[Cliffs]

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.

[ravenwater]

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...

[denny]

As a point of comparison, here's my recipe.  It's been very popular with homebrewers.  Northern Brewer even made a kit out of it.


https://web.archive.org/web/20130702141618/http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/WaldoLakeAmberAle

[Cliffs]

As a point of comparison, here's my recipe.  It's been very popular with homebrewers.  Northern Brewer even made a kit out of it.


https://web.archive.org/web/20130702141618/http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/WaldoLakeAmberAle

wow, that is a malty looking grain bill.

[Iliff Ave]

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.

I think that looks great! I'm not a huge fan of crystal malt in general but I think it works well in an Amber. Maybe bump the cara-aroma up to 5%?

[denny]

As a point of comparison, here's my recipe.  It's been very popular with homebrewers.  Northern Brewer even made a kit out of it.


https://web.archive.org/web/20130702141618/http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/WaldoLakeAmberAle

wow, that is a malty looking grain bill.

Yeah, and I tried to get enough hops in to balance it.  Not a fan of sweet ambers.

[roger]

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.

[denny]

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.

Glad you enjoy it!

[Cliffs]

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

[ravenwater]

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?

[tommymorris]

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

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.

[Cliffs]

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?

I’m starting from scratch, I love caraaroma in darker styles of beer but it didn’t work well with this recipe


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BrewBama]

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.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Cliffs]

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.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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

[Cliffs]

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

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.

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