with the 60 and munich, could prob do with out the toasted but it might be good as well. i might move around those hops to get a little more flavor, maybe 40 min instead of 20. just my .02 cents. and i'm getting 58 IBU's with that hop schedule..

i just brewed an amber with 2row, 40, 60, and munich and it is great.
 
defenestrate said:
why the 120? i htink you would be good with the 60 and munich, could prob do with out the toasted but it might be good as well. i might move around those hops to get a little more flavor, maybe 40 min instead of 20. just my .02 cents.

i just brewed an amber with 2row, 40, 60, and munich and it is great.
Click to expand...

I simply used the 120 to get a darker amber color..with 1 # of 60 it was not there..If I bump the 20 to 40 my IBU's would be much higher than I want..how much 60 did u use? 1#?

58 IBU's is a bit high..I have 13.75% chinook and 10 % cenntennial..

thanks for the imput

J
 
discgolfin said:
I simply used the 120 to get a darker amber color..with 1 # of 60 it was not there..If I bump the 20 to 40 my IBU's would be much higher than I want..how much 60 did u use? 1#?

thanks for the imput

J
Click to expand...

10 # 2 row
1# 40
.5 # 60
.25# munich

13.4 SRM

what program are you using? with your original recipe i'm getting much higher IBU's than you and 14.73 SRM vs your 12. is this for 5 gal? what efficiency?
on beertools, i dropped the warrior at 20 and left the .5 oz at 60, and kept the centennial and cascade as you had them and that put it at 41.6 IBU.
using a little more munich and no 120 might help with the color and not be too malty...i'm no expert though just giving some input!
 
10# 2-row
1.25# Crystal 60
.25# Crystal 120
.5# Victory or Munich (Choose one or the other, although I use both in my "Imperial" version :) )

Check out the wiki while finalizing your recipe. NQ3X has a great write up on this style in there. American Amber Ale
 
defenestrate said:
10 # 2 row
1# 40
.5 # 60
.25# munich

13.4 SRM

what program are you using? with your original recipe i'm getting much higher IBU's than you and 14.73 SRM vs your 12. is this for 5 gal? what efficiency?
on beertools, i dropped the warrior at 20 and left the .5 oz at 60, and kept the centennial and cascade as you had them and that put it at 41.6 IBU.
using a little more munich and no 120 might help with the color and not be too malty...i'm no expert though just giving some input!
Click to expand...

Beer Smith 5.5 gallons with 70% eff..sometimes 75..So with what I have I get 44.4 IBU on the dot and 10.5 SRM. Im thinking 60 and 40 L crystal and removing the toasted malt...keeping munich at half pound..

so what do you think 1# 60l and .5# 40L??? thats about 12.4% of the grist crystal malt..

J
 
I don't know why people dink around with inconsequential additions of Munich; it's a BASE malt. I really dig the dry, toasty richness of Munich, so I'd say you could throw a couple pounds at it.

US-05, IME, does a bang-up job of mowing down tons of crystal. I did a 3-gallon batch with 1.75 lbs of crystal and still got 83% attenuation!
 
There are a variety of ways you can approach this.

I'm presuming that, by your hops schedule, you want a hoppy version of the style like Rogue's St Red. If that's what you're after, you need more crystal. When Maier formulated St Red, he used 40 and 60 crystal exclusively. Your OG and IBU are dead on for that beer.

There's another way which I think you'll enjoy more. It's a hybrid of Maier's St Red and Tringali's Atlas Amber. Use the IBU and late-hops schedule you've got - perfect for St Red - and design your grist like Tringali's:

80% Pale Malt
10% 80L Crystal
6% Light Munich
3.5% Carastan (preferred) or 20L Crystal
0.5% Roasted Barley for color

Shoot for an OG ~1.056

In 5.5 gallons, ProMash tells me that's:

10# 2-row
1.25# 80L Crystal
10oz Munich
8 oz Carastan
1 oz Roasted barley

I'm personally a big, big fan of this grist. I've brewed it before, and it's great. With the original hops schedule, it's nicely malt-forward; with yours, it'll be hops-forward but a really cool twist!

Bob
 
NQ3X said:
There are a variety of ways you can approach this.

I'm presuming that, by your hops schedule, you want a hoppy version of the style like Rogue's St Red. If that's what you're after, you need more crystal. When Maier formulated St Red, he used 40 and 60 crystal exclusively. Your OG and IBU are dead on for that beer.

There's another way which I think you'll enjoy more. It's a hybrid of Maier's St Red and Tringali's Atlas Amber. Use the IBU and late-hops schedule you've got - perfect for St Red - and design your grist like Tringali's:

80% Pale Malt
10% 80L Crystal
6% Light Munich
3.5% Carastan (preferred) or 20L Crystal
0.5% Roasted Barley for color

Shoot for an OG ~1.056

In 5.5 gallons, ProMash tells me that's:

10# 2-row
1.25# 80L Crystal
10oz Munich
8 oz Carastan
1 oz Roasted barley

I'm personally a big, big fan of this grist. I've brewed it before, and it's great. With the original hops schedule, it's nicely malt-forward; with yours, it'll be hops-forward but a really cool twist!

Bob
Click to expand...


I'm going for what I have on hand..I do not have 80L or Carastan..

I do think 10# 2 row
1.25 60L Crystal
.5 40L Crystal
.5# Munich

should work good. I could toss 1% rosted barley just to up the color to your version and it would be close..As for using Munich I agree is is a great toasty flavor but Amber ales are more about getting the crystal malt down and that is what I have been playing with. I think I like this grist it ends up 12.5% Crystal malt and thats about what I want it to be..with 44 IBU's it should balance out... thanks for the ideas and thoughts..I could bring the Munich up to 10oz I will think about that one some more....I have it at 4% of grist so maybe bumping that will balance the beer even more.

I have 1.057 OG 12 SRM and 44 IBU Grist ends up 80.5%(2 row), 14%(60L and 40L), 5.5%(Munich)..so from what I have read that should balance out but as you have said be a bit more hop foreward which is what I want...

J
 
discgolfin said:
I'm going for what I have on hand..I do not have 80L or Carastan..

I do think 10# 2 row
1.25 60L Crystal
.5 40L Crystal
.5# Munich

should work good. I could toss 1% rosted barley just to up the color to your version and it would be close..As for using Munich I agree is is a great toasty flavor but Amber ales are more about getting the crystal malt down and that is what I have been playing with. I think I like this grist it ends up 12.5% Crystal malt and thats about what I want it to be..with 44 IBU's it should balance out... thanks for the ideas and thoughts..I could bring the Munich up to 10oz I will think about that one some more....I have it at 4% of grist so maybe bumping that will balance the beer even more.

I have 1.057 OG 12 SRM and 44 IBU Grist ends up 80.5%(2 row), 14%(60L and 40L), 5.5%(Munich)..so from what I have read that should balance out but as you have said be a bit more hop foreward which is what I want...

J
Click to expand...


yeah, i say up the munich a little, maybe 10% of the bill. i used us-05 for my amber and after a month in the primary i dropped from 1052 to 1006, thats 88.5%AA! its going to be a nice, crisp dry hoppy beer.
 
I think you're on to a pretty good beer! :)

I disagree with Defenestrate in that I'd not increase the Munich. IMO, AAA should be Crystal-malt-forward; Munich gives maltiness, but not the crystal/caramel malt notes so crucial to the style.

Cheers,

Bob
 
NQ3X said:
I think you're on to a pretty good beer! :)

I disagree with Defenestrate in that I'd not increase the Munich. IMO, AAA should be Crystal-malt-forward; Munich gives maltiness, but not the crystal/caramel malt notes so crucial to the style.

Cheers,

Bob
Click to expand...


agreed, it is a crystal forward beer, but using a little more munich might help with the body of the beer while not making it too crystal-y. just my in-experienced 2 cents ;)
 
I dug this thread back up as I myself am working on a hoppy American Amber. Somebody posted that they think 58 IBU is too high for an AA but I disagree. Its all about the ratio, but Troegs Nugget Nectar is on of the finest Ambers on the market and falls in at an astounding 93 IBU's! The recipe I formulalted for mine falls in with an OG of 1.058 and 58 IBU's for a 1.000 IBU/SG Ratio. Im looking forward to making and drinking this one.
 

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