American Amber Ale Caramel Amber Ale

[duckmanco]

Of course! I'd go with the D-45 for this recipe. But you'll be paying much more for it than if you made it.

I'll probably pay for the prepared stuff at the LHBS as well, but was also wondering on your thoughts about steeping or doing a hop stand on the flameout addition.

I normally do a 30 min stand of the flameout addition prior to chilling, but record the addition as a 20 min boil addition in Brewpal to account for some of the bitterness gained by steeping for the 30 min, and then of course I back of the bittering charge to keep the total IBU the same..... Is this something you do with this recipe as written or no?

 

[KingBrianI]

I'll probably pay for the prepared stuff at the LHBS as well, but was also wondering on your thoughts about steeping or doing a hop stand on the flameout addition.

I normally do a 30 min stand of the flameout addition prior to chilling, but record the addition as a 20 min boil addition in Brewpal to account for some of the bitterness gained by steeping for the 30 min, and then of course I back of the bittering charge to keep the total IBU the same..... Is this something you do with this recipe as written or no?

No, I recommend adding the hops at the listed times and chilling at flameout.

 

[duckmanco]

Thanks for the quick reply, and as you have it written, it will be done. Thanks again. This IS my next amber ale, right after NB's Single Hop Unkolsch and Denny's Rye IPA. So much to brew, so little time.

 

[phoenixs4r]

No, I recommend adding the hops at the listed times and chilling at flameout.

I logged in to ask the exact same question! Its boiling away now!

 

[pvtschultz]

Well, I whipped up a batch of this about three weeks ago and am taking my first sips now. THe beer has been in the bottle for a couple days now so I know that it will mature some more, but my first impressions are holding up. I told the guys at work that if this beer tastes half as good cold and carbed as it did warm and flat, it is going to be a damned good beer. So far, this may be one of the best beers that I have ever made, and I've made many a fine HBT recipes over the years. It is incredibly hard to explain the taste of this one, but it is very good, not cloying, not bitter, and the hops really play well with the caramelized sugar. I'll give a better review in a few weeks after this one has had some time to mature, but I'll be submitting this one to competition soon because it is so good.

Thanks for sharing such a great recipe!

 

[KingBrianI]

Well, I whipped up a batch of this about three weeks ago and am taking my first sips now. THe beer has been in the bottle for a couple days now so I know that it will mature some more, but my first impressions are holding up. I told the guys at work that if this beer tastes half as good cold and carbed as it did warm and flat, it is going to be a damned good beer. So far, this may be one of the best beers that I have ever made, and I've made many a fine HBT recipes over the years. It is incredibly hard to explain the taste of this one, but it is very good, not cloying, not bitter, and the hops really play well with the caramelized sugar. I'll give a better review in a few weeks after this one has had some time to mature, but I'll be submitting this one to competition soon because it is so good.

Thanks for sharing such a great recipe!

If you think it's good now, wait until it's been in the bottle for a couple more weeks!

 

[dannedry]

Holy Crap! Thanks for posting this recipe KING... a few hours and several brews later, I think I've found my Labor Day Weekend project. Looks like a beautiful pint.

 

[egravy81]

I want to chime in and say this has become a regular on tap at my house! I even bottled a batch last week that was requested by my friend's fioncee for their wedding next month!

 

[dannedry]

I want to chime in and say this has become a regular on tap at my house! I even bottled a batch last week that was requested by my friend's fioncee for their wedding next month!

Funny you say that, because I am brewing this on Saturday for a friend's wedding mid-October! 6 weeks should be long enough yes???

 

[KingBrianI]

6 weeks should be long enough yes???

Keep your ferment temps in the right range and it will be great at 6 weeks. Good luck!

 

[DrawTap88]

I don't know how many people in my homebrew club brewed this beer. It's always funny when they say it's a carmel amber ale and I ask if it's the same one from HBT. Thanks, King, for sharing a kick butt recipe. I always enjoy it, even if I didn't brew it.

 

[brboland]

I am brewing a variation of this tomorrow.

7 lbs 2-row
1.75 lbs 75L
~1 lb of dark amber syrup
.75 oz Chinook (60 min)
1 oz Chinook (flameout)
1 oz Willamette (flameout)

wyeast 1056 (because that is what have)

I may throw the other .25 oz of Chinook in the carboy, haven't made up my mind yet.

I will let you know how it turns out

 

[phoenixs4r]

Well, the girlfriend transferred while I was at work. Said the finishing gravity was 1.006, we've been having issues with beer drying out, might need one of those nice thermometers for the mash.

Any who, figured the beer was ruined because when I went to clean everything I saw scorching on the kettle where my chiller sits, maybe some of the syrup got trapped and burned. She said it tastes good so can't wait to try it myself.

 

[egravy81]

Well, the girlfriend transferred while I was at work. Said the finishing gravity was 1.006, we've been having issues with beer drying out, might need one of those nice thermometers for the mash.

Any who, figured the beer was ruined because when I went to clean everything I saw scorching on the kettle where my chiller sits, maybe some of the syrup got trapped and burned. She said it tastes good so can't wait to try it myself.

Did you add the syrup w/15 left I the boil or right after you lautered? Just curious. I have been finishing at 1.008 and 1.010for the most part with this one and it's been great so a little drier should still be pretty good.

 

[Jim1234]

I just found this, and my mouth is watering. GOTTA BREW IT!!

 

[phoenixs4r]

Did you add the syrup w/15 left I the boil or right after you lautered? Just curious. I have been finishing at 1.008 and 1.010for the most part with this one and it's been great so a little drier should still be pretty good.

Sugar added 15 minutes left. Really kind of a dumb move on my part, as I was experimenting with making my immersion chiller permanently affixed in the kettle, and doing so didn't allow me to stir as I wanted to. I think that's why it scorched.

 

[NatureBoy]

Hey everyone,

This is my first post but I've been lurking on here for weeks. I'm quite impressed with the level of knowledge and helpfulness on here so thanks to TxBrew and all of you for making such a vibrant community.

Ok, enough sycophancy-- onto the brass tacks. I'm itching to try the extract version of this recipe because it's getting nothing but rave reviews. Unfortunately my LHBS was out of DAP and willamette hops. I think I remember reading that Willamettes are an American version of Fuggle, but since this is an AMERICAN amber I couldn't bring myself to introducing a seditious Limey influence . Being admittedly indecisive and given the lack of critical ingredients I re-charted course and opted to make an APA until I noticed the shop had some Dark Candi brand Belgian candi syrup so I ended up leaving the shop with the following hodgepodge of ingredients:

6.6 lbs Briess CBW Golden Light DME
1 lb generic golden light DME
1 lb 10* Lovibond crystal
1 lb 80* Lov crystal
1 lb of the clear Belgian candi syrup
2 oz of 6.4% AA Cascade bittering plug hops
1 oz of 10.5% AA Centennial for dry hopping
Wyeast American Ale 1056

I'm not sure how/why I ended up with the extra lb of generic golden light DME, I can't imagine needing all that for a 5 gallon batch. Do you think I could end up with something close to KB's recipe with this (like between an APA and an AA) or should I stick with the APA recipe and save the candi syrup for another batch? I'm thinking I should have gone for the dark candi syrup instead of the clear so I think I'm gonna head back to the shop to swap that. While there I could obviously pick up some different hops if you guys think that's in order. I was thinking something like this might work:

4.2 lbs Golden Light DME
1 lb 80* crystal
0.5 lb 10* crystal
1 lb dark candi syrup (or can I stick with the clear?)
2 oz cascade (any input on the schedule? i.e. FWH the whole thing, or break up into two additions?)
1 oz centennial dry hop

Thoughts? Is this heresy? Also, will the one wyeast smack-pack be enough or should I make a starter or buy a second pack? This seems like a lot of sugar to me and I don't want a cloying brew. I realize this is a little off topic because it's not totally about KB's recipe, but it still seemed relevant enough to be in this page. Thanks in advance for any and all help.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Hey everyone,

I'm not sure how/why I ended up with the extra lb of generic golden light DME, I can't imagine needing all that for a 5 gallon batch. Do you think I could end up with something close to KB's recipe with this (like between an APA and an AA) or should I stick with the APA recipe and save the candi syrup for another batch? I'm thinking I should have gone for the dark candi syrup instead of the clear so I think I'm gonna head back to the shop to swap that. While there I could obviously pick up some different hops if you guys think that's in order. I was thinking something like this might work:

4.2 lbs Golden Light DME
1 lb 80* crystal
0.5 lb 10* crystal
1 lb dark candi syrup (or can I stick with the clear?)
2 oz cascade (any input on the schedule? i.e. FWH the whole thing, or break up into two additions?)
1 oz centennial dry hop

Thoughts? Is this heresy? Also, will the one wyeast smack-pack be enough or should I make a starter or buy a second pack? This seems like a lot of sugar to me and I don't want a cloying brew. I realize this is a little off topic because it's not totally about KB's recipe, but it still seemed relevant enough to be in this page. Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Welcome!!! I'll start off saying there's instructions in the beginning of the thread on how to make your own candi syrup. For the recipe you posted that looks more like an amber than an APA. If your going for the amber Id still consider cutting down on some of the C80..maybe half. For an APA the clear candi sugar is fine, I add a # to most my APA's/ IPAs. Though I'd probably drop the C80. In either case I'd go get another oz of centennial, if you want to dry hop, and go with a schedule like this.... 1oz centennial @ 15 mins, 1oz cascade @ 10 mins, and 1oz cascade @ 5 mins. Then use the other oz of centennial to dry hop. Always make a starter with liquid yeast to make sure it's still alive and well, you can skip that with dry yeast. The yeast will turn the majority of the sugar into alcohol but the non fermentables in the Crystal malt will leave residual sugars that will sweeten up the beer. Ambers are supposed to be sweet and malty, while an APA would be hoppier, so what you do there is your call. Best of luck, hope this helps!!!

 

[NatureBoy]

Thanks for such a speedy reply! I should have elaborated a little. My original intention was to make the candi syrup cause I'm interested in the amateur chemistry of the Maillard reactions but unfortunately my LHBS was out of DAP. If I'm not mistaken KB's original recipe actually calls for 1.5# of 80* whereas I was only planning to use 1# of 80* and 0.5# of 10* to still arrive at a total of 1.5# of crystal malts. Were you suggesting cutting down on 80* out of personal preference or is there something I'm not considering? And thanks for the tip on the extra dry hops, 1oz didn't seem like enough to me either from what I've read about dry hopping. From the reviews of the recipe it seems like I'm trying to fix something that isn't broken, but since I ended up with the ingredients I thought I might try dry hopping it anyway. Do y'all think dry hopping will work with this beer or am I trying to blend styles with clashing flavors? In other words, is dry hopping an amber unheard of? Good point on the yeast starter too, I'll be sure to do that from now on.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

As close as you can get to the original will still give you a good beer, this one was put together well. I've had dry hopped ambers before and their nice.

 

[Hanso]

Want to just chime in with a big thank you for this recipe! I brewed this up about 6 weeks ago with the only change to the recipe being 90L crystal instead of 80, and I fermented in the upper 60s rather than mid/lower. Popped a trial bottle 2 days ago and since then have been thinking constantly about how and when I can brew my next batch of it! I'm going to try backing down the IBUs slightly, maybe to 35 or so, and see how it goes as an experiment. Cheers...

 

[pvtschultz]

Boy, judges just don't know what to think of this beer. I entered this beer into a local HB competition and was assigned an overall score of 24/50 with comments about astringency, acetaldehyde, and other "noticeable" flaws. I've brewed quite a few beers now and feel that I have a good grasp on my beers. Personally I think that this is one of the best beers that I have ever made and the people around me that try it agree. I'm pretty sure that I might have over-heated the sugar so I'll be addressing that next time. But other than that, this is still one fine beer!

 

[mcbethenstein]

Boy, judges just don't know what to think of this beer. I entered this beer into a local HB competition and was assigned an overall score of 24/50 with comments about astringency, acetaldehyde, and other "noticeable" flaws. I've brewed quite a few beers now and feel that I have a good grasp on my beers. Personally I think that this is one of the best beers that I have ever made and the people around me that try it agree. I'm pretty sure that I might have over-heated the sugar so I'll be addressing that next time. But other than that, this is still one fine beer!

Was it the schooner competition? I entered it there too and got similar comments & score (26 I think). And I am a pretty sound brewer... I thought maybe I infected my bottles accidentally when I drew off the 6 beers to bottle and then keg the rest.

 

[pvtschultz]

Yup, Schooner it was. Your beers were just fine, I'm guessing the judges just didn't know what to think of the hop combination.

 

[shadows69]

Brewing today..but no Chinook...going to sub Centennial hops instead. Also using WLP008 yeast. Caramel syrup made as follows:
1 lbs. sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp dap
1/4 cup water
heated till syrup turned dark brown
flame out added 1/4 cup water
Tastes very caramel like.

 

[phoenixs4r]

This was frankly an awesome beer. After 2 weeks in a keg its clarity rivals filtered beer as well, bravo OP!

 

[glenn514]

I am very pleased with the way this recipe turned out. In fact, I will enjoy one of these with dinner this evening. I followed the recipe as originally posted, and made the candi syrup also according to the instruction. It is YUMMY!

glenn514

 

[justkev52]

Awesome recipe. I used the new BRY-97 dry yeast. It's excellent. Took awhile for the yeast to drop out of solution.

 

[jajao44]

Hallelujah for Amber Ale! Sounds good planning this in the near future.

 

[tellyho]

Brewed this up a month and a half ago and have to say that I'm disappointed. No caramel notes obvious, despite following the candi recipe. In an effort to be balanced, I feel this beer winds up being simply bland.