American Amber Ale Much Better Amber Ale

[MarcusKillion]

my secondary is a 5 gallon bucket so that would be good for the 5 gallons of beer left after I draw off 1 gallon to dry hop with the fuggles . I am going to use Hallertauer Hersbrucker to dry hop the 5 gallons in secondary ( may toss some in my pilsner while I am at it . ) . Just do not want to leave it in primary since it would have a 1 1/2 gallon space full of air .

 

[Clonefan94]

I brewed this one a few weeks ago, kegged it about two weeks ago and was letting it condition. Well, I had a keg kick, so this went on.

I had to swap out Falconer's Flight for the Centenniel, since my lhbs was out of Centenniel at the time, but wow, this is definitely going to be on full rotation at my house. This really hit me right in my wheelhouse of the perfet beer. Great Malty character you'd expect in an amber, with just enough hops to make you wonder if it's still in style.

Great beer, thanks for the recipe.

 

[msa8967]

Good to hear that you enjoyed this recipe. I am going to try this with Falcon's Flight hops just to see how it compares to using Centennial.

 

[Clonefan94]

Good to hear that you enjoyed this recipe. I am going to try this with Falcon's Flight hops just to see how it compares to using Centennial.

The Falconer's was recommended by my LHBS as a good substitute, since it's a mix and I believe Centennial is in that mix.

Either way, yeah, I'm going to brew this up again soon, but will definitely do it with Centennial to see how it compares.

 

[nutty_gnome]

What sort of water profile do you use to brew this? Do you add anything to your tap or start with RO and build up?

 

[Clonefan94]

What sort of water profile do you use to brew this? Do you add anything to your tap or start with RO and build up?

I just used city tap and send it through a carbon block to remove chlorine. I haven't gotten into water profiles yet. Water quality is pretty good in the area, according to their report, except for a lot of Chlorine, so that's all I bother with at this time. I remember reading an article a few years ago about how Goose Island just used Chicago tap water, my source, and filtered out the chlorine as well. So, at this point I haven't really bothered with building water profiles.

Again, I just started all-grain though, so that may change over time. I'll probably send my filtered water out, to get a test done on it with a report to see how much of anything is still left in it this summer. For now though, everything seems to be working for me, so I don't want to change too much.

 

[msa8967]

When I brewed this orignal batch for this recipe I used tap water but now we live in a different town where we have very hard water so I use RO water with nothing else added. It comes out just fine.

 

[MarcusKillion]

just drank a much better amber after almost 1 month in bottle . Pretty good I suppose . I do not know what ambers really taste like so I have nothing to compare it to . Taste a bit bitter . Other than that I can not tell but my taste buds do not work so good any more so a lot of them hop and malt flavors elude me unless they are strong . Not bad . I just put two more in the fridge and put the rest in a cold room to condition a bit . i kept them in a 72 degree room that hops up to 78 when the heater comes on for a bit for carbonation time . Works good for my ales .

 

[msa8967]

just drank a much better amber after almost 1 month in bottle . Pretty good I suppose . I do not know what ambers really taste like so I have nothing to compare it to . Taste a bit bitter . Other than that I can not tell but my taste buds do not work so good any more so a lot of them hop and malt flavors elude me unless they are strong . Not bad . I just put two more in the fridge and put the rest in a cold room to condition a bit . i kept them in a 72 degree room that hops up to 78 when the heater comes on for a bit for carbonation time . Works good for my ales .

Give this beer another month and some of the bitterness will mellow. Depending on your hop additions it may taste different 8 weeks after bottling compared to 4 weeks.

 

[Clonefan94]

just drank a much better amber after almost 1 month in bottle . Pretty good I suppose . I do not know what ambers really taste like so I have nothing to compare it to . Taste a bit bitter . Other than that I can not tell but my taste buds do not work so good any more so a lot of them hop and malt flavors elude me unless they are strong . Not bad . I just put two more in the fridge and put the rest in a cold room to condition a bit . i kept them in a 72 degree room that hops up to 78 when the heater comes on for a bit for carbonation time . Works good for my ales .

According to Beersmith, this is towards the top end of IBUs for an Amber, but still well within style. As far as the taste goes, The Crystal and Amber malt in this should definitely come through on the palette. I think that's why I'm such a fan of ambers in general. I love that contrast between the malty smooth taste, with that hop finish to it.

I just had some friends tasting this last night. It was a huge hit and still not fully carbed yet. Getting there in the keg, but it takes time as I keep it at serving pressure for the other beers on tap. Anyways, yeah, I didn't expect this to get hit so hard, since it wasn't fully carbed yet, but alas, about half the keg was drank last night. So, I'm not the only one who thinks this tastes pretty good. I'll be buying the ingredients to brew this again over the weekend.

 

[MarcusKillion]

I am drinking another one now and it just tastes mostly bitter to me . I am going to try the next one in a glass so as to allow all the flavors to come out . I notice a lot of beers taste much better after a good pour . Kind of like holiday ale . I hate it in a bottle but in a glass it is not bad stuff.

 

[msa8967]

I am drinking another one now and it just tastes mostly bitter to me . I am going to try the next one in a glass so as to allow all the flavors to come out . I notice a lot of beers taste much better after a good pour . Kind of like holiday ale . I hate it in a bottle but in a glass it is not bad stuff.

I didn't know that you were drinking the first few straight from the bottle. It will interesting to hear if drinking from a glass improves things.

 

[jsmcclure]

My bitter edge has softened really nicely after a few weeks in the keg. Now it has a very smokey flavor. I'd still back down on my hops ever so slightly but a very good beer

 

[MarcusKillion]

I didn't know that you were drinking the first few straight from the bottle. It will interesting to hear if drinking from a glass improves things.

Most beers do taste better from a glass . I think the pouring lets loose flavors that are locked in . Like the head has that nice malty hop taste and aroma to it in the glass . Kind of like that draft beer in the bar . I bet if it was in a bottle instead of keg it would be horrible .
Also this beer has not had time to age properly I think . I bet it mellows out after a month or so more . But it will be drank up before that I bet .
I will update this evening after I dump in glass.

 

[MarcusKillion]

Well I am drinking one out of a glass with a good stiff pour . Nice head . Now that the head has mellowed down some it is ready to drink . So this one is a bit warm maybe 50-ish . Tastes much better as the name says . Less bitter which could also be compounded by not having so much trub mixing in it . If I was a fan of bitter I would like this .
I think I shall make some more soon and back off the bittering hops a bit .
All in all a very good beer. Good looking also . Nice amber color , clean looking with a nice cream colored head that hangs on the sides of the glass. Well that beer lasted me about 2 minutes . So, very drinkable also.

 

[msa8967]

Well I am drinking one out of a glass with a good stiff pour . Nice head . Now that the head has mellowed down some it is ready to drink . So this one is a bit warm maybe 50-ish . Tastes much better as the name says . Less bitter which could also be compounded by not having so much trub mixing in it . If I was a fan of bitter I would like this .
I think I shall make some more soon and back off the bittering hops a bit .
All in all a very good beer. Good looking also . Nice amber color , clean looking with a nice cream colored head that hangs on the sides of the glass. Well that beer lasted me about 2 minutes . So, very drinkable also.

The initial recipe I posted is the one I brew for my wife and friends that enjoy my home brew. Most of them are hop heads so when I brew a batch for me to drink I prefer to back the initial 1.0 oz of Centennial to 0.67-0.75 oz depending on the age of the hops.

 

[MarcusKillion]

Well one more review .
A nice cold one in the glass is very good indeed . I never drink bitter beers so the bitter was a bit strong for me but you know what , after I drank a couple of these I really like them . Just downed two of them . I will be making this again for sure .
thanks for the great recipe .

 

[SwivelHips]

So i did this yesterday. I substituted an oz of magnum for the 60 minute and an ounce of amarillo for the aroma. Can't wait!

My house amber is a recipe similar to this and last batch I FWH'd 1/2 oz of Magnum rather than the 1 oz Cascade I usually bitter with -- I agree that a full oz of Magnum is a bit hefty for this style. Turned out good but I'll probably go back to Cascade or try Centennial for bittering my next batch. I also like to use Saaz for flavour/aroma (1 oz total) and have typically used Wyeast 1007 and fermented pretty cool -- like sub-60 in some cases. 1007 is perfectly happy to do that. Then bottle conditioned at 70 for 3 weeks and then at the coolest temp I can find (typically mid-50s) for several more; really I'm lagering it.

Just some variations if any of you would like to try them.

 

[captainkirk83]

Recipe sounds good. On my to try list

 

[MarcusKillion]

I am drinking a MBA right now . Nice and hoppy and a little bitter . hell this one did not get capped off tight and is flat and it is still good .

 

[msa8967]

Glad to hear that you are enjoying this beer. Hope to brew some more soon.

 

[nutty_gnome]

I brewed this last week with adjustments for 5.5 gallon BIAB. It smelled nice going into the fermentir and US-05 is happily working on it. Thanks for posting the recipe!

 

[nutty_gnome]

I have been drinking this one as it conditions in the keg. It is really a nice beer. I get a touch of 'dark malt' flavor which reminds me this isn't a pale ale. It goes down easy because the bittering is balanced with the malt. It is somewhat thick with regard to mouthfeel... I think I will mash at 152 next time instead of 154, but that is a personal choice.

I used 6 oz of amber malt in this version.

Anyway, thanks for publishing this. I like it and I'm going to do it again for sure.

 

[msa8967]

I have been drinking this one as it conditions in the keg. It is really a nice beer. I get a touch of 'dark malt' flavor which reminds me this isn't a pale ale. It goes down easy because the bittering is balanced with the malt. It is somewhat thick with regard to mouthfeel... I think I will mash at 152 next time instead of 154, but that is a personal choice.

I used 6 oz of amber malt in this version.

Anyway, thanks for publishing this. I like it and I'm going to do it again for sure.

Did you make your own amber malt by roasting or was the malt store bought? I think I might mash lower next time for a more warm weather (less heavy) version of this beer. Good to learn that you enjoyed this brew.

 

[nutty_gnome]

Did you make your own amber malt by roasting or was the malt store bought?

Here is what I used. I also highly recommend the shop. They are great.

http://www.love2brew.com/Amber-Malt-Crisp-p/wg032.htm

 

[Helly]

Doing an extract version of this today. Thanks for the recipe.

 

[msa8967]

Doing an extract version of this today. Thanks for the recipe.

Hope it goes well for you. I would much rather be brewing today on the 4th instead of going to my inlaws for the holiday. Their idea of good beer is Old Style light.

 

[Helly]

Hope it goes well for you. I would much rather be brewing today on the 4th instead of going to my inlaws for the holiday. Their idea of good beer is Old Style light.

Old Style, that brings me back to college brew turned out great, I modified very slightly based upon what lhbs had but I think it will be a nice one. The centennial and cascade combo is going to be very nice I'm sure.

 

[abrdnck]

Sounds like a delicious beer - I hope to brew next weekend, so I better make a trip to the local HB shop.

Checking out the recipe, it looks kind of like an APA with more colour. Is that an accurate description?

Have you tried dry-hopping it, and if so how did that work out for you?

 

[Likefully]

Looks like a lekker (nice) beer.

The only crystal malt I can get is 30L. So I was thinking of subbing the crystal and amber with chocolate malt but then sticking to the rest of your recipe. Any thoughts on that?