American ale recipe

[michaelpeach76]

Does this sound like a disaster?

American Ale:
7 lbs. light lme
12 oz. Crystal Malt 60l
1 oz. Centinnial Hops 9-11 alpha% (boil 60 mins)
½ oz. Centinnial Hops (boil 30 mins)
½ oz. Centinnial Hops (boil 5 mins)
1 oz. Cascade Hops (Dry Hop 1 week)
American ale yeast

According to BrewR:
Bitterness (IBU): 44.4
ABV: 5.4
Color (SRM): 10.0

 

[optimatored]

Looks good to me...go for it!

 

[michaelpeach76]

I've brewed other peoples recipes, but I've never done my own recipe before...this is my first time. Does this sound like a disaster?

American Ale:
7 lbs. light lme
12 oz. Crystal Malt 60l
1 oz. Centinnial Hops 9-11 alpha% (boil 60 mins)
½ oz. Centinnial Hops (boil 30 mins)
½ oz. Centinnial Hops (boil 5 mins)
1 oz. Cascade Hops 4-6 alpha% (Dry Hop 1 week)
American ale yeast

According to BrewR:
Bitterness (IBU): 44.4
ABV: 5.4
Color (SRM): 10.0

 

[Pappers_]

Looks good!

 

[smagee]

Seems reasonable. The Crystal's a bit high for me, considering you'll have a fair amount of it in the extract, but it's not really excessive. I assume this is for a 5 gallon batch.

 

[nilo]

I assume you like a bitter beer. I'm not saying that 44 IBU's is too much, it is actually in the range for an American Pale Ale from BJCP. So if you like that, go for it. If not, reduce your hop additions.

 

[atchinator]

Looks like an American Ale to me.

Given the simplicity of the grain bill, you might consider bringing down the IBU a bit.

hopville.com is a pretty good web site for plugging in the various recipe parameters and setting the style you are aiming for.

 

[Yooper]

Move the 30 minute centennials to 15 minutes, and you've got yourself a beer!

 

[michaelpeach76]

yeah, it's for a 5 gallon batch. And boiling the centennial hops for 15 mins instead of 30 brings the IBU down to 40.3. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Pappers_]

And boiling the centennial hops for 15 mins instead of 30 brings the IBU down to 40.3. Thanks for the feedback.

It will also increase the hop flavor and aroma.

 

[birvine]

I would like it. Do you like beer like this?

B

 

[muthafuggle]

Sounds good to me. If it were my beer I'd move the 30 minute addition to 15 minutes and the 5 minute addition to 1 minute ...aaannd maybe add more cascades or Amarillo to the dry hop- but I'm all about the hops, even in my APAs.

These are only the changes I would make, based on personal preference. Nothing in the world wrong with your recipe, should make a great beer.

 

[michaelpeach76]

Any suggestions for going a bit darker? Maybe 12 oz crystal 120L grain instead of 12 oz. crystal 60L

 

[Yooper]

Any suggestions for going a bit darker? Maybe 12 oz crystal 120L grain instead of 12 oz. crystal 60L

Well, 120L is very "raisiny" tasting and strong. If that's what you want in the flavor, that would work but it wouldn't be very good in my opinion in an APA like this.

You just want a darker color? Or you want something that has hints of darker flavor in it?

 

[michaelpeach76]

Mainly just a darker color.

 

[Yooper]

Did you ever have Bell's Two Hearted Ale? That's sorta what your current recipe resembles. Your current recipe should be a light copper color. It won't be terribly light at all- more like a darker IPA. If you want a darker color, you could add some light flavored dark ingredients (like dehusked special carafa III) but I'd be inclined to have it be "normal".

 

[michaelpeach76]

That sounds like a good color. I'll just have to brew it and see what happens.

 

[Yooper]

If you want an American amber, you could change up the recipe slightly and use a mix of crystal malt- say 8 ounces of 80L and 8 ounces of 40L. An American amber should have some crystal malt sweetness, so you could increase it a bit and use a couple of different kinds. You could easily go to 1.25 pounds of crystal. Maybe even go with .75 pounds of crystal 80L and .50 pounds of crystal 40L.

Your first recipe looks more like an APA, but they do overlap a bit in qualities. An amber will be sweeter with more crystal malt, and still have enough hops to balance that sweetness.

 

[michaelpeach76]

Never even considered making adjustments to the grain. That's cool, I think I'll have fun with this.

 

[michaelpeach76]

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