American Amber Ale Recipe

[3G]

I have loads of munich around, any critique on the recipe.
Cheers


Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L): 40.90 Wort Size (L): 40.90
Total Grain (kg): 8.65
Anticipated OG: 1.050 Plato: 12.40
Anticipated SRM: 16.6
Anticipated IBU: 31.2
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
96.0 8.30 kg. Weyermann Munich I Germany 1.038 8
1.7 0.15 kg. Chocolate Malt Great Britain 1.034 475
2.3 0.20 kg. Crystal 150L Great Britain 1.033 150

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
75.24 g. Cascade Whole 5.75 27.2 FWH
30.69 g. Cascade Whole 5.75 4.0 10 min.
30.69 g. Cascade Whole 5.75 0.0 Dry Hop


Yeast
-----

 

[Fourstar]

needs more crystal! Mine usually have anywhere b/w 8-13% crystal. Thats the definig factor b/w an APA and a AAA. Lots of crystal sweetness and a touch of choc malt (in most instances) Currently its more like a dark APA with a touch of choc malt.

I'd go around 2% of the 120-150L cara and around 7% 20-30L crystal


Say
OG still 1.050
91% Munich
7% Crystal 20-30L
2% Crystal 120-150L

I'd also up the hopping so you have BU:GU of around 80%~

FWH = 32 IBU
20 min = 8 IBU
40g Flameout addition
Dry hopping the same

Yummmm.

 

[raven19]

My only comment is I may need to be there to supervise!

Is is a low % of specialt malts, but cant expand on benefits or otherwise on that item...

 

[3G]

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L): 40.90 Wort Size (L): 40.90
Total Grain (kg): 9.15
Anticipated OG: 1.053 Plato: 13.00
Anticipated SRM: 21.5
Anticipated IBU: 40.3
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
90.7 8.30 kg. Weyermann Munich I Germany 1.038 8
1.6 0.15 kg. Chocolate Malt Great Britain 1.034 475
7.7 0.70 kg. Crystal 150L Great Britain 1.033 150

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
30.69 g. Cascade Whole 5.75 0.0 Dry Hop
81.18 g. Cascade Whole 5.75 32.2 First WH
37.62 g. Cascade Whole 5.75 8.1 20 min.
40.59 g. Cascade Whole 5.75 0.0 0 min.


Yeast
-----

 

[T.D.]

Are you using a 100% munich base just because you have heaps of it? A good chunk of munich is often used but I've never seen a 100% munich base AAA. Then again, should be nice, the high-ish IBU should help balance it out. She'll be pretty chewy with that grain bill!

 

[3G]

yeah, got 30 kilo , will make a bock as well to use some up.

 

[Fourstar]

Back off on the Dark Crystal 3G. It will be too rich/rasiny. Unless thats what you want?!? 4%> will be pushing belgian dubel flavours. do you not have any other crystals in stock? any light crystals at all then? Even like a really light crystal, Just somethig to give it sweetness to balance the richness of the 150L.. Also remember the munich will be quite rich so it needs to be balanced out.

I will reiterate, a AAA need 'sweetness' and a hint of roastiness, thats their clincher from being a APA. All you are doing with 150L Crystal is adding a deep rich toffe/caramel (like a burnt toffee flavour) that can be very OTT if used in excess. (opps i forgot the choc malt in the recipe i posted 1st off.)

As i said, i'd go with something like:

OG still 1.050
91% Munich
7% Crystal 20-30L (this can be anything up to a 60L crystal, personally i'd keep it on the low end of the SRM)
2% Crystal 120-150L
1% Choc Malt.

Hops are now spot on mate!

 

[3G]

No other crystal in stock, will get some from Wayne, maybe a light cara will do it

 

[Fourstar]

No other crystal in stock, will get some from Wayne, maybe a light cara will do it

spot on my good man, drop the dark crystal to around 2-3% and topoff with the light crystal. :icon_cheers:

 

[T.D.]

Sorry to add a conflicting view on this, but I have always found lighter crystals to be more cloying than the darker ones. Carared is the only exception to the rule - it seems to be able to tolerate higher rates. But I have often used 7%+ JW Dark Crystal and never had a problem with cloying flavours. I must say with all that munich my preference would be for more dark than light crystal.

 

[sponge]

Hey all,

Just doing a bit of grave digging..

Planning on doing an AAA fairly soon as I have a little bit of amber malt laying around

How does the following sound..?


70% ale
10% amber
10% munich
4% caramalt
4% light crystal
2% choc

1.050

Cascade, Centennial and CTZ late hopped to 35-40IBU's

US05

Any recommendations or alterations I should make on the above recipe, or does someone have a holy grail of AAA recipes lying around?

Cheers,


Sponge

 

[argon]

Any recommendations or alterations I should make on the above recipe, or does someone have a holy grail of AAA recipes lying around?

Here's some recent chatter about American Ambers... One of my favourite styles.

A good strategy to take with these is to keep thing's simple.
The one I mention in the above link is very simple and turned out great. On the rebrew I tweaked it with complexity and haven't enjoyed the results nearly as much as the original.

Here's the recipe below;

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Amarillo Brown Amber
Brewer: Argon
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Brown Amber Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 47.00 L
Boil Size: 54.40 L
Estimated OG: 1.060 SG
Estimated Color: 19.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 51.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.91 kg Ale Malt (Barrett Burston) (3.0 SRM) Grain 90.00 %
1.32 kg Special B (Dingemans) (147.5 SRM) Grain 10.00 %
40.00 gm Amarillo [6.80 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
40.00 gm Chinook [11.00 %] (60 min) Hops 21.2 IBU
40.00 gm Cascade [5.00 %] (30 min) Hops 7.4 IBU
40.00 gm Amarillo [6.80 %] (30 min) Hops 10.1 IBU
40.00 gm Cascade [5.00 %] (10 min) Hops 3.5 IBU
80.00 gm Amarillo [6.80 %] (10 min) Hops 9.5 IBU
0.50 tsp Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Boil 60.0 min) Misc
0.50 tsp Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 13.24 kg
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 33.23 L of water at 70.4 C 63.0 C
10 min Mash Out Decoct 14.61 L of mash and boil it 75.6 C

 

[SJW]

This is the one I just did and am drinking now. Needed more hops, so I think your 31 IBU's are perfect. Also could of used more crystal.
This was a clone of the Fat Tire Amber Ale from Brewbuilder

Ingredients


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
3950.000 g Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 78.8 %
275.000 g Caramalt (Thomas Fawcett) (29.6 EBC) Grain 2 5.5 %
250.000 g Biscuit Malt (45.3 EBC) Grain 3 5.0 %
250.000 g Carafoam (Weyermann) (3.9 EBC) Grain 4 5.0 %
250.000 g Munich I (Weyermann) (14.0 EBC) Grain 5 5.0 %
35.000 g Chocolate Malt (Thomas Fawcett) (1000.8 EBC) Grain 6 0.7 %
30.00 g Willamette [4.90 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 7 17.1 IBUs
15.00 g Fuggles [3.90 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 8 3.9 IBUs
15.00 g Fuggles [3.90 %] - Boil 1.0 min Hop 9 0.3 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 ml] Yeast 10 -

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.051 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.051 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.0 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.1 %
Bitterness: 21.2 IBUs Calories: 477.8 kcal/l
Est Color: 17.9 EBC

 

[sponge]

Yea i was thinking some Special B would go down preeeetty nicely in an amber. Would give it a nice fruity/nutty edge.

I don't have any spec b on hand, but do have caraaroma, so I may have to play a bit with that instead.

Would it be worth tweaking the grain bill to incorporate...?

70% ale
10% munich
10% amber
6% caraaroma
4% light crystal

or remove the munich and bump the ale up to 80%.... orrrr, remove the munich, and bump ale to 75%, aroma to 10%, and crystal to 5%?

I think ill keep it as 1.050 and 35-40IBU to make it a little more 'quaffable' so to speak, not saying yours wouldnt be at all though argon. Just thinking I already have a couple of 'stronger' APA's atm, and wouldnt mind a more standard strength amber.


Sponge

 

[argon]

Caraaroma is a good sub for spec b and great in an amber where you want those caramel notes to come through.

With what you've got, I'd just go;
80% ale
15% Munich
5% caraaroma

I got away with 10% dark crystal because I upped the bitterness to a little over 50Ibu. I think if you want the bitterness at 35 or so, 5-7.5% of a dark crystal like caraaroma would be great.

 

[sponge]

PS. Argon, did you ever end up making the 90% GP, 10% Spec B amber? Ive got a sack of GP waiting to be used and could maybe do something similar with 80% GP, 10% Amber, 10% Aroma (because I don't have the Spec B on hand, but probably wouldnt hurt grabbing a couple of kilo's of it)


Sponge



EDIT: just read your reply. Sounds like a pretty good idea. Might have to tee it up for the weekend me thinks and use up a few small bits and pieces of US hops I have lying around (small bit of amarillo, cascade and citra and can make up the IBUs - if need be - with CTZ)

 

[argon]

Never ended up using the GP in the amber. I just tweaked it too far with bits and pieces I had at hand. Added biscuit, Munich and some wheat. Should never have done it.

However, GP and 10% dark crystal would be great in my opinion. Just some nice undertones of nuttiness under the caramel.

 

[SJW]

Just dont panic too much, just use whatever u can get....after all, its just beer.
Whatever u use will be fine.

 

[sponge]

Yea I wasn't overly concerned with the exact grains used for ambers, more just what percentages to play with to obtain a decent sweetness and nuttyness without being over the top.

Thanks for all the suggestions none the less.

Might have a go at

75% ale (GP or pale)
10% munich
8% aroma
7% amber

1.050

then make up 35-40IBU's by cube hopping various amounts of american hops I have small quantities of.

Thanks for all the suggestions


Sponge

 

[kyleg]

Hi guys, wanted to run my amber ale recipe by you all to get some feedback.

I got the recipe from brewing classic styles but changed it a little. Using different hops as i've used cascade and centennial quite a bit and i am a little over citrusy hoppy beers at the moment. I'm aiming for a nicely balanced amber ale with no 'over the top' hopiness, as i've been drinking alot of IPA's lately. I'm using EKG as im just curious to see what they are like, would they be alright in an amber? And using magnum for a clean bittering hop. I do have a little bit of centennial left in the freezer from my last brew (maybe 20-30g) which i'd be willing to use a little bit of to add more depth to it if needed.

Cape ST Amber (American Amber Ale)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.053 (P): 13.1
Final Gravity (FG): 1.013 (P): 3.3
Alcohol (ABV): 5.21 %
Colour (SRM): 12.0 (EBC): 23.6
Bitterness (IBU): 39.1 (Average)

75% Pale Malt
10% Munich I
7% Crystal 40
4% Crystal 120
4% Victory

1 g/L Magnum (13% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
0.7 g/L East Kent Golding (4.7% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
0.7 g/L East Kent Golding (4.7% Alpha) @ 1 Minutes (Boil)


Single step Infusion at 66C for 60 Minutes. Boil for 60 Minutes

Fermented at 20C with Wyeast 1272 - American Ale II


Recipe Generated with BrewMate

Thanks in advance for the feedback. !

Kyle