Amber ale

[Born to be mild]

Feeling nostalgic and thinking about amber ale. Not a style I’ve brewed often, looking for recipe input.
This is what I’ve been thinking.

OG:1.053
FG: 1.012
ABV: 5.4%
IBU:30
SRM: 13.5

80% Superior Pale
8% Dark wheat
7% Crystal 40
3% Victory
2% Chocolate

15g Cascade (whole cone) mash hop
15g Perle (pellet) 60 mins
20g Centennial (pellet) 5 mins
25g Cascade (whole cone) hopback

Escarpment Sterling (Scotch ale/McEwans?)

Any input and advice welcome not a style I’m confident in.

Cheers!

 

[Brewsmith]

That looks about right. Like everything there is some wiggle room but you have the nuts and bolts there. I like to split the crystal malt into a couple different ones, 40 for a little malty sweetness and something darker for some caramel/toffee. I looked up my old amber recipe from way back and it’s this grain bill:

Pale malt 80.9%
Munich 10L 6.4%
Crystal 40 4.3%
Victory 3.2%
Crystal 120 3.2%
Chocolate Malt 2.1%

Hops can vary. Classic C’s work great. I would often go more Willamette/Mt. Hood

Looks solid

 

[Brewsmith]

I even found the old recipe from 2010 here on the site. Talk about being nostalgic, it even has an old Promash recipe report!

Dad’s Amber Ale

The first time I made it, my dad loved it, hence the name. I made it several times. This one apparently won Silver at the 2009 Southern California Regional Championships.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I’ve made this style numerous times and here’s my recipe

Klarstein Mundschenk 30 L​

75% efficiency
Batch Volume: 22 L
Boil Time: 60 min
Mash Water: 22 L
Sparge Water: 8.84 L
Total Water: 30.84 L
Boil Volume: 27.44 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.045

Vitals​

Original Gravity: 1.052
Final Gravity: 1.011
IBU (Tinseth): 36
BU/GU: 0.69
Colour: 16 SRM

Mash​

Temperature — 67 °C — 60 min

Malts (5 kg)​

3.2 kg (64%) — Crisp Finest Maris Otter® Ale Malt — Grain — 3.3 SRM
1 kg (20%) — Crisp Light Munich Malt — Grain — 11 SRM
500 g (10%) — Crisp Amber Malt — Grain — 37 SRM
300 g (6%) — Castle Malting Chateau Special B — Grain — 150 SRM

Hops (65 g)​

15 g (20 IBU) — Belma 11% — Boil — 60 min
25 g (13 IBU) — Centenial 7.3% — Boil — 15 min
25 g (4 IBU) — Centenial 7.3% — Aroma — 20 min hopstand

Yeast is Kveik Voss.

 

[Born to be mild]

That looks about right. Like everything there is some wiggle room but you have the nuts and bolts there. I like to split the crystal malt into a couple different ones, 40 for a little malty sweetness and something darker for some caramel/toffee. I looked up my old amber recipe from way back and it’s this grain bill:

Pale malt 80.9%
Munich 10L 6.4%
Crystal 40 4.3%
Victory 3.2%
Crystal 120 3.2%
Chocolate Malt 2.1%

Hops can vary. Classic C’s work great. I would often go more Willamette/Mt. Hood

Looks solid

Thanks for the advice. I hadn’t even considered going as dark as crystal 120 or Special B as mentioned by Cheshire Cat. My LHBS just got some CaraAroma in recently maybe I’ll try a pinch of that.
Willamette/Mt. Hood combo sounds classy too, I imagine it plays nicely in a malt forward beer.

Cheers to nostalgia!

 

[Born to be mild]

I even found the old recipe from 2010 here on the site. Talk about being nostalgic, it even has an old Promash recipe report!

Dad’s Amber Ale

The first time I made it, my dad loved it, hence the name. I made it several times. This one apparently won Silver at the 2009 Southern California Regional Championships.

Brewsmith. That’s so funny because whenever I brew something with a chunk of Munich in the grist my wife always remarks that it tastes like “dad beer.”
I’m actually quite impressed with her palate because she picks up on it consistently.

 

[Born to be mild]

I’ve made this style numerous times and here’s my recipe

Klarstein Mundschenk 30 L​

75% efficiency
Batch Volume: 22 L
Boil Time: 60 min
Mash Water: 22 L
Sparge Water: 8.84 L
Total Water: 30.84 L
Boil Volume: 27.44 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.045

Vitals​

Original Gravity: 1.052
Final Gravity: 1.011
IBU (Tinseth): 36
BU/GU: 0.69
Colour: 16 SRM

Mash​

Temperature — 67 °C — 60 min

Malts (5 kg)​

3.2 kg (64%) — Crisp Finest Maris Otter® Ale Malt — Grain — 3.3 SRM
1 kg (20%) — Crisp Light Munich Malt — Grain — 11 SRM
500 g (10%) — Crisp Amber Malt — Grain — 37 SRM
300 g (6%) — Castle Malting Chateau Special B — Grain — 150 SRM

Hops (65 g)​

15 g (20 IBU) — Belma 11% — Boil — 60 min
25 g (13 IBU) — Centenial 7.3% — Boil — 15 min
25 g (4 IBU) — Centenial 7.3% — Aroma — 20 min hopstand

Yeast is Kveik Voss.

Hi Cheshire Cat. Thanks for the advice. After trying to crack a really satisfying best bitter recipe for ridiculous amount of time I started using amber malt (not super easy to get in Canada) and it’s right where I want it.
Interesting to see that you’re fermenting with Voss. Do you use it in a lot of styles?
Personally I always use Sterling (Scotch Ale) for American styles and West Yorkshire for British styles.

I’ve recently found myself feeling wistful about craft styles of yore. Amber, American brown, black IPA, hoppy pale ales sticky with rye and crystal malts (red?) Guess I should get brewing!

Cheers!

 

[Brewsmith]

Thanks for the advice. I hadn’t even considered going as dark as crystal 120 or Special B as mentioned by Cheshire Cat. My LHBS just got some CaraAroma in recently maybe I’ll try a pinch of that.
Willamette/Mt. Hood combo sounds classy too, I imagine it plays nicely in a malt forward beer.

Cheers to nostalgia!

When I think of a good amber Ale, it should have a good malt backbone, some toasty, bread crusty, or nutty notes, some caramel or toffee, and maybe even a hint of coffee or chocolate.

The beauty of this style is that it is wide open to arrive at these flavors from different directions.

You can approach this from the American version, from a more British Bitter angle, German Alt, and even from a Belgian slant.

Malts with more character like Vienna, Munich, and Amber can all work in bringing depth to the malt character.

Biscuit, Victory, aromatic and other higher kilned malts really add the toasty and bread crust notes. Even higher kilned malts like pale chocolate, chocolate, and even roasted barley add color but also add to the deep toasted flavors.

The crystal malts allow you to dial in the sweeter flavors to match. From sweetness at C20, honey around C40, caramel and toffee notes at 60 through 90 and into raisin, plum, molasses, and burnt sugar through 120, 150, and Special B.

The trick with this style is that it can’t be a kitchen sink beer. Throw it all in and it’s a muddy mess. Pick a base malt flavor, some kind of toast character, some amount of sweet/caramel note, and something to get the color where you want it.

I could say just as much about the hops, but the short is pick a lane and stay in it. You can go citrus, flowery, herbal, spicy, or piney, but you can’t have them all at once.

You look like you’re on track for a great beer. I want to know how it turns out. Cheers.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Hi Cheshire Cat. Thanks for the advice. After trying to crack a really satisfying best bitter recipe for ridiculous amount of time I started using amber malt (not super easy to get in Canada) and it’s right where I want it.
Interesting to see that you’re fermenting with Voss. Do you use it in a lot of styles?
Personally I always use Sterling (Scotch Ale) for American styles and West Yorkshire for British styles.

I’ve recently found myself feeling wistful about craft styles of yore. Amber, American brown, black IPA, hoppy pale ales sticky with rye and crystal malts (red?) Guess I should get brewing!

Cheers!

No I don’t use Kveik yeast much at all, I had some a few years back and used it on American Amber and I liked the taste so stuck to using it for that beer only.

 

[Born to be mild]

No I don’t use Kveik yeast much at all, I had some a few years back and used it on American Amber and I liked the taste so stuck to using it for that beer only.

Could just be me but the only Voss I’ve made really good beer with is the Yeast Bay strain. I’ve tried a couple of other offerings but none of them have the same citrus zippiness as the YB one.

 

[Born to be mild]

When I think of a good amber Ale, it should have a good malt backbone, some toasty, bread crusty, or nutty notes, some caramel or toffee, and maybe even a hint of coffee or chocolate.

The beauty of this style is that it is wide open to arrive at these flavors from different directions.

You can approach this from the American version, from a more British Bitter angle, German Alt, and even from a Belgian slant.

Malts with more character like Vienna, Munich, and Amber can all work in bringing depth to the malt character.

Biscuit, Victory, aromatic and other higher kilned malts really add the toasty and bread crust notes. Even higher kilned malts like pale chocolate, chocolate, and even roasted barley add color but also add to the deep toasted flavors.

The crystal malts allow you to dial in the sweeter flavors to match. From sweetness at C20, honey around C40, caramel and toffee notes at 60 through 90 and into raisin, plum, molasses, and burnt sugar through 120, 150, and Special B.

The trick with this style is that it can’t be a kitchen sink beer. Throw it all in and it’s a muddy mess. Pick a base malt flavor, some kind of toast character, some amount of sweet/caramel note, and something to get the color where you want it.

I could say just as much about the hops, but the short is pick a lane and stay in it. You can go citrus, flowery, herbal, spicy, or piney, but you can’t have them all at once.

You look like you’re on track for a great beer. I want to know how it turns out.

 

[Born to be mild]

When I think of a good amber Ale, it should have a good malt backbone, some toasty, bread crusty, or nutty notes, some caramel or toffee, and maybe even a hint of coffee or chocolate.

The beauty of this style is that it is wide open to arrive at these flavors from different directions.

You can approach this from the American version, from a more British Bitter angle, German Alt, and even from a Belgian slant.

Malts with more character like Vienna, Munich, and Amber can all work in bringing depth to the malt character.

Biscuit, Victory, aromatic and other higher kilned malts really add the toasty and bread crust notes. Even higher kilned malts like pale chocolate, chocolate, and even roasted barley add color but also add to the deep toasted flavors.

The crystal malts allow you to dial in the sweeter flavors to match. From sweetness at C20, honey around C40, caramel and toffee notes at 60 through 90 and into raisin, plum, molasses, and burnt sugar through 120, 150, and Special B.

The trick with this style is that it can’t be a kitchen sink beer. Throw it all in and it’s a muddy mess. Pick a base malt flavor, some kind of toast character, some amount of sweet/caramel note, and something to get the color where you want it.

I could say just as much about the hops, but the short is pick a lane and stay in it. You can go citrus, flowery, herbal, spicy, or piney, but you can’t have them all at once.

You look like you’re on track for a great beer. I want to know how it turns out. Cheers.

I agree with your thoughts on amber ale and what it should be as a style. Like you say there’s a lot of room to be creative but balance is definitely key.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

If you can’t get Amber Malt try Biscuit instead.

 

[Born to be mild]

If you can’t get Amber Malt try Biscuit instead.

I find it sweeter than amber malt. But I have used it and dialed back the crystal malt with success. Having said that, when I can’t find amber which I only use in my bitter I’ve preferred using a smaller amount of brown. It’s not the same of course it just has that slightly drier finish.