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altering a recipe size (to make an imperial)

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by GeeL, Oct 11, 2012.

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  1. GeeL

    GeeL Initiate (0) Aug 27, 2008 Massachusetts

    Hi. I'm wondering if I want to make an American Amber an "imperial", do I simply add 50% (don't know if my tun would hold 75-100%) more of everything (including hops) but keep the volume the same? Or isn't it that simple...

    If it's not that simple, can anyone point me in the direction of something along the lines of an imperial American Amber? Or Imperial Brown? I like the malty balance, and not overly hoppy. If I want an Arrogant B. clone, that's what I'd brew...

    Thanks.
     
    #1 GeeL, Oct 11, 2012
  2. LeeryLeprechaun

    LeeryLeprechaun Savant (1,094) Jan 30, 2011 Colorado
    Trader

    I don't think it is going to be that simple. You are going to want to maintain the same ratio of gravity units to IBUs. What you need to watch out for is the final gravity changing. If you up the malt to much the yeast are not going to be able to properly attenuate it and you could end up with a very sweet beer. You may need to add table sugar to try to help dry it out. Are you a member of AHA? If so go to their archive, they had an article on this topic.
     
    #2 LeeryLeprechaun, Oct 11, 2012
  3. premierpro

    premierpro Savant (1,060) Mar 21, 2009 Michigan

    If you post your recipe we could tweek it for you.
     
    #3 premierpro, Oct 11, 2012
    OddNotion likes this.
  4. GeeL

    GeeL Initiate (0) Aug 27, 2008 Massachusetts

    Help tweaking it would be great. I have brewing software, but am new to it so help from more experienced people would be great. It's a basic recipe from the Classic Style book:
    9.25#British pale malt
    1# munich malt
    .75# Crystal 40
    .5# Crystal 120
    .5# Crystal 28 (do they make a 28? I've only seen 25)

    Hops:
    .6 Horizon 13% 60min
    .25 Cascade 6% 10min
    .25 Centennial 9% 10min
    .25 Cascade 6% 0min
    .25 Centennial 9% 0 min

    Yeast: WLP001 (of course, isn't that one of their favorite yeasts?)

    They say this should be around 5% ABV. I'd like to get it closer to 8% or so and have a strong malt backbone.

    I'm not a big Cascade fan, so I would likely either omit them and replace with Centennial (I know, very similar to Cascade, but I don't think as intensely citrusy), or just add one Cascade addition and replace the other with Centennial. With these hops, I'll want a strong malt backbone because they are pretty citrusy.

    Thanks! (I'm open to other ideas too)
     
    #4 GeeL, Oct 11, 2012
  5. GeeL

    GeeL Initiate (0) Aug 27, 2008 Massachusetts

    Hi, here's what I came up with. The bitterness ratio is .400, IBUs 28

    [​IMG]
     
    #5 GeeL, Oct 12, 2012
  6. GeeL

    GeeL Initiate (0) Aug 27, 2008 Massachusetts

    Let me try that again, I copied/pasted from a screen shot...

    13# UK pale malt
    1.25# Munich
    1# Crystal 40
    .75# Crystal 120
    .75# Victory
    .75 oz Horizon @60
    .25 Cascade @10
    .25 Centennial @10
    .25 Cascade @0
    .25 Centennial @0
    White Labs WLP001

    Question: with all the cascade, how grapefruity will this be? What if I use Williamette instead?
     
    #6 GeeL, Oct 12, 2012
  7. Homebrew42

    Homebrew42 Initiate (0) Dec 20, 2006 New York

    1/2 oz of cascade isn't going to make the beer that grapefruity, willamette would make a fine beer too though.
     
    #7 Homebrew42, Oct 12, 2012
  8. Patrick

    Patrick Initiate (0) Aug 13, 2007 Massachusetts

    Just saw this thread, but you probably want to maintain the BU:GU ratio, or at least keep it a bit closer to that of a traditional American Amber. The normal version is around .8, right? You are at half of that. If you don't like Cascade, swap it out for some EKGs or Fuggles. I would suggest a larger bittering charge though, but if you want it to be really malt-centric then leave it as is.
     
    #8 Patrick, Oct 12, 2012
  9. premierpro

    premierpro Savant (1,060) Mar 21, 2009 Michigan

    You have quite a bit of crystal malt in your recipe. I would cut the crystal in half and also the victory. You can add a couple oz. of Roast Barly for color. Good luck.
     
    #9 premierpro, Oct 12, 2012
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