Session Amber Ale Recipe - Thoughts?

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Brulosopher

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I am leaving for camping in 2 weeks, which would usually be my next brew day... so I plan on brewing next weekend, but I want to do something that will ferment quickly so that I can keg it before leaving. Here's a relatively unique recipe I just developed for a sessionable Amber Ale. Please let me know what you think:

5.5 Gallon Batch
Expected OG: 1.041
Expected FG: 1.011
Expected ABV: 4.0%
IBU: 25.5
SRM: 12.7

6 lbs 10.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row), NW Pale (2.0 SRM) 72.6 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) 11.0 %
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 15L (15.0 SRM) 8.2 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) 5.5 %
4.0 oz Pale Chocolate Malt (200.0 SRM) 2.7 %

25.00 g Galena [12.50 %] - Boil 25.0 min 18.2 IBUs
24.00 g Galena [12.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min 7.2 IBUs

1.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001)

I plan on mashing high (156-158F) in order to increase the body and hopefully flavor, which is the same reason I was heavy-handed on the character malts. Also, I'm not going to use any bittering addition so all the bitterness will come from 2 later additions- this is something I've been meaning to try for awhile. This baby should ferment out in 3-4 days, allowing me to keg and start carbing within the week.

I'm open to any and all opinions, even super negative ones :mug:
 
I'm no expert, but I'd make a couple of small changes...

First, I may consider using a different yeast. Wlp028 is the yeast I use for my session bitters. I like this yeast a lot, and people consider it my best beer. I find the yeast let's the malt shine through, without muting the hops too much.

Secondly, I'd drop the chocolate malt. I understand people like a touch of it in beers like this(I've used some in variations of my bitter recipe. It's not for me, but others loved it). What I would do is add in about 8oz of Brown Malt, or 8oz of Victory malt. That's just my preference.

Thirdly, consider doing a FWH with late additions. Again this is just my taste, but I need there to be bitterness in my beers. Late additions are great, and I use then heavily, but to my taste the late additions don't add much bitterness, but tons of flavor/aroma. The FWH should help with that, or maybe a 30 minute addition?

And maybe consider a .25oz dry hop? I find this helps with perceived mouthfeel.

And you may wanna mash 154.

The beer will be awesome. This recipe is very close to my bitter recipe(%4.4ABV).

Good luck.
 
harrymanback92 said:
I'm no expert, but I'd make a couple of small changes...

First, I may consider using a different yeast. Wlp028 is the yeast I use for my session bitters. I like this yeast a lot, and people consider it my best beer. I find the yeast let's the malt shine through, without muting the hops too much.

Secondly, I'd drop the chocolate malt. I understand people like a touch of it in beers like this(I've used some in variations of my bitter recipe. It's not for me, but others loved it). What I would do is add in about 8oz of Brown Malt, or 8oz of Victory malt. That's just my preference.

Thirdly, consider doing a FWH with late additions. Again this is just my taste, but I need there to be bitterness in my beers. Late additions are great, and I use then heavily, but to my taste the late additions don't add much bitterness, but tons of flavor/aroma. The FWH should help with that, or maybe a 30 minute addition?

And maybe consider a .25oz dry hop? I find this helps with perceived mouthfeel.

And you may wanna mash 154.

The beer will be awesome. This recipe is very close to my bitter recipe(%4.4ABV).

Good luck.

Great advice, thank you! I was actually on the fence whether to use the pale chocolate or Victory... I think I'll use the latter now! I've got a bunch of both, so we'll see. The yeast recommendation is interesting- my experience with 028 has been that it adds a touch of a smoky character, which I do not prefer. I was considering 002, but have 001 on hand. And as for FWH- great idea! I think I'll keep that addition to about 15 bittering units if I decide to go that route.

Thanks, pal!
 
Wouldn't 145-156 give you a hIgher FG than 1.011? I would guess I'd expect that to be around 1.015 or thereabouts, no?
 
Jakeintoledo said:
Wouldn't 145-156 give you a hIgher FG than 1.011? I would guess I'd expect that to be around 1.015 or thereabouts, no?

Not according to BeerSmith, which has been pretty spot on... but maybe not this time.
 
In researching low ABV session beer recipes, I've noticed a few add a pound or so of corn sugar to the end of their boil... and I'm wondering the reason is for this? Is it something I should consider? I'm very aware of using dextrose to thin out an otherwise syrupy DIPA or other high gravity beer, but if my goal is to create a med-full bodied, good flavored beer with very low alcohol (4% ish), what's the purpose in using something that fully ferments out?

I'm planning on brewing 10 gallons of this beer this coming weekend. To those who brew session beers often- please, please, please help a brother out!

Cheers.
 
I made some changes to my recipe, mostly in an attempt to get as much flavor out of this little beer as possible. I also scaled it up to my typical 11 gallon batch size. Here goes:

10 lbs 10.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row), NW Pale (2.0 SRM) 57.8 %
4 lbs Munich Malt - Light (10.0 SRM) 21.8%
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) 8.2 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 15L (15.0 SRM) 5.4 %
10.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) 3.4 %
10.0 oz Pale Chocolate Malt (200.0 SRM) 3.4 %

12.00 g Galena [13.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min 13.0 IBUs
30.00 g Galena [13.00 %] - Boil 25.0 min 11.9 IBUs
30.00 g Galena [13.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min 4.9 IBUs

1.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) - 1.5L Starter

I decided to go ahead with the Pale Chocolate since I just got it and have only used it in one beer. I've got a lot of Victory on hand, but I use it so often I though it'd fun to leave it out this round. I added a small FWH addition to get some smoother bitterness into the beer, only 13 IBU worth. I'm still considering dry-hopping; if I do, it will be with Galena. This is a hop I've come to enjoy as a 30-90 min addition, but I've been wanting to do a single hop beer with it just to see it shine. I threw in a nice dose of Munich just to get more malt flavor, and I was considering using some white wheat malt to up the body. Thoughts anyone?
 
Ehh... I think I'll brew some Tiny Bottom Pale Ale instead...
 
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