Amber too bland

[masonsjax]

I made this Amber ale that turned out pretty good, but it's a little on the bland side. I like the color, the mouthfeel, the alcohol levels, and really, it's not too bad, but it's just less flavorful than I was expecting. If you close your eyes, you'd think it was a much lighter colored beer. If I make it again, I'd like it to be a little roastier, maybe nuttier, but keep the color about the same. This yeast is very spicy, kinda a cloves and black pepper kinda spice. Any recommendations on what tweaks I should make to beef up the heavy flavors a little, without making it too dark, or conflicting with the yeast profile too much? Thanks in advance for the feedback.

Batch size: 5.25 Gal
Est OG: 1.057
Est FG: 1.014
Est IBU: 28
Est color: 14 SRM
Est ABV: 5.5%

9 lbs 2 Row Malt
.5 lbs Munich Malt
.5 lbs Cara Amber Malt
.25 lbs Crystal 60L
.25 lbs Crystal 120L
.25 lbs Special B
.25 lbs CaraPils

.75 oz German Northern Brewer [6.0%] @ 60
.25 oz Willamette [4.5%] @ 20
.25 oz Willamette [4.5%] @ 10

White Labs WLP550 Belgian Ale Yeast

Mash 154F for 60 mins.
Boil 60 mins.

As brewed:
OG: 1.056
FG: 1.009
ABV: 6.17%

 

[KingBrianI]

If you up the munich to about 2 lbs and the crystal 60 to a half a pound, you'll get a lot more malt backbone and rich medium caramel flavor, and I think it would be just the thing you're looking for. It would be slightly darker, and if you mind, you could probably drop the special b to get the color back down. Also, flameout/whirlpool hops would give it a nice aroma that would act to enhance the impression of flavor.

 

[BenS]

add .5lb munich. or just replace .5lb of 2row with munich. And add a 5 min hop addition for flavor. my 2cents

EDIT. after thinking about my past recipes. I use vienna as a base malt to most of my 12-18 SRM reds and it really makes the malt profile stand out in my opinion. But this might be alot more modification than you were looking for.