What grain can I use to add amber color to an American blond ale?

Looking to take a popular recipe that I brew for an American blond ale and give it an amber color w/o dramaticly changing its taste. Our daughter turns 3 in October and has reddish hair so I would like to brew a redhead ale without using too much crystal malt or amber malt. I was thinking of trying a few oz of midnight wheat, chocolate malt or perhaps black patent malt but I don't want this to affect the taste of the beer too much. Any ideas?

 

Maybe add some carafa during the last minute(s) of the mash

 

you're making a beer for your 3-year old daughter? i'm guessing you're a contributor to that bad parenting skills thread?

but seriously, just take your recipe and throw it into some kind of recipe calculator (one that will give you an idea of the color), and mess around with a small percentage of some high *L crystal or something. if it's a small percentage it should contribute more color than flavor. the carafa idea is pretty good as it's supposed to give off the least amount of flavor for the roasted malts.

 

I have had luck adding a reddish hue to beers with just a couple ounces (depending on recipe) of roasted barley. It isn't enough to have much flavor impact, if any. You can also use Carared, melanoidin, or even C20 to add some red color, but you will have to use more of those lower color malts. If you use BeerSmith or any beer recipe software, check the color with one or more of those malts in your recipe. I'd keep it as simple as possible.

 

Blackprinz, Midnight wheat, or any of the dehusked Carafa malts will give you the most color with the least flavor contribution.

 

Thanks for the ideas everyone. I am going to try some small amounts 2-3 oz in Beersmith to see how the darker malts affect things. I just didn't want to overdo it and have a strong bitter taste from too much darker malt.

 

Carared is also a good option.

 

Put a few drops of brewers caramel in half of the batch.

 

you wont taste 2oz of even somethign as pungent as roasted barley. But Blackprinz and Midnight Wheat are better options since they are darker and de-biterred

 

If you're really, really worried about it, you can also grind the dark malt separately and throw it in towards the end of the mash. But, as many other folks have pointed out, single-digit ounces of anything de-bittered will be very difficult to taste, even if they're in the mash the whole time.

 

You can use even less in the mash if you crush the carafa special 2 really fine...I got some great amber color from less than 2 oz in a Vienna lager...