American Amber Ale Help

[Bricemkk]

Decided to try to brew an American Amber Ale. I'm going to the LHBS this weekend and need help finishing this recipe. Im having issue with selecting hops to use. In my head I want a sweet malty beer with hints of fruity flowery hop flavor.

So far I have my extract malt and grain build.

MALT ADDITION
6lbs - Amber DME
1lb - Honey

GRAINS
1lb Crystal 60L
.5lb Munich 20L
.5lb Carafoam

This gives me a OG of 1.058 and FG of 1.012 for an ABV right at 6%

Now I need help on hops trying to keep IBUs in the 30s. I will also take an advice on the Malts and grains listed above if you see something totally wrong.

 

[JimRausch]

IMO you can't do much better with an American Amber than Denny's Waldo Lake Amber. Northern brewer carries the kit(or at least they did) and the recipe is listed. But if I remember correctly, that recipe uses Cascade and Centennial which will give you a more classic West coast hoppiness. For flowery hoppiness I would use Noble hops instead- Hallertau, Hersbrucker, Tettanger, Perle, something like that. Or for American hops- Liberty, Mt. Hood, there's probably others I can't think of now. Fruity hoppiness- maybe Citra, or Azacca, or one of the New Zealand varieties.
Well I gave you plenty of choices. Confusing choices maybe, but you can look them up and see what might fit your profile. Good Luck!

 

[mirthfuldragon]

I may be going a different direction, but when I think "fruity", I think Belgian yeast esters. The pound of honey seems to go along with the Belgian practice of using candi sugar as well. I've also been on a major Belgian kick lately, so take that for what it is worth. For a fruity amber, I would go with a netural bittering hop for IBUs (like a smidgen of Magnum or Brewer's Gold), then Styrian Goldings in the last 5-10 min, then try to ferment on the warm side with a Belgian abbey or Trappist yeast.

Moving away from Belgians:
Glacier hops also give fruity characteristics. Galaxy, Huell Melon, and Moasaic are also nice. For a floral amber without the fruityness, Cascade is classic and most other "c" hops would work.

 

[Bricemkk]

IMO you can't do much better with an American Amber than Denny's Waldo Lake Amber. Northern brewer carries the kit(or at least they did) and the recipe is listed. But if I remember correctly, that recipe uses Cascade and Centennial which will give you a more classic West coast hoppiness. For flowery hoppiness I would use Noble hops instead- Hallertau, Hersbrucker, Tettanger, Perle, something like that. Or for American hops- Liberty, Mt. Hood, there's probably others I can't think of now. Fruity hoppiness- maybe Citra, or Azacca, or one of the New Zealand varieties.
Well I gave you plenty of choices. Confusing choices maybe, but you can look them up and see what might fit your profile. Good Luck!

I may be going a different direction, but when I think "fruity", I think Belgian yeast esters. The pound of honey seems to go along with the Belgian practice of using candi sugar as well. I've also been on a major Belgian kick lately, so take that for what it is worth. For a fruity amber, I would go with a netural bittering hop for IBUs (like a smidgen of Magnum or Brewer's Gold), then Styrian Goldings in the last 5-10 min, then try to ferment on the warm side with a Belgian abbey or Trappist yeast.

Moving away from Belgians:
Glacier hops also give fruity characteristics. Galaxy, Huell Melon, and Moasaic are also nice. For a floral amber without the fruityness, Cascade is classic and most other "c" hops would work.

Thank you both for responses right now I think I'll use:

1oz Centennial 60mins
1oz glacier 15mins
1oz glacier at flame out

No dry hops since I don't want it real hoppy.

Centennial as bittering hop isnt gonna be over powering. Glacier should give hints of berry and I think it be great with using the Northwest Ale 1332 yeast.

Still open to new suggestions since I have little experience.

 

[mirthfuldragon]

Thank you both for responses right now I think I'll use:

1oz Centennial 60mins
1oz glacier 15mins
1oz glacier at flame out

[...]

Centennial as bittering hop isnt gonna be over powering. Glacier should give hints of berry and I think it be great with using the Northwest Ale 1332 yeast.

Still open to new suggestions since I have little experience.

1oz Centennial at 60min boil is 47 IBU by itself. With the Glacier at 15 and 0 min, you are at 57 IBU - so relatively hoppy for an amber. IMO the centennial is going to blow away the rest of the beer. Cutting to 1/2 oz Centennial at 60 drops it to 34 IBU (with the Glacier additions). Going to 1oz Cascade at 60min yields about the same, and 1/2 oz Cascade at 60 drops to 24 IBU.

Consider using a calculator like Brewer's Friend so you can get an idea of IBUs. Brewer's Friend has a good free option to play with.

Your honey addition to the boil is not going to add any sweetness or "honey" flavor - the yeast eat that completely. If you want honey notes, consider a pound or two of honey malt instead. Alternatively, use the honey in primary after high krausen; then at least some of the honey flavor will stick around. And don't use good honey during the boil - it won't show through much different from table sugar at that stage.

 

[Bricemkk]

1oz Centennial at 60min boil is 47 IBU by itself. With the Glacier at 15 and 0 min, you are at 57 IBU - so relatively hoppy for an amber. IMO the centennial is going to blow away the rest of the beer. Cutting to 1/2 oz Centennial at 60 drops it to 34 IBU (with the Glacier additions). Going to 1oz Cascade at 60min yields about the same, and 1/2 oz Cascade at 60 drops to 24 IBU.

Consider using a calculator like Brewer's Friend so you can get an idea of IBUs. Brewer's Friend has a good free option to play with.

Your honey addition to the boil is not going to add any sweetness or "honey" flavor - the yeast eat that completely. If you want honey notes, consider a pound or two of honey malt instead. Alternatively, use the honey in primary after high krausen; then at least some of the honey flavor will stick around. And don't use good honey during the boil - it won't show through much different from table sugar at that stage.

I been using that calculator and for a 5.5 gallon batch with a 3 gallon boil. I get 1 oz of centennial to be 20.87 @60min

Honey is just there cause it's readily available and free for me and it's just like adding 1lb of dry pale malt. I know no sweetness from it will be in final product

 

[mirthfuldragon]

I been using that calculator and for a 5.5 gallon batch with a 3 gallon boil. I get 1 oz of centennial to be 20.87 @60min

Honey is just there cause it's readily available and free for me and it's just like adding 1lb of dry pale malt. I know no sweetness from it will be in final product

That explains it. Boil volume effects hop utilization. We're both right - at a 6.5g boil volume, 5.5g net, 1oz Centennial yields 34 IBU, and with a partial volume boil, it yields less. An ounce of centennial in an amber still seems like a lot to me though.

 

[Bravo8Dex]

American Amber Ale - Gotta be Cascades.