Vienna and Aurora malt for Amber Ale

[Piggy Smalls]

Hi guys

I brewed an American amber ale on the weekend using 72% (5kg) Vienna malt and 28% (2kg) Aurora malt for a 28L batch. Hopped with Mosaic and Cascade and pitched US05 dry yeast.

Has anyone got any experience using Aurora malt for this kind of beer and did it turn out any good? I usually use Marris Otter or American Ale malt and brew SMASH beers so this is a little bit different for me and I am not sure what to expect. I can find very little online about people's experiences using Aurora and can find absolutely nothing about this combination of malts which has me a little worried that I am going to be way off the mark. I am hoping to get a solid malt backbone but still for the hops to shine through. OG was 1.053 so I am expecting about 5.8-6.5% ABV.

 

[MHB]

A 100% Vienna is going to be big bodied and amber. Haven't used Aurora, but it reads Melanoidin which is going to give you more big and amber.
Without knowing a shed load more about what you did in terms of mash profile, boil time target IBU's... its largely guess work.
Lets just say Its the sort of thing I would make 3 months out from winter for a sit and sipper, we can be fairly confidant it wont be a pale summer throw down.

Wouldn't it be better to ask this sort of question before you brew?
Mark

 

[Piggy Smalls]

A 100% Vienna is going to be big bodied and amber. Haven't used Aurora, but it reads Melanoidin which is going to give you more big and amber.
Without knowing a shed load more about what you did in terms of mash profile, boil time target IBU's... its largely guess work.
Lets just say Its the sort of thing I would make 3 months out from winter for a sit and sipper, we can be fairly confidant it wont be a pale summer throw down.

Wouldn't it be better to ask this sort of question before you brew?
Mark

Thanks MHB. Yep I probably should have asked first and then brewed...

I was going for big and amber but I agree I may have gone overboard considering this will be bottle conditioned and ready to drink around Xmas time. Brewers Friend estimated SRM of 12 but it looks dark in the fermenter.

I went for 40 IBUs mainly as a first worst addition of mosaic plus 5 min additions of mosaic and cascade of 30g each so hopefully there is enough hop character left over under all the malt sweetness. Will be interesting to see how it turns out.

 

[MHB]

I get about twice that colour, closer to 45EBC or 22.5SRM give or take.

Likely to pull up over 1.014, even 1.016 depending on your yeast, Christmas I suspect will be infanticide, try it but I think keeping it for cold weather drinking will be better.
Mark

 

[eastgummy]

They say it´s like melanoidin, but for me Aurora is closer to Aromatic malt. It´s like a light crystal malt but not as sweet caramel-y. All my beers with Aurora have a Belgian vibe, maybe it´s self suggestion.

I agree with mhv, I would say it will be a little darker than 12SRM and it sounds something better suited for autumn than summer.
But as he said, without knowing the mash temp, IBUs, dry hopping, ... if you mashed at 63ºC, 30IBU and heavily dry hopped it, it will be a nice and drinkable hoppy amber.

 

[Piggy Smalls]

Thanks guys I will dry hop with the rest of my mosaic and wait and see how it comes out.
I’m curious about the colour now, will post a pic in a few weeks.