New American Amber

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SteelHeroesBrewing

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I am thinking about brewing a new Amber and was wondering what others thought about the recipe.

Mash
Briess Pale Malt 2 row-6.5lbs
Victory-1.5lbs
Crystal 60L-2lbs

Hops
.25oz Centennial-60 min
.5oz Summit-60 min
.25oz Cascade-20 min
.25oz Liberty- 20 min
.75oz Fuggles- 10 min

White Labs California Ale Yeast
 
I think it's too much victory (I'd cut that in half), and too much crystal 60L. What I do with ambers is to "layer" the crystal malt, up to 15% sometimes, by using two different crystals like .5 pound of 80L and 1 pound of 20L or something like that.

For the hops, you may have enough bittering with just the summit, so check the IBUs with a brewing calculator to see. You want to balance the sweet malt, but don't want it too bitter.

The liberty and cascade hops, at .25 oz, aren't enough to discern over the malt so I'd increase those. I'm not a fuggles fan, but if you love "earthy" flavor, then keep it.
 
Gonna be "hoppy" for sure.

? With .25 oz of hops for flavor additions, except for the earthy fuggles? Weird but I thought just the opposite! :D Liberty hops are about the most "unhoppy" hops I can imagine.

I'd go with something more like:
.5 oz bittering (60 minutes)
.5 oz flavor 15 minutes
.5-1 oz aroma 5 minutes
 
I would loose the victory all together and put 2 or three pounds of munich in there ....
Cut the crystal back to a pound and split it between light and dark crystal ...
I have to disagree with Yooper on the fuggles ... they will give a much fuller hop profile mixed with the Pacific Northwest hops ... and fill that flavor void left behind with just the others ...
 
Oh ... save the centennial for the late additions too .. and use the liberty for bittering ... just my opinions ... for what that's worth
 
(Really Yooper ... dirt? I think you have destroyed your taste buds with all those "cat piss and pine tar hops"
;)
 
(Really Yooper ... dirt? I think you have destroyed your taste buds with all those "cat piss and pine tar hops"
;)

Yep, dirt. The "earthy" taste they are known for tastes like dirt to me, (if I ate dirt.) :D

I don't mind some other earthy hops- like willamette or EKG but I can't stand fuggles.

I did an English IPA with a mix of fuggles and EKG, and that was tolerable but still a bit "dirty" tasting.
 
Hmmm... maybe you should eat some ... just so you know the difference ;)
I am surprised that you find Willamette less "dirt like"... what do you think of Glacier?

BTW ... EKG and Fuggles is one of my all time favorite combinations ... just goes to show how different individual tastes can be ...
 
Hmmm... maybe you should eat some ... just so you know the difference ;)
I am surprised that you find Willamette less "dirt like"... what do you think of Glacier?

BTW ... EKG and Fuggles is one of my all time favorite combinations ... just goes to show how different individual tastes can be ...

I've only used glacier a few times, and don't really remember thinking it was "dirty" or anything!

It is funny that I love some hops and flavors, but not fuggles or citra- while others love those. It's true that we all taste things differently, I guess!
 
About the only time I use fuggle is in English bitters or darker. I think the earthy quality works better with darker beers. I still have an ounce of whole leaf fuggle in the freezer with some NZ hop left overs. Might just make a brown to use them up.
 
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