Recommendation for amber ale kits?

[MrBulldogg]

I usually drink pilsners and lagers, but I'm thinking of trying a batch of amber ale. I'm thinking something along the lines of Fat Tire -- not a big fan of the heavier stuff, so I'd rather err on the lighter side than going too dark. Any recommendations for good kits to look for? (preferably through online stores that offer free shipping ;-))

 

[Blender]

Morebeer kits are pretty good. I have done about 6 of them now. They have an Amber Ale kit but my choices have been the ESB and the British Bitter. You need to hit the $60.00 level for free shipping. You are close to Concord, CA. so there will only be one day shipping once they send it. Use this link for the specific ingredients in their Extract Kits -> http://morebeer.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4481&highlight=extract+recipes

 

[Robbw]

I usually buy the ingredients at a local shop. My favorite amber so far is this one, and you can probably get all your supplies locally:

Malt Extract:
2 3.3# cans unhopped light malt extract

Grain:
½# crystal malt

Hops:
3 oz Styrian Goldings or Kent Goldings (boiling hops)
½ oz Willamette hops (finishing)

Yeast: White Labs WLP005 British Ale

Brewing:

Pour 1 ½ gallons of cold water into brew kettle. Place the grains in a muslin bag and add them to your kettle. Bring to a boil. When boil commences rinse grains with ½ gallon hot water and discard grains.
Soak cans of malt extract in hot water for 5 minutes. Add malt extract to kettle. Stir in, rinse out can and add it to the brew. Bring back to a boil. When boil commences add your boiling hops and continue to boil for 45 minutes. In the last 2 minutes add your finishing hops. Stir occasionally to prevent batch from burning.
Cool wort. Add 2 gallons cold water to fermenter. Add wort and top off to 5 gallons. Aerate and stir in yeast. Allow to ferment for 7-10 days. Rack to secondary for 1 week.

After that, I keg and force carbonate.

 

[SteveM]

Keep in mind that leaving steeping grains in for too long, or using very dark ones, can result in a darker color without substantially changing the flavor. So think about using a very light steeping grains, like #20. Also, in my experience, the stuff that drips out of the steeping grain bag after you take it out of the water is concentrated darkness, so don't rinse it or allow it to drain into the pot over-much if the light color is really important to you.

 

[Robbw]

That's a really good point. The recipe I gave is a nice medium amber. Not too heavy but definitely an amber.

 

[MrBulldogg]

Thanks. I'll give that amber ale a shot once my current Hefeweizen is done.