87% Golden Promise
10%light munich
3% cara-aroma
OG 1.050
FG 1.012
Hops
Bittering hops to reach at total of 30 IBU’s (factoring in late addition hops)
.75 ounces US goldings at 10 minutes
.75 ounces Comet at 10 minutes
Softish water, 40ppm CASO4 and Cacl, mash ph 5.4
fermented with WL Edingurgh Ale yeast, spunded in the keg
This will be my first crack at an amber ale, it seems like a style that is going by the wayside, but one that I’ve enjoyed alot. Im going for the lighter end of the style spectrum but with a noticable bitterness and mild american hop character. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
American amber ale is a style that does tend to have a particular character that defines it - balanced between bitter and malt or more malt forward with a bit more sweetness compared with typical American pale ale, without the hops flavor/aroma being to in-you-face. That said, it’s also a style that is very broadly interpreted. Excellent examples can be found that are all over the map, flavor-wise. I’d say you’re on the right track but also comment that typically recipes tend to have a bit more crystal/caramel type malts and/or rely on more Munich to bump the maltiness. I see a lot of recipes that exceed 10% crystal/caramel. So with your cara-aroma at 3% possibly consider adjusting that upward just a tidge but maybe not much since your target is “the lighter end of the style spectrum.” Practically any base malt can be utilized, golden promise seems just fine. Given your gravities my two cents worth would be that you’ll get “noticeable” bitterness at a range of 20-25 IBU whereas 30 IBU might tilt it away from balanced more toward assertive bitterness. Let’s see what others’ input here is…
From my viewpoint Amber Ale is still very popular.
I’ve brewed Waldo Lake Amber more than a few times. Some examples do get too sweet for my taste. This is a great beer, and I don’t bother to tweak the recipe, its good to go for me.
Update on the beer. Altogether its a nice beer, but it totally misses the mark. Its not malty or toasty enough to be an amber, and it kind of tastes like an underhopped pale ale. An enjoyable beer, but not at all what I was hoping for
So now do you have a sense of what you’d adjust to get nearer your imagined target, or are you maybe thinking start back from scratch to develop a solid amber recipe?
Is there a particular malt flavor you are looking for? bready, toasty, chocolate, nutty, roast, etc? That would probably guide the specialty malt you use.
I like the hoppy American amber ale myself. But, there seems to be a wide range of flavors in various amber ale recipes.
When I decide to brew a style where I want to develop my own recipe, I start with the guidelines for ideas and consult other recipes.
In this case it says “Pale ale malt, typically North American two-row. Medium to dark crystal malts. May also contain specialty grains which add additional character and uniqueness. …”
So… I’d probably start with a basic recipe something like this:
90% Base (Pale Ale, or combo 70/30 Pale Ale+Munich)
5% C60 or 80 (med Crystal)
5% Melanoidin (specialty)
…and go from there adjusting % as you go:
Madtree Amber adds Victory to the base recipe
Denny replaces the C60 or 80 with a double dose of CaraRed (which is a Med Crystal) in Waldo Lake
Jamil replaces the C60 or 80 and Melanoidin with a combo of C40+120 and Victory in BCS
Replace the Melanoidin with Choc (Carafa) and Corn and you have Ken’s tip of the hat to Shiner.
awesome info, I will be using this to formulate a new recipe, perhaps
90% Golden Promise
5%c80
5%biscuit malt
same yeast, water, PH, OG and hopefully FG as before
I’m going to keep the hop charge similar, but I found the hop flavor and aroma lacking a little bit, so I’ll increase the Golding and Comet charge to 1 ounce each
I think I want a well cooked toast character with more classic old school brewpub crystal malt flavor, so Im going to add 5%biscuit and C80 and cut the caraaroma
I like the kind of biscuity or bread crust flavor biscuit malt imparts and often use a touch of it in a pale or IPA but for a richer more toasted bread flavor or slight nuttiness I’ve done my own oven toasting of a base malt, especially Maris Otter - got the idea from John Palmer’s How To Brew book (chapter 20 in the available online text). I spread the grain on a cookie sheet and place in an oven at about 300 degrees for 30 minutes or so, of course keeping an eye that it doesn’t over toast. It can go a bit past the point of smelling kind of like oatmeal cookies to impart a pleasantly mild toasty/nutty element I find very appropriate for an amber ale and have used in British bitters.