Amarillo Amber Ale

[Le0]

Planning on brewing an American Amber Ale for my GF's birthday.
I wanted to give Amarillo a try since I never used it and also first time using WY1056. Any advice on this yeast?
Also it will be my first dry hop, I'm not planning to rack to secondary so when would it be the best time to add the hops to my bucket?

Any other comments would be greatly appreciated.

Boil Size: 23.33 l
Post Boil Volume: 20.83 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 19.00 l
Bottling Volume: 18.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.050 SG
Estimated Color: 26.6 EBC
Estimated IBU: 36.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 73.7 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
2.70 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 62.8 %
0.70 kg Smoked Malt (Weyermann) (3.9 EBC) Grain 2 16.3 %
0.50 kg Caramunich III (Weyermann) (Crystal 60) Grain 3 11.6 %
0.40 kg Caraamber (Weyermann) (Biscuit) (70.9 EB Grain 4 9.3 %
20.00 g Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 23.0 IBUs
15.00 g Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 6 10.4 IBUs
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 7 -
15.00 g Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 3.4 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 Yeast 9 -
30.00 g Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Day Hop 10 0.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: 03 BIAB Medium Body (Mash 67)

 

[Bosh]

Why so much smoked malt?

 

[Le0]

Why so much smoked malt?

Well I checked recipes around which used smoked malt and decided on this amount but I have honestly no idea what would be a good amount.

Do you have a suggestion on the amount to use? Will 700g be overpowering?

 

[Sillybilly]

I use 4-5% smoked malt in a brown ale which I find to be good amount without being assertive.

 

[7isntmostrandomnr]

I have never tried amarillo and smoked malt in the same beer, but I think the two flavours will clash rather than complement each other. Amarillo amber does sound delicious btw, so go for that nevertheless. I'd just cut the smoked malt for normal maris otter.

 

[Le0]

I use 4-5% smoked malt in a brown ale which I find to be good amount without being assertive.

Thanks I will lower the quantity of smoked malt.

I have never tried amarillo and smoked malt in the same beer, but I think the two flavours will clash rather than complement each other. Amarillo amber does sound delicious btw, so go for that nevertheless. I'd just cut the smoked malt for normal maris otter.

I'm making this beer for my girlfriend's birthday and she really wants some smokiness. Could you maybe suggest another hop that would fit well with the smoked malt?

 

[saltymirv]

I wanted to comment about the smoked malt, he listed the Weyermann version which is very mild. Some people use up to 75% or more in Rauchbiers. I've used at 25-30% and its subtle. My next Rauchbier I'm going to do 50-60% smoked malt. Using it at 5% would be a waste of even buying it, might as well buy 2 row instead

I'm not sure how it would play with amarillo, since I mostly use it in lagers. I don't see why it wouldn't work though

Also, looking at your recipe, you have an incredible amount of caramel malt. Basically 20% of caramel. That is waaaay too much. I would go up to maybe 8% or so, 10% is the absolute max, otherwise its just going to be too sweet. Maybe try something like 5% medium crystal (cara munich) and 2-3% dark crystal (cara aroma).

 

[NTexBrewer]

Here is a recipe from a kit that I bought from Austin Homebrew Supply that will give you some comparison to what you are attempting. This beer only used Amarillo hops and included 1lb of Mesquite smoked malt.

The beer is very interesting but goes well with BBQ, Steak, etc.

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Texas Independence Pale Ale
Author: Austin Homebrew Supply

Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: American Pale Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.25 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 6.15 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.042
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)


STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.057
Final Gravity: 1.011
ABV (standard): 5.99%
IBU (tinseth): 36
SRM (morey): 10.14

FERMENTABLES:
7.5 lb - American - Pale Ale (68.2%)
1 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 40L (9.1%)
1 lb - American - Smoked Malt (9.1%)
0.5 lb - Canadian - Honey Malt (4.5%)
1 lb - Honey - (late addition) (9.1%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Amarillo, Type: Pellet, AA: 7.7, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 30.01
1 oz - Amarillo, Type: Pellet, AA: 7.7, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 5.98
1 oz - Amarillo, Type: Pellet, AA: 7.7, Use: Dry Hop for 4 days

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Temperature, Temp: 150 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 5 gal, Strike Temp 158
2) Sparge, Temp: 170 F, Time: 10 min, Amount: 2 gal, Dunk Sparge

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
1 each - Whirl flock, Time: 15 min, Type: Fining, Use: Boil
1 each - yeast Nutrient, Time: 15 min, Type: Other, Use: Boil

 

[jjeffers09]

I hope she likes smoked malt in her beers. I think it will overwhelm anything else you got going on in that beer.

 

[7isntmostrandomnr]

Thanks I will lower the quantity of smoked malt.



I'm making this beer for my girlfriend's birthday and she really wants some smokiness. Could you maybe suggest another hop that would fit well with the smoked malt?

Anything earthy or piney will do I guess. Amarillo is more of a tropical kind of hop, thats why I would stay away from it in a smoked beer.

 

[Le0]

I had time to work a little on this recipe, thanks everyone for your suggestions.

So as said, I'm going to use Weyermann Smoked malt which is nowhere near as strong as peated malt. As suggested I upped the amount of smoked malt to 40% and lowered the caramel malts to 10%. Added a rest of munich that I have laying around and want gone.

I left the Amarillo but I might sub it for something else. Maybe Perle or something, I'd rather go for an US hop.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 23.33 l
Post Boil Volume: 20.83 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 19.00 l
Bottling Volume: 18.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.054 SG
Estimated Color: 26.5 EBC
Estimated IBU: 35.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 78.9 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
2.00 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 45.5 %
1.80 kg Smoked Malt (Weyermann) (3.9 EBC) Grain 2 40.9 %
0.25 kg Caramunich I (Weyermann) (100.5 EBC) Grain 3 5.7 %
0.20 kg Caraaroma (Weyermann) (350.7 EBC) Grain 4 4.5 %
0.15 kg Munich I (Weyermann) (14.0 EBC) Grain 5 3.4 %
20.00 g Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 22.2 IBUs
15.00 g Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 7 10.1 IBUs
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 8 -
15.00 g Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 9 3.3 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 Yeast 10 -
30.00 g Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Day Hop 11 0.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: 02 BIAB Light/Medium Body (Mash 66)
Total Grain Weight: 4.40 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 13.20 l of water at 71.5 C 66.0 C 60 min

 

[Steveruch]

I'm making this beer for my girlfriend's birthday and she really wants some smokiness. Could you maybe suggest another hop that would fit well with the smoked malt?

I'd go with something noble or noble like. Perhaps one of the hallertau derived hops: liberty or crystal.

 

[Sillybilly]

I think Northern Brewer would be a good one with this recipe; liberty, crystal, mt hood would also be nice. If it were me, i would save amarillo for an amber that was more caramel-ly and malty.

 

[Le0]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions guys. I think I'm going with Mt.Hood because I never used it and it looks tasty.

 

[7isntmostrandomnr]

Sounds like great stuff. Be sure to tell us how it goes (and ask for impressions from other people who taste it). I might do a smoked beer in the future as well.