American Amber recipe critique.

[Justdrumin]

Im goin for a nice balanced Amber ale. This will be my first all grain batch as well as my first batch on my new 17.5 gallon brew kettle. I still need to do a test boil to see what kind of boil off with it because this thing is huge. After that it may or may not need some tweaking. I was gonna Do single infusion mash at 152*F with mash out and I'm gonna go with notty at 68*F. I don't have a lot of experience with notty. So if you recommend a different temp, please do. Thanks!

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: American Amber Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.036
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.049
Final Gravity: 1.011
ABV (standard): 4.93%
IBU (tinseth): 39.28
SRM (morey): 15.58

FERMENTABLES:
8 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (75.3%)
1 lb - American - Munich - Light 10L (9.4%)
1 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 40L (9.4%)
0.5 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 120L (4.7%)
2 oz - American - Chocolate (1.2%)

HOPS:
0.5 oz - Magnum, Type: Pellet, AA: 15, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 29.45
0.6 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Aroma for 15 min, IBU: 8.18
0.3 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Aroma for 5 min, IBU: 1.64

 

[pdxal]

I'd go a little cooler with the Nottingham, perhaps 65.
Also, that's a lot of crystal malt in a 5.5 gallon recipe. I'd dial it back to about a pound, with perhaps a mix of C40 and C80. C120 is going to give you some raisin/dark fruit flavors you might not want. I'd think more caramel flavors instead. If you don't need the chocolate for color correction, I'd drop it. Small amount, but could effect the flavor a little. Hopping looks good.

 

[Justdrumin]

I'd go a little cooler with the Nottingham, perhaps 65.
Also, that's a lot of crystal malt in a 5.5 gallon recipe. I'd dial it back to about a pound, with perhaps a mix of C40 and C80. C120 is going to give you some raisin/dark fruit flavors you might not want. I'd think more caramel flavors instead. If you don't need the chocolate for color correction, I'd drop it. Small amount, but could effect the flavor a little. Hopping looks good.

I was a little worried that was gonna be too much crystal as well. At 15% it seemed like a lot, but I wasn't sure. Maybe more like 10% then? I wanted the 120 for those raisin/plum notes and I wanted the chocolate for some color and a touch of roasty notes as well. I've used notty once and I fermented on the lower side at 62*F. I wasn't sure how it was a little on the higher side. So I'll try 65*F then. Thanks!

 

[Weezy]

10% crystal sounds better. I think your crystal combo and ratio sounds fine. Mash 152 max. I'd probably target 150 on my system but ymmv.

Have any other flavor hops to supplement the cascade at 15 min? a little complexity there will make it even more interesting.

Good luck with the new rig!

 

[beergolf]

I do am amber that is pretty close to your recipe.

Mine uses

8lb 2-row
2lb munich
12oz. C40
12 oz C 80.

Good luck with your brew and your new brew kettle.

 

[dkevinb]

Wow, I'm drinking an amber I just did that's virtually identical, except I added some biscuit and made it a bit hoppier. If you're anything like me you're really going to like it. It's got a great malt/hop balance. I find it reminiscent of Anderson Valley's Boont Amber.

8 lb 2-Row
1 lb Munich malt
1 lb Crystal 60L
½ lb Belgian biscuit
2 oz Chocolate

½ oz Magnum 13.0% 60 min
1 oz Cascade 6.8% 15 min
1 oz Cascade 6.8% 5 min

 

[tadkays]

I love Amber Ales. I would also drop the C-120 and do 8oz each of C-40 and C-80 instead. You could add some Victory/Biscuit for some toasty flavors if you wanted as well. I would also suggest throwing in some flameout hops ~2oz and ~2oz of dry hops after ferment is complete.

 

[Justdrumin]

10% crystal sounds better. I think your crystal combo and ratio sounds fine. Mash 152 max. I'd probably target 150 on my system but ymmv.

Have any other flavor hops to supplement the cascade at 15 min? a little complexity there will make it even more interesting.

Good luck with the new rig!

I don't have anything on hand at the moment. I don't have the means to store a back stock of things unfortunately. Maybe when we buy a house. I'm goin to the LHBS Saturday. So I'm all ears to suggestions.

Wow, I'm drinking an amber I just did that's virtually identical, except I added some biscuit and made it a bit hoppier. If you're anything like me you're really going to like it. It's got a great malt/hop balance. I find it reminiscent of Anderson Valley's Boont Amber.

8 lb 2-Row
1 lb Munich malt
1 lb Crystal 60L
½ lb Belgian biscuit
2 oz Chocolate

½ oz Magnum 13.0% 60 min
1 oz Cascade 6.8% 15 min
1 oz Cascade 6.8% 5 min

This is what I was going for. I'm finding myself leaning more towards malt forward brews. So with this I wanted a good balance with a good malt base. The IBU's weren't a bit on the high side with a full ounce for the cascade additions?

I love Amber Ales. I would also drop the C-120 and do 8oz each of C-40 and C-80 instead. You could add some Victory/Biscuit for some toasty flavors if you wanted as well. I would also suggest throwing in some flameout hops ~2oz and ~2oz of dry hops after ferment is complete.

I kinda feel like that would be a bit hoppy for what I'm goin for here. If anything I'd like the malt to shine a bit more than hops. I also got the 40/120 combo from Yoopers Hoppy American Amber or Malty American Pale Ale? recipe. She uses 7% C40 and 4% C120 in her recipe. So I thought I'd use 7% C40 and 3% C120.

 

[tadkays]

Suit yourself & brew on. My experience is C-120 = raisin and out of style. I do encourage experimentation! I am at 77 batches. thinking a no crystal pale is next.

 

[Justdrumin]

Suit yourself & brew on. My experience is C-120 = raisin and out of style. I do encourage experimentation! I am at 77 batches. thinking a no crystal pale is next.

That's what I was goin for with the 120. I thought that might be a nice touch. I'm not entirely sure if it's necessarily out of style though is it? I kinda figured if Yooper did it...it's good in my book. Her recipe looks great and her tasting notes sound like they're right on point. It'll be a fun experiment to see if I like it though.

 

[tadkays]

Go forth and conquer!

 

[Weezy]

I don't have anything on hand at the moment. I don't have the means to store a back stock of things unfortunately. Maybe when we buy a house. I'm goin to the LHBS Saturday. So I'm all ears to suggestions.

Amarillo, Ahtanum, Centennial, or maybe Crystal.

 

[Justdrumin]

Amarillo, Ahtanum, Centennial, or maybe Crystal.

I was thinkin about doing 1/2 ounce magnum at 60, 1 ounce of cascade at 15, and an ounce of Amarillo at flameout. Thoughts? I just kicked a keg of centennial apa, so I'd like to change that up a bit. I know my LHBS won't have any ahtanum or crystal as well.

 

[Weezy]

sounds good! save me some!

 

[Justdrumin]

If you come to Georgia and the keg hasn't kicked, you're more than welcome to it!

 

[dkevinb]

This is what I was going for. I'm finding myself leaning more towards malt forward brews. So with this I wanted a good balance with a good malt base. The IBU's weren't a bit on the high side with a full ounce for the cascade additions?

41 IBU, so a little higher than the average amber, but it has enough malt backbone to balance it. If you want more malt forward your hop schedule will work fine.

 

[Justdrumin]

41 IBU, so a little higher than the average amber, but it has enough malt backbone to balance it. If you want more malt forward your hop schedule will work fine.

Sounds great! I'm lookin forward to this one. Should be a great brew. I'll let yall know how it come out!

 

[Justdrumin]

So my LHBS was out of Amarillo. So I decided to go with chinook. What do yall think about magnum bittering, cascade at 15, and chinook at flameout?

 

[Weezy]

You could use any three of those for bittering. Schedule sounds fine to me.