Amber Ale

[Starwalker]

Hello there! I'm intending to brew some Amber Ale for upcoming cold winter. I'm still not very experienced homebrewer, so I'd be glad for your opinions and imrovements of this recipe. I'm not sure especially with the grain bill and the amount of hops added for aroma and in whirlpool. ipe:
Many thanks and happy brewing!

Amber Ale
Batch size 31,5 l (3,8 gal)
OG 1,057 (14°)
IBU ~45
SRM 13

Grain
68,5 % Pilsner malt 5,19 kg (11,4 lb)
15 % Munich malt 1,14 kg (2,5 lb)
8 % CaraAmber (Crystal) 0,61 kg (1,35 lb)
8 % Melanoidin (Victory) 0,61 kg (1,35 lb)
0,5 % Carafa Spezial 3 (roasted malt) 0,038 kg (0,084 lb)

Hops - boil
Nugget 60 min. boil (31,2 IBU) 42 g (1,5 oz)
Cascade 30 min. boil (6,9 IBU) 35 g (1,24 oz)
Willamette 10 min. boil (4,0 IBU) 40 g (1,4 oz)
Cascade 10 min. boil (3,7 IBU) 40 g (1,4 oz)

Hops - added to whirlpool at 80° C
Nugget 23 g (0,8 oz)
Willamette 35 g (1,2 oz)

Yeast
Safale US-05 (2× 11 g pack)

 

[Pappers_]

Hello there! I'm intending to brew some Amber Ale for upcoming cold winter. I'm still not very experienced homebrewer, so I'd be glad for your opinions and imrovements of this recipe. I'm not sure especially with the grain bill and the amount of hops added for aroma and in whirlpool. ipe:
Many thanks and happy brewing!

Amber Ale
Batch size 31,5 l (3,8 gal)
OG 1,057 (14°)
IBU ~45
SRM 13

Grain
68,5 % Pilsner malt 5,19 kg (11,4 lb)
15 % Munich malt 1,14 kg (2,5 lb)
8 % CaraAmber (Crystal) 0,61 kg (1,35 lb)
8 % Melanoidin (Victory) 0,61 kg (1,35 lb)
0,5 % Carafa Spezial 3 (roasted malt) 0,038 kg (0,084 lb)

Hops - boil
Nugget 60 min. boil (31,2 IBU) 42 g (1,5 oz)
Cascade 30 min. boil (6,9 IBU) 35 g (1,24 oz)
Willamette 10 min. boil (4,0 IBU) 40 g (1,4 oz)
Cascade 10 min. boil (3,7 IBU) 40 g (1,4 oz)

Hops - added to whirlpool at 80° C
Nugget 23 g (0,8 oz)
Willamette 35 g (1,2 oz)

Yeast
Safale US-05 (2× 11 g pack)

Looks good. I'd consider moving the 30 minute hops to 20 minutes (a flavor addition) and one of the 10 minute additions to 5 minutes (accentuate aroma). This would also drop your overall IBUs a little - probably inot the upper 30s (but I would need to run the numbers through the softward to be sure), which is a nice spot for an Amber Ale.

Also, I don't think there's anything wrong with using Pilsner, for a beer like this, I would consider going with two-row or pale malt. Its more standard for the style, in any case.

Either way, this should be a nice beer! Let us know how it turns out!

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

I'd recommend back off on the bittering , style guidelines for IBU are 25-40 (with a mean of ~32-33). You don't want hop bittering stepping on those nice caramel flavors.
This is from the Beersmith style description.
An amber, hoppy, moderate-strength American craft beer with a caramel malty flavor. The balance can vary quite a bit, with some versions being fairly malty and others being aggressively hoppy. Hoppy and bitter versions should not have clashing flavors with the caramel malt profile.

I do an all-Cascade Amber that is hopped like this (10 gal):
2oz @60
1.5oz@15
1.5oz @0
1oz dry hop 7 days
(total IBUs 30)

I too feel it would be more authentic with 2-row, but may be very nice with pilsner as well.

 

[Starwalker]

Many thanks for all suggestions. I'll definitely alter time of the hops addition (Cascade 20 minute boil, Willamette 5 minute boil) and reduce the amout of Nugget bittering hop to 37 g (1,3 g). This should move IBU somewhere close 39 (ok, it's still high for an true amber ale, but I'd like to try it, because I'm little bit hop freak. )

I'll let know, how it turns out.

The situation about 2-row vs. pisner is so, that here (Czech republic) is hard to get true american style 2-row or classic pale malt . They're offering pilsner or pale ALE malt, which I've learned (hopefully correctly) is something slightly different. But we'll see. Pilsner malt should add the beer more crispier taste, what wouldn't be bad at all.

 

[Pappers_]

. . . .

They're offering pilsner or pale ALE malt, which I've learned (hopefully correctly) is something slightly different.

I didn't know you were in the Czech Republic, very cool. Its great to have members from all over the world here at HBT.

FWIW, at least here in the US, I believe pale ale malt is two-row, just kilned a wee bit more than what is sold as two-row.

 

[GrimBrewer]

Second on reducing IBUs. I either hop at 60min or under 15min. If you are a hop freak....then longer than 15min is not worth it.

You dont have to use 2row. If its munich I aka light, increase that a bit more to add a extra bit of malt. But i guess it comes down to what you want. Maltier vs sweeter vs hopier.