Amber Ale recipe question

[BrewBoy19]

So I bought supplies to make a simple Ale.
Heres they basic recipe:

4.5 lbs amber DME
1.5 oz cascade hops (60min)
.5 oz williamette hops(finish)
english ale yeast

first question is : I have never used DME do I just bring water to bail then add it?

Question 2 is : I bought 1 oz of cascade and 1 oz of williamette. Can I just add .5 oz of the williamette to the cascade to make it 1.5 oz?

will this affect the flavor adversely?

This caused me to have another noob question : Are certain hops used more for adding bitterness vs. aroma (finishing)? If so is there a chart or list of this?

I have the Joy of home brewing book and I know theres a hops chart in it i just don't remember if it talks about one hops being used for finishing instead of boiling etc.....

 

[mixedbrewer]

Low acid hops are generally used for finishing (aroma and flavor). High acid hops are usually used to bitter. As far as combining hops, you can do it however you would like. It will affect the taste and how it turns out, but it wouldn't be too different seeing you dont have much bittering going on there.

Looking at your recipe and seeing 4.5 DME... is that for 5 gallons? You might want to add a little something to that otherwise it might be a little on the light side.

 

[dmfa200]

Check out this recipe kit from Midwest.
This was one of my favorites when I was doing extract brewing.
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/sierra-pale-ale-sierra-nevada.html
It does not taste anything like Sierra Nevada, but it was darn good.

 

[BrewBoy19]

Yeah I got the recipe out of the joy of home brewing. Its just supposed to be a light Pale Ale. A buddy of mine wants to try to get into Home brewing so I wanted to do a simple recipe that was very fool proof and would turn out good. This one seems simple I just never have used DME before I always used syrup and/or some specialty grains etc...

 

[WrongCoastBrewery]

Low acid hops are generally used for finishing (aroma and flavor). High acid hops are usually used to bitter. As far as combining hops, you can do it however you would like. It will affect the taste and how it turns out, but it wouldn't be too different seeing you dont have much bittering going on there.

Looking at your recipe and seeing 4.5 DME... is that for 5 gallons? You might want to add a little something to that otherwise it might be a little on the light side.

You generally use less DME compared to LME when making a recipe. For example, 5lbs of Amber DME in a full boil of 5.73 gallons (5 gallon batch) will get you a ~ SG of 1.044. The same weight of Amber LME in the same volume of water will get you a SG of ~1.034. But I do agree he needs to add some specialty grains for color and gravity.

 

[BrewBoy19]

any suggestions then?

 

[Irisndfan2]

i just brewed an amber and I used crystal 40L and crystal 120L, as well as Victory malt and two row

 

[Malticulous]

For a amber I'd steep some crystal malt. There is some in the amber DME but to be to style you need a little more.

I recommend entering your recipe at hopville.com. Make sure to enter the average boil volume. Use Ranger for IBU calculations. It works better with partial boils. It will give you a better idea of how it will come out.

I would add the DME to the hot water right after pulling any steeping grains. Stir it in well and then tuen up the heat.

 

[logan3825]

I have made this Amber ale a couple times. It has 2 oz. Special B, 8 oz. Crystal 80L, and 2 oz. Roasted Barley.