First Amber Ale recipe

[Trails_n_Ales]

How's it going? listed below is my first Amber Ale recipe...Please critique and let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

8lb 2row
1lb 40L
1lb 120L
1lb Victory

1oz Nugget 60
.5oz Simcoe 30
.5oz Warrior 20
.5oz Tomahawk 0

.5oz Simcoe DH
.5oz Warrior DH
.5oz Tomahawk DH

White labs California Ale Yeast

 

[DromJohn]

I'd drink that.

 

[HomebrewSupply]

How's it going? listed below is my first Amber Ale recipe...Please critique and let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

8lb 2row
1lb 40L
1lb 120L
1lb Victory

1oz Nugget 60
.5oz Simcoe 30
.5oz Warrior 20
.5oz Tomahawk 0

.5oz Simcoe DH
.5oz Warrior DH
.5oz Tomahawk DH

White labs California Ale Yeast

Looks pretty good to me. Might be a bit high on the crystal malts for my tastes.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

I'd back off slightly on the dark crystal, maybe 0.5 to 0.8lb. A full lb will be very rich, even for an amber.

I can't speak from experience with the hops as I've never used warrior, but I thought it was really only suited to bittering. Have you used it before as a flavour/aroma hop?

Apart from that, Tomahawk and Simcoe together are delicious and should go well with the rich caramels. It looks good.

 

[Trails_n_Ales]

I'd back off slightly on the dark crystal, maybe 0.5 to 0.8lb. A full lb will be very rich, even for an amber.

I can't speak from experience with the hops as I've never used warrior, but I thought it was really only suited to bittering. Have you used it before as a flavour/aroma hop?

Apart from that, Tomahawk and Simcoe together are delicious and should go well with the rich caramels. It looks good.

The amount of dark crystal was my concern as well. My homebrew store only sells in 1lb increments. Do you suggest using a 1/2lb each? Trying to keep it simple and would be easy to just split it.

 

[Trails_n_Ales]

I'd back off slightly on the dark crystal, maybe 0.5 to 0.8lb. A full lb will be very rich, even for an amber.

I can't speak from experience with the hops as I've never used warrior, but I thought it was really only suited to bittering. Have you used it before as a flavour/aroma hop?

Apart from that, Tomahawk and Simcoe together are delicious and should go well with the rich caramels. It looks good.

Ive searched and got some ideas from a hopback amber clone which uses warrior in the same fashion. Then again among my search many said to use it only as a bittering hop.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

The amount of dark crystal was my concern as well. My homebrew store only sells in 1lb increments. Do you suggest using a 1/2lb each? Trying to keep it simple and would be easy to just split it.

I've brewed ambers with 20% crystal before and they've been great, but you need to be careful given the amount of hops in this beer. If it's caramel rich AND hoppy (tomahawk and simcoe are both quite 'in your face' hops) you could end up with a hard-to-drink beer.
So, in short, yes - I'd cut the crystal. Maybe 0.75lb each. The victory as well. That's just personal opinion though - if you like drinking really challenging beers, then go for it as is.

 

[Trails_n_Ales]

I've brewed ambers with 20% crystal before and they've been great, but you need to be careful given the amount of hops in this beer. If it's caramel rich AND hoppy (tomahawk and simcoe are both quite 'in your face' hops) you could end up with a hard-to-drink beer.
So, in short, yes - I'd cut the crystal. Maybe 0.75lb each. The victory as well. That's just personal opinion though - if you like drinking really challenging beers, then go for it as is.

Thanks for the input. I want to brew a well balanced amber thats easy to drink so I think I will cut the crystal down to 1/2lb each. Any suggestions on a better hop schedule to round out this beer?

 

[brewcat]

Maybe add some munich? I'd probably back off the crystal. Maybe use a pound of 80L as a combination of the two.

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for the input. I want to brew a well balanced amber thats easy to drink so I think I will cut the crystal down to 1/2lb each. Any suggestions on a better hop schedule to round out this beer?

I'd cut the victory by 1/2, and the dark crystal by 1/2, and that will be a great beer. Or, leave the victory out entirely and still cut the 120L by 1/2 if you don't want to have two different grains to store when you have 1/2 of them left over.

For the hop schedule, you've got some "harsh" hops there. I'd probably use either the warrior or tomahawk for bittering (about .5 ounce) and then use more "flavorful" hops for the late additions. Cascade/centennial tend to be the most traditional, but a great combo is willamette and cascade (those are the hops in bell's amber if you've ever had that).

 

[beergolf]

OK. Ask 10 home brewers a question and you will get 12 answers.

Here is my .02.

I would cut the C40 back to 12oz., the 120 to 4-6 oz and use Munich instead of Victory. I like Yoopers Willamette and Cascade for the hops. Bells Amber actually uses Fuggles and Cascade but I know that Yooper does not like Fuggles, so Willamette is a good sub. I like Bells amber abd make an amber that uses the fuggles.

 

[Trails_n_Ales]

OK. Ask 10 home brewers a question and you will get 12 answers.

Here is my .02.

I would cut the C40 back to 12oz., the 120 to 4-6 oz and use Munich instead of Victory. I like Yoopers Willamette and Cascade for the hops. Bells Amber actually uses Fuggles and Cascade but I know that Yooper does not like Fuggles, so Willamette is a good sub. I like Bells amber abd make an amber that uses the fuggles.

LOL, I'll take any advice I can get as this is my first attempt at creating a recipe. I appreciate everyone's input in helping me understand why some aspects of this recipe wouldn't necessarily "work". So I'm going to cut down on the crystal and also replace some of the more "harsher" hops.

 

[signpost]

Have you bought those ingredients yet? If not, then heed the advice already given, especially related to the hops. The grain bill is probably the part of your starting recipe that was closest to being ready to go. I agree completely with cutting back the 120L to a half pound. The 20L and Victory could be fine at 1 lb. each, or it might be a little too rich. That's up to your judgement of whose opinion you want to run with (although Yooper's advice is usually a smart bet).

You said you wanted to keep things simple in measuring out the grains. I'm guessing that means you don't have a scale available to measure it. In that case, I'd stick to just splitting the 1 lb. packages in half, rather than trying to get fancier and dividing more precisely into 4, 6, or 12 oz. portions. It will make for easier adjustments if you revisit the recipe again in the future.

BTW, welcome to the forum.

 

[Trails_n_Ales]

I have not bought the ingredients yet. I do plan on changing up the hop schedule and cutting the crystal malts in half. You're right, i do not have a scale other than to weigh myself, but will be picking one up so I can be more precise in my grain measurements. Was just trying to keep it simple, but its not worth the sacrifice of a good brew

I appreciate the input

Thanks, definitely taking alot away from this forum so far. Glad to be here

 

[sky4meplease]

Man I sure love this style.
I use a combined 25% of Munich and Crystal 80 that I tweak for my taste. My last batch was an even split between the two but it's slated to be my next brew and I am thinking of edging it toward the Munich just a touch.
I use Pale malt for base and American hops but there is a lot of room for individuality there.