First Amber Ale Recipe...critique needed.

[HopHound12]

Hey guys I'm looking to make an easy drinking amber ale that will become a new staple in my rotation. After doing hours of research this is what I've come up with, please let me know what you think of it. Of most concern is whether i should go with 2 row or MO and how the hops look.

9# 2 Row or Maris Otter
2# Munich
1# Crystal 60
8 oz biscuit
2 oz roasted barley

.5oz glacier 60
1oz liberty 10
1 oz amarillo 5

Yeast: WLP060 which is an american ale/lager blend

OG:1.052
IBU: 22

 

[Jayhem]

My first thought is that the grain bill looks more like a brown ale. 1/2 lb of biscuit malt and Maris Otter base malt + Munich will certainly give this a very malty/nutty flavor more in tune with a (nut)brown ale.

I also feel that Roasted Barley has no place in an Amber/Brown as roasty flavor is not desirable in these styles. You could use 2 oz of Carafa III (debittered black malt) or Midnight Wheat to give it the properly color without a roasty taste. I always add the black malt at mash out to add color without extracting any burnt/roasty flavors.

I would look at the following grain bill:
5# 2 Row
4# Maris Otter
2# Munich
1# Crystal 60
8 oz biscuit (if you prefer a sweeter malty flavor use Abbey Malt or Honey Malt instead) buscuit is "bready"
2 oz Carafa III (at mash out)

This is almost the exact grain bill I used in a recent brown ale that actually came out dark amber and was nice, sweet, malty and smooth, easy drinking. The only difference was I used Victory malt instead of the biscuit.

 

[PastorofMuppets]

To me that looks closer to a red irish kind of beer.

 

[StuckBrauer]

I'd give the MO a try. In my opinion, it would give a little more complexity than 2 row, but that's just my opinion. This recipe actually looks similar to one I made this summer that turned out very well. It was supposed to be a crowd pleaser so I kept the IBU down around 22 with an OG of 1.058. I would think yours will have a decent hop flavor and aroma, where as I was shooting for very little. I hopped mine like this:

.5oz Goldings 60 mins
.5oz Palisade 60 mins
.5oz Palisade 10 mins
.5oz Goldings 5

but if "easy drinking" for you means a little moderate hop flavor, then I think what you have looks great

 

[StuckBrauer]

I also agree with jayhem that it will be a bit on the dark side for an Amber ale. That's how mine turned out, but I was trying to get that "bready" flavor he mentioned into an amber

 

[chickypad]

I think the grainbill looks pretty good, I don't think you'd get too much roast from 2 oz of the roasted barley so if it's just for color I think it's okay (what is the calculated SRM?). You could consider adding a touch of high L crystal like 120 or special B instead for a little color and complexity, say a quarter lb to keep you at about 10% total crystal which I think is good for an amber. I use MO in my American ales sometimes, but I especially like it for ambers. You're a little low on IBU's for me but if you know you like it in that range then ignore that. I'd be interested on hearing your experience with that blend. Seems to be a lot of speculation on what the other 2 strains are besides the 001, I'm thinking SF lager yeast is one.

 

[Braufessor]

I think it looks good too. I agree that if you have carafa instead of roast barley, use that..... but 2 ounces should not show up much in the taste anyway, so not a big deal.
I would also be curious about the MO..... I usually use a 2 row/munich combo. But, I could see Maris being interesting. I might skip or cut back on biscuit if you do use the MO.
I like your hop combo - those hops should work great in an amber. I agree with Chickypad...... I like more hops in my ambers. Personal preference. Like I said - I like the hops you have, I would probably just add more/additional hops to it.

I like that you only have a pound of crystal/caramel..... I brew a lot of ambers and I have scaled my munich back from 4-5lbs to 2-3lbs and I have scaled my caramel back to .75-1 lb. Otherwise I think it can finish too sweet.

Not sure what your SRM for color is. I like to shoot for 12-14 personally.

Overall, I think it looks pretty good.

 

[HopHound12]

Wow guys, lots of good info I really appreciate it. After tweaking my recipe I decided to go with the 2 row and eliminate the roasted barley and replace it with some C120. I also upped the bittering hops some, heres what it looks like now.

7.5 2-row
2 munich
.5 crystal 120
.5 crystal 60
.5 biscuit

.75 glacier 60
1 liberty 10
1 amarillo 5
WLP 060

OG: 1.051
IBU: 27
SRM 13.4

How does this look?

 

[Paps]

I think you should send me several bottles for taste testing.

 

[chickypad]

Looks good!

 

[HopHound12]

Toying with the idea of throwing in a 1 oz dry hop to give it a tad more aroma. My thoughts were either liberty per the recipe, hallertau or maybe EKG any thoughts?

 

[Jayhem]

I've never dry hopped an Amber but I always dry hop my American Pale Ales. Personal preference. If you want more of the malt aroma and flavor it might be best not to dry hop.