Smoked Amber Ale Recipe

[milesbishop]

Hey everyone! I have decided I wanted to kinda try something new for my next brew, a smokey amber ale! I came up with a recipe (partial mash) and I just wanted to get some feedback. I've decided to go with smoked malt, which I've never used before to achieve my smokey flavour. How much will give me medium smokey flavour? I don't want it to overpower to flavour and aroma but I want it to be noticeable. I will post the recipe below. Also, I wouldn't mind trying to convert it to an all grain recipe if anyone could help me out with that as well that would be cool! Any and all feedback would be great!

Boil Time: 60 min
Batch size: 5.5 GAL
Boil Size: 1.75 Gal

Fermentables:

7lbs LME - Amber
2lbs 2-row (toasted)
2lbs Smoked Malt
1lbs Crystal 120
0.5lbs Biscuit Malt
0.25lbs Carapils (Dextrine Malt)

Hops

1.5 oz Cascade @ 60 min
1 oz Amarillo @ 20 min


I wanna maybe go with a 1 quart/lb of grain mash so I'm thinking roughly 5 quarts at a mash temp of 155 for 60 mins.

I am new to brewing and might have my measurements off so PLEASE give me a hand refining this brew.

 

[smAllGrain]

My personal opinion.... I used 8% cherry smoked malt in a porter & its like drinking a campfire ;-)

 

[milesbishop]

what is 8% in LBS according to my recipe?

 

[hotwatermusic]

As it stands you have around #13 of fermentables. 8% would be a tad under a # I figure. I think consensus would be to cut the smoked malt. I do a amber with beechwood smoked malt, I use 3ozs! It's detectable and suits my taste. However I know what the recipe tastes like without it and can evaluate it better because of that. I wouldn't think of going north of a half pound to start. You will never dump beer because a particular note is too understated. However watch out with some of these potent specialty malts. Do not use peat smoked. Try running it by your LHBS, they may have suggestions, that's just my two cents. A little goes a long way. You want your base beer to be good and carry it stylistically. Good luck, cheers.

 

[hotwatermusic]

Side note even C120 can be dangerous at that amount IMHO.

 

[milesbishop]

Thanks for the tips! Any notes on my mash guide lines? Was thinking 4 quarts at 154 for 60 minutes..? Usually how I go about it.. change things here and there based on style and grain and amount of grain etc.. Can someone give me notes on sparge? I was thinking of aiming for a 2.5 - 3 gallon boil size.. and sparging at around 165. Any idea for amounts? Maybe 7 quarts? Like I said, I'm new to lots of this and have just been getting by with just trying techniques out but want to really get it right so any and all tips are helpful!

 

[hotwatermusic]

154 sounds like a good temp for a full bodied Amber. I would make sure you give it at least 60 to convert, another 10-15 minutes wouldn't hurt. I aim a little higher for sparge water but I usually figure to lose around 10 degrees getting that water into my MLT.