[soymateofeo]

Howdy! I went down to my LHBS with my amber recipe in hand.  Most of my recipes for the past 15 years have been pales, browns, porters and stouts.  Now I haven't made an amber in 15 years or so. This is what I came up with.
8lbs maris otter
1lb munich
1lb crystal 40
1lb crystal 80

So I walked out with they closest they had.  Instead of crystal 80, they had crystal 75.  But before I could leave, my eyes spotted Special B and I remember reading somewhere about special B in amber ales.  That is when a voice in my head said, "Heeeeyyy! You can switch out half of that crystal 75 with .5 lbs of Special B!" So I was wondering if this would be a great idea, or something other than a great idea.

8 lbs maris otter
1 lb munich
1lb crystal 40
.5 lb. crystal 80
.5 lb. Special B
and I'm going to do some kind of hopping with centennial and cascade to get me 30-35 ibus. I like special B in porters and stouts but I am not sure in the amber. It is only 4.5% so ... yah.

[mabrungard]

That recipe has quite a bit of crystal in it and the substitution of Special B may not be any more helpful. Special B is one of those malts that can be overused with undesirable results. It's lovely in nuanced usage, but easily becomes overwhelming.

[Richard]

I agree with Martin about Special B. I use 2 oz per 5 gallons in one of my recipes and that is enough to be tasty without overwhelming. I would leave it out of an amber ale, except in very small amounts.

[denny]

Looks fine to me.

[BrewBama]

Simply as a data point: the Amer Amber recipe I use (based on Josh Weikert’s recipe) has 78% Pale Malt (usually Maris Otter), 7% ea of Munich I, Special Roast, and Cara 45, with the last 1% Pale Chocolate.  Special B and Special Roast are close enough I could sub one for the other.

Your beer your call. Cheers!


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