# Best Temp For Amber Ale



## jimi007 (8/7/09)

Hi 

I'm about to brew some amber ale which contains

Morgans Royal Oak Amber Ale 1.7kg Beer Concentrate 
#22 Amber Blend Brewing Sugar (1kg)
2 x 12g Goldings Finishing Hops

What is the best temp to ferment the amber ale at? 
Is it between 18-20 degrees or should it be lower?

Also does anyone have any suggestions as to anything else i could put in the brew to make it better?

Thanks

Jimi


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## j1gsaw (8/7/09)

jimi007 said:


> Hi
> 
> I'm about to brew some amber ale which contains
> 
> ...


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## thylacine (8/7/09)

jimi007 said:


> Hi
> 
> I'm about to brew some amber ale which contains
> 
> ...



http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter8.html "How To Brew..." John Palmer


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## discoloop (8/7/09)

jimi, I think 18-20 sounds about perfect...

Give the brew a go as is.... Should be pretty nice.


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## Phoney (8/7/09)

jimi007 said:


> Also does anyone have any suggestions as to anything else i could put in the brew to make it better?




Ditch the kit yeast and get a packet of Safale US-04 yeast.


I havent used Amber blend brewing sugar so I cant comment, but generally speaking sugar is a no no. Ive used a 1.5kg tin of Morgans Amber liquid malt extract with that kit and Willamette hops and it turned out lovely!


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## Weizguy (8/7/09)

phoneyhuh said:


> Ditch the kit yeast and get a packet of Safale US-04 yeast.
> 
> 
> I havent used Amber blend brewing sugar so I cant comment, but generally speaking sugar is a no no. Ive used a 1.5kg tin of Morgans Amber liquid malt extract with that kit and Willamette hops and it turned out lovely!


noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I was wondering what yeast you're planning to use. I loathe S-04 and if ur gonna go dry yeast, I'd say S-33 (old Edme yeast - also British).

See the Fermentis website for best yeast temps. US-05 should be good too, as it's fairly neutral.

You can always grab a Nottingham or Windsor yeast. In that case, see the Danstar site.


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## loikar (8/7/09)

Try to keep it at 18deg, my AA usually sit between 16 and 18 and turn out nice and clean with Safale US05.

And try steeping 250g of Crystal in about 3L of hot (not boiling) water for 20-30min. Always goes down a treat!
You could also chuck your hops in there for a steep too.

BF


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## buttersd70 (8/7/09)

You really hate the so4, don't you, Les? :lol: 

Gotta admit - so do I. 10 levels of ordinary....

Haven't used the s33, but the notto works nice in a red.

edit; that is, if you want to use dry yeast.


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## Neill (8/7/09)

looks like a good recipe mate, i vote you use nottingham anywhere from 15 to 20 deg, it attenuates brilliantly and is great for amber ales. Ditch the kit yeast for sure, i did a similar recipe for the vic case swap with notto and really liked it.


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## Sprungmonkey (8/7/09)

I am slightly disappointed with my last amber ale when using US04. It tends to give off too much diacetyl. Probably better for stouts and porters etc. Anyone elses thoughts? Think ill use US05 next time.


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## drtomc (8/7/09)

jimi007 said:


> Hi
> Also does anyone have any suggestions as to anything else i could put in the brew to make it better?



I've made something similar a couple of times.

Royal Oak kit
Morgan's Caramalt (1kg)
DME (e.g 1kg)
Fuggles/EKG/etc hop tea (e.g. 20g)

If I was doing it again, I'd go easy on the DME and use some dex or <gasp> sugar. As it was, the FG ended up a bit high, and the resulting beer was a bit cloying - a portion of dex/sugar gets the extra bit of OG without adding any body. The combination of the first two ingredients gives a beautifully coloured beer.

T.
edit: I meant to point out you could leave out DME and not replace it with dex at all - you'll just end up with a lower alcohol beer, though with the kit + caramalt + some dme (e.g 500g) you'll still have a full strength beer.


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## JaffaMan (10/7/09)

I made one using,

Muntons Blonde 1.5kg
Morgans Liquid Amber Malt Extract 1.5kg
Bag of Cluster hops
and Safale US-05
Total Volume was 21 litres (i think :huh: ?, may have been 22)

Steeped the cluster hops for 10 mins before putting into primary, fermented in primary for one week, then secondary for another.

Been in the bottle for about 3 months now, trying real hard to hang on to the last six pack. Real creamy head, slight caramel aftertaste and a hint of black current. Definetly one of my best ever.

I looked back in my log, and its says that the majority of this brew was done at around 22 degrees due to not beeing able to keep the temp down low enough at that time. It would have been awsome if I had managed to kept the temp below 18.


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## jimi007 (16/7/09)

JaffaMan said:


> I made one using,
> 
> Muntons Blonde 1.5kg
> Morgans Liquid Amber Malt Extract 1.5kg
> ...



I have pretty much done the original recipe and added some treacle in it to sweeten it a bit. I have used the kit yeast as i din't want to wait to order some other yeast online so hopefully turns out ok 

It's sitting at 18 degrees and looking ok at the moment


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## mwd (16/7/09)

The treacle will ferment out leaving you with a molasses flavour not much in sweetness.

Hope you didn't add too much as molasses can be a bit overpowering masking all the amber malt.

I used about 400g in a toucan Stout and you can taste it easily.


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## jimi007 (17/7/09)

Tropical_Brews said:


> The treacle will ferment out leaving you with a molasses flavour not much in sweetness.
> 
> Hope you didn't add too much as molasses can be a bit overpowering masking all the amber malt.
> 
> I used about 400g in a toucan Stout and you can taste it easily.



Not sure how much i used but definitely under 400g. Was maybe around 200g so hopefully still ok.
Beer doesn't taste too bad so far from fermenter.


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## Eyelusion (18/7/09)

jimi007 said:


> Hi
> 
> I'm about to brew some amber ale which contains
> 
> ...




Im starting the same brew this weekend. I'm hoping for a great result.
The only thing I'm changing is that I'm ditching the kit yeast and using either S-04 or US-05.
After reading this thread I'm leaning more towards the US-05.

:beerbang:


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## jimi007 (21/7/09)

In the middle of brewing the amber ale.

The osg started at 1.040 and has now been 1.011 for a couple of days.

The beer has a caramel colour to it and doesn't taste too bad.

Will leave it in the fermenter for a few more days.

Temp has been sitting at 18 degress and used the original Morgans kit yeast.

Just wanted to know if this should be the correct colour for the amber ale or should the beer be clearing up a bit more.


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## Nick JD (22/7/09)

About a year ago I did two brews exactly the same, one at 18 and one at 26 degrees (same yeast, S-04) and decided that the flavour differences were insignificant. YMMV.


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## matti (22/7/09)

nottingham dry yeast  
18-20 
.


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## JaffaMan (22/7/09)

jimi007 said:


> In the middle of brewing the amber ale.
> 
> The osg started at 1.040 and has now been 1.011 for a couple of days.
> 
> ...




The beer probably wont clear up till after a few days of bottle conditioning. Spose you could say caramel, I'm swinging more towards a reddish AMBER colour.


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## buttersd70 (22/7/09)

Nick JD said:


> About a year ago I did two brews exactly the same, one at 18 and one at 26 degrees (same yeast, S-04) and decided that the flavour differences were insignificant. YMMV.



Proof that s04 tastes like crap regardless of the ferment temp? h34r: 

The colur will deepen and intensify as the beer clears, which will happien with bottle conditioning.


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## Nick JD (22/7/09)

buttersd70 said:


> Proof that s04 tastes like crap regardless of the ferment temp? h34r:



What do you recommend as an alternative, and what off-flavours will I taste have gone?


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## buttersd70 (22/7/09)

Nick JD said:


> _What do you recommend as an alternative_, and what off-flavours will I taste have gone?



anything.......
so4 is one of those "love em or hate em" type yeasts. I couldn't give you specifics on the bad flavours....it's sooooo long since I used it, all I remember is I don't like it _one _bit.

Alternatives? Wyeast 1469 (which you cant get anymore) 1026 (similar availability issues) 1275 (easy to get), or even, god forbid, 1968 (yuck). Ringwood (if you don't need high attenuation, and you like esters).

Dried yeast alternatives.....nottingham for higher attenuation, windsor for lower attenuation. Both take a 2 girls one cup stance over s04 imho.

edit for emphasis.

edit take 2: direct response to original question is: best temp depends on yeast strain


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