American Amber Ale Broken Leg House Amber

[Yooper]

Not to interrupt the discussion, but can anyone suggest a 'toned down' hop amount and schedule for a cleaner tasting, less hop forward, Amber?

Maybe try a "Fat Tire" clone?

If this has "toned down" hops, then the grain has to be toned down as well, as it's all about the balance of malt and hops- so it would be an entirely different recipe and not this one.

 

[jwalk4]

Good suggestion. I like Fat Tire, but I always taste a little biscuit/cookie flavor in it each time I have it (can't get it too often in Ontario). I guess I was looking for a sweeter Amber. Less toasty, maybe?

I still like the grain bill though, maybe I'll just shoot for a lower og, and play with it on beersmith when I get home.

Thanks, Yoop.

 

[burninator]

Maybe try a "Fat Tire" clone?

If this has "toned down" hops, then the grain has to be toned down as well, as it's all about the balance of malt and hops- so it would be an entirely different recipe and not this one.

For the record, @jwalk4, I find this to be a very well-balanced beer. I wouldn't dare mess with the boil additions, but if anything, you might mute the hops by fiddling with the dry hops. I have a friend who bottled some of this beer without dry hops, and, while I thought it missed that slight hoppy boost, it still made a very good amber ale.

 

[jwalk4]

Great to hear.

The grain bill looked undeniably tasty. Thanks for the words o' wisdom.

 

[jwalk4]

So here's how it turned out!

After feeling experimental (and having my kegs kick le' bucket in too short a time), I decided to push this brew to the finish line. Grain to Glass in 10 days! Primary for 7 days (held at 68 for 5 days and ramped up to 72 for 2 days), racked to keg and put straight in fridge, as it chilled I cranked my CO2 to 30 PSI, let it sit for 36 hours. This morning I disconnected my CO2, purged the headspace, then dialed it back to 12 PSI and reconnected. After one foamy half-pour, pic above was the result.

As you probably have already noted, my beer is cloudy as hell even though I used a half tab of whirlfloc. So minus aesthetic points for me.

But the flavor? WOW!

Very crisp, very refreshing, very drinkable beer. This recipe is a winner anyway you look at it.

Two notes that I would consider off flavors, in this particular batch.

1) As expected, my batch is a little too bitter for my tastes in an amber despite the fact that I skipped the dry hop (I didn't want direct hop aroma/flavor). After a mouthfull, I get a dry puckering feeling in the back of my jaw/cheeks. However, the bitterness is made more pronounced by the fact that my OG, and my subsequent FG, came out a little lower than anticipated. I moved recently (new water) and am still tinkering with my new setup (new brew kettle - I didn't boil off as much as anticipated). Had I hit my OG I suspect this beer would turn out even more fabulously, a little more sweetness to balance out the bitter.

2) I used US-05 and fermented at 68 beer temp (I have a thermowell). In the aroma and in the flavor I get a touch, just a taaaaaad bit, of sweet bubblegum. Some people might view this as an off flavor, but I friggen' love it! At this level, the residual sweetness and flavor make this beer very very gulp-able and is reminiscent of Le Trois Brassuers' Amber.

 

[jwalk4]

All gone!

 

[jwalk4]

My face.

Every time I get a like from Yooper.

 

[BowAholic]

brewed this today...sort of-
8.5# Pale Ale
2# Vienna
1# Cara 40
1/2# sugar
1/4# Cara 60
1.5 oz Will. @ 60 minutes
1 oz Will. @ 30 min.
1/2 oz Cascade @ 5 min.
1/2 oz. Cascade @ 1 min.
1/2 oz. Will. @ Flameout
LOTS of US-05 slurry @ 67*

1/2 oz Will. and 1/2 oz Cascade Dry Hop @ 5 days before kegging

OG was 1.072

 

[eelgerg]

This is a LATE post, as I brewed this beer about 9 months ago, but I have to post my results.

First of all, I pretty well copied the recipe, with the exception that I used Citra for dry-hopping. After a grassy first month, this beer really hit its stride after a month in the keg. It was WOW good. I really liked the bitterness (I probably used more wilamette than was called for). If anything this could have used a tad more maltiness, but overall I was very very pleased with the end product. Looking to brew a northwest Pale Ale as my next beer, and I considered this to set a high bar to compare against. Too bad I finished my last pint about a week ago!

Thanks Yooper!

 

[Biscuits]

In the original recipe there is a remark about the water profile but no data given. What was the brewing water profile for this beer?

 

[BowAholic]

I love Bell's 2 Hearted... Centennial hops is a favorite of mine. I have this Bell's Amber in the fermenter and I'm thinking about some Centennial in the dry hop... ???

 

[Eoghanie]

I know this is a way old thread but just brewed this recipe recently and it's the best beer I've ever made. So well balanced. It's amazing. Cheers Yoop!

 

[burninator]

I just remembered it's been over a year since I last brewed this beer. Time to correct that!

 

[nktsvls]

I'm brewing this beer today, can't wait to see the results! I converted the recipe to a partial mash recipe, but everything is exactly the same. Just substituted some LME for some of the 2 row. The cascade pellets I picked up are about 3 points higher in AA, but since they aren't being used for bittering I kept the hop schedule the same. I don't think the slight bump in IBU will be too of a deal. Recipe:

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 4.39 gal
Post Boil Volume: 3.39 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.050 SG
Estimated Color: 16.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 35.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 65.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
2 lbs 2.4 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 22.1 %
2 lbs 0.8 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 2 21.1 %
1 lbs 5.4 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 3 13.8 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 4 10.3 %
1.50 oz Willamette [4.80 %] - First Wort 60.0 mi Hop 5 26.1 IBUs
3 lbs 3.0 oz Pale Liquid Extract (6.0 SRM) Extract 6 32.8 %
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 7 -
1.00 oz Willamette [4.80 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 8 5.7 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [8.40 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 9 2.8 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [8.40 %] - Boil 1.0 min Hop 10 0.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Willamette [4.80 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0 Hop 11 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) Yeast 12 -
1.00 oz Cascade [8.40 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Willamette [4.80 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 14 0.0 IBUs

I've had a problem keeping the efficiency consistent between each batch, but it generally runs lower so I'm hoping to keep it that way again for this batch. Also going to keg this one so hopping to try it in just a few weeks. Cheers!

 

[HomebrewHandicapper]

Sorry. My 3 yr. Old got ahold of my pad. Please delete.

 

[burninator]

Brewing this again today. Gonna follow the original recipe to the word.

It's supposed to be pretty cold here the next few days, so I suppose S-04 is the way to go, rather than US-05?

 

[burninator]

It's that time again. We're supposed to swing from the 50's to the 70's over the next few days, so I'm brewing a batch of BLH Amber tomorrow.

Thanks again, Yooper, for the awesome recipe. It's an annual hit around these parts.

 

[MikeOhio]

Big fan of Bell's Amber.....Looks like a perfect choice for a last beer of the season before ohio weather shuts me down! Also match's their kit offering pretty well except for the lack of victory. Carry on.

 

[JLeuck64]

Recently was looking through the Ale Recipe thread and came across this one. It spoke to me because I busted my leg a few years ago...

Brew day went well! Hit 1.056 with more than 5 gal going into the ferment bucket. I am using Imperial yeast, their Flagship strain.
( ;

 

[JLeuck64]

Grain to glass in 3 weeks! Well... Actually moved into the keg and turned on the CO2 at 2 weeks. I've been sampling a few as it conditioned ( ; really like the way the dry hops work together on this recipe!

 

[JLeuck64]

Not to interrupt the discussion, but can anyone suggest a 'toned down' hop amount and schedule for a cleaner tasting, less hop forward, Amber?

Maybe try a "Fat Tire" clone?

If this has "toned down" hops, then the grain has to be toned down as well, as it's all about the balance of malt and hops- so it would be an entirely different recipe and not this one.

I actually believe THIS Broken Leg House Amber recipe could be pretty close to a Fat Tire clone! At least when I sample them both side by side...

the store bought Fat Tire tastes like a "toned down hops" version of this recipe right here ( ;

 

[Carolina_Matt]

I made this a month ago, and tapped it about 2 weeks ago. It's quite possibly the best Amber Ale I've ever had, and I'll definitely make it again! Fat Tire was the first non-standard beer I ever liked, although their recipe seems to have changed over the last 17 years and it's not as good to me. I've made several Amber Ale batches over the last year and a half, but this is clearly the best.

I made a few slight modifications, due to my process and due to the ingredients on hand. I don't have any 80L, so I used a combination of 40L, 60L and 75L to approximate it the impact (less 40L than the recipe, and a little more of the 60/75L). I also skipped the dry hop, since I ferment in serving kegs and prefer not to add hops directly to it. I fermented with S-05 for 12 days at 67 degrees.

Bravo, Yooper!

 

[JLeuck64]

I just finished a keg of this that I brewed back in December. It was so fun to use hops that I grew myself in this recipe! I used Imperial-Flagship to ferment with and it worked very well for this style.