My goal is to brew an Amber Ale that’s real malty but has a lighter body. I’ve added a pound of sugar to this recipe to reduce the amount of non-fermentables. My question is: Will the one pound of sugar decrease the body, while maintaining the malty character? How about 1.5 pounds? Thanks for your replies.
8lb. Six Row
2lb. Munich - 8.5 L
1lb. Raw Sugar - 5 L
6oz. CaraAroma - 130 L
4oz. Crystal - 60 L
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons
Original Gravity
1.056 / 13.8° Plato
Final Gravity
1.014 / 3.6° Plato
Color
13° SRM / 25° EBC
30 mins 0.5 oz Cascade
30 mins 0.5 oz Magnum
20 mins 0.5 oz Cascade
20 mins 0.5 oz Magnum
post-boil 0.5 oz Cascade
post-boil 0.5 oz Magnum
For what it’s worth, my opinion is that you may need to continue to play with the Munich malt percentage while trying various other adjuncts such as rice, honey, corn sugar (you already mentioned) until you get to a point where you consider the beer to be malty while still light and refreshing. The corn sugar will up the alcohol % and maybe lighten the body some, but I would bet you need to think about using some rice in your recipe if you want a lighter body, and then play with the Munich malt to keep it malty. Another option for the malty flavor could be some wheat malt, a very small percentage…just my thoughts.
If you are going to use six row you should really use an adjunct such as flaked maize or rice over just plain sugar. The flaked maize option IME just tastes better than adding simple sugar to the recipe. I also agree with the coments above, more munich might be in order to boost the maltiness, and with the 6 row, munich and flaked main or rice you would have plenty of enzymes. Otherwise I’m not even sure what the 6-row is for.
You also might want to just ditch teh crystal malt completely. I’d also consider going with more “noble” type hops like crystal or hallertauer or tettnanger or something that is less citrusy.
Right. For a malty, low body beer, ditch the adjuncts, they will just reduce the maltiness of the beer, and most-if-not-all of the Crystal Malts, they will add a lot of body, and use a lot of malty-malts, like Munich, Vienna or Mild Malt, then mash low and long.
The light body while retaining the malt character is something I’ve been chasing for years. A particular mouthfeel. Getting the malt right but not the particular mouthfeel…
Anyway you might add a little chloride to the brew kettle. It can enhance maltiness as well.
Actually, the first thing I thought about when I saw the title of this thread was Helles or even Dunkle. Malty lager beers with medium to low body.
I’m not sure I agree completely that the addition of flaked maize would be contrary to what the OP is going for though. A couple pounds of flaked maize in addition to the cara aroma and a munich basemalt (with a good share of pils or 6-row for the enzymes) may be exactly what the OP is looking for. I find that flaked maize lightens the body nicely without thinning the beer out the way sugar does.
I’m thinking something like
40 percent munich
40 percent pils
15 percent flaked maize
5 percent cara aroma or melanoidin or something
Magnum for bittering and moderate amounts of “noble” type aroma hops. I particularly like crystal. Or, simply go bittering addition only. Hops tend to detract from maltiness, though they can give the perception of a thinner body. That’s my take.
Thanks for the thoughtful responses. I’ve never brewed with flaked maize before, but I have brewed with rice before with success.
The six-row is in the recipe because I buy 50-lb. bags from a local brewer, who happens to contract with some local farmers to grow six row. He hasn’t been able to find a viable 2-row variety to grow up here in Northern Wis., yet. Anyway, it’s kind of a cool thing that he does with trying to use local grains and hops.