Have Jamil’s Evil twin on the schedule for next weekend. The first time I brewed this recipe, I was still on extract and therefore not concerned with my water profile so much. Jamil’s write up on it talks of the malty body and hop flavor, so I am guessing I want to use Amber full for the malty body, the hops are all about flavor being just late additions. He also mentions the smooth bitterness, with no standard bittering charge. Does Amber full sound right to you guys?
Thanks Steve, I use Martin’s Pale Ale profile for my IPA, just was not sure if it was right with the more amber color and the focus on malt for this beer. Do you think that profile since its mainly a reddish IPA/APA type of brew, rather than a true Amber Ale? Its not a brew I will likely make again in the near future (maybe 1x per year even though its been longer than that since I made it last) so no real time to “find” out what I like and tweak it regularly. That’s why I was looking for thoughts.Thanks again
I use one of the two profiles for anything that is relatively close to being an IPA. I do make slight adjustments if needed for pH concerns, but otherwise I love that profile. I think McDole has said he uses it for most of his beers.
Frank, if you really want the malt to pop more Amber Balanced might be better than Full, which might be over the top malty for a hoppy beer. Amber bitter is a good option without the higher sulfate level of Pale Ale profile. Depends on what you’re after.
Thanks Jon, I guess I really need to figure out what the goal is. I know that I liked it the first time I brewed it, but the Lady of the House did not. She is anti anything IPA, so I guess I’m hoping to brew this somewhere in the middle so that we can both enjoy it. Maybe the Amber Balanced gets me there, maybe not. I think for sure that any of the dry profiles will not be to her liking until I am able to better assimilate her into the wonderful world of IPA. The main reason I am brewing this again, is that I am trying to revisit my extract brews in AG form and I did enjoy it a lot the first time
Good luck. My wife isn’t any closer to liking hoppy beers than she was when I met her. She likes the smell of tropical hops, takes once sip and it’s like I gave her a glass of poo.
I have really been digging most of the “balanced” water profile from Martin in his software lately. The “malty” profiles are just too much for my tastes (almost cloying) and the “bitters” sometimes dry out the finish too much. Although I did use yellow bitter for my last saison and really enjoyed it, but that has a naturally dry finish anyway.
I vote to try McDoles water profile for this one as well. A quick search for Tasty’s water profile will get you there.
They got back to me, not sure if it was actually Jamil or not, and suggested a balanced profile with “not a lot of gypsum” so I will likely go with either pale ale profile and reduce the gypsum, or amber balanced. Thanks again for the contact info @Steve in TX