Amber Recipe Critique

Not quite sure what you are shooting for in terms of flavor or style of Amber beer but it looks ok other than the melanoidin, that needs to be mashed. I'd take that out of the recipe.

 

Here I am (crystal malt police):
That is alot of crystal malt, consider the crystal (dextrine) already in the extract plus 11.6% 60°L AND 3.9% Honey malt. With an anticipated 1.074 OG this thing will probably finish somewhere in the mid 20's gravity wise (or higher depending on yeast). I am also getting a much higher anticipated OG even without the melanoiden (which needs to be mashed as mentioned).

For what it's worth, brw it up. But, expect a very sweet (maybe even cloying) beer in the end. Maybe pick a high attenuating yeast that "might" be able to chew through some more of that.

 

I would recommend US-05 yeast. That yeast meets the 'criteria' of "pick a high attenuating yeast" that mnstorm99 mentioned.

Cheers!

 

I agree on the yeast choice, but how much do you really think it would help?

We brew for our own tastes, and I understand that (as a disclaimer). And for my taste I'll push above the 10% crystal malt range very rarely (Amber ales are a style where I would go higher). But, this one is probably around 20% with the crystal malt in the extract which is very high IMO.

 

I think we have discussed the fermentability of Briess Pilsen malt before (I am assuming that the OP’s Pilsen Liquid Extract is Briess).

A typical ‘grain bill’ for my IPA is 7.5 lbs. Briess Pilsen DME with 1 lb. of crystal malt. In a recent batch that beer was OG = 1.062 and a FG = 1.010 using US-05; an apparent attenuation of 83%.

So, while Briess Pilsen malt extract has some Carapils in it (I have no idea what percentage) it is an extremely fermentable malt extract.

I am not a member of the Crystal Malt Police Force so I tend to not comment on recipes with statements like “you have too much crystal malt in that recipe”. I let you cops handle that.

On a related note I have never brewed an Amber Ale so I have no experience to fall back on whether the amount of crystal malt is appropriate.

So, my message to the OP is: mnstorm99 thinks you have too much crystal malt in your recipe. You might want to consider lowering the amount a bit. Maybe something like 1 lb. of 60L Crystal and 0.5 lbs. of Honey Malt would be more ‘appropriate’? Good luck with your Amber Ale!

Cheers!

 

Admitedly, I never used pilsen extract, so that is good to know for future reference.

That would be a better recipe to me, based on your assesment on the pilsen extract as well as dropping a half pound of the crystal.

I joke about the crystal malt police because HB42 used to (seem to) get ticked off at the few of us who seemed to always come to a recipe critique thread and say "too much crystal malt" almost every time. HB42 would attack us sometimes without us even posting yet. So, I always throw it out there as a disclaimer now. Maybe a reason he quit posting, who knows?!??

 

Honey Malt should be mashed as well. Going with no mash at all, you really are pretty restricted as far as what you can use in your malt bill. For an Amber, its pretty much extract and crystal malt.

 

“Honey Malt should be mashed as well.” There seems to be some conflicting information out on the interwebs on this. For example:

“4. BRUMALT Honey (Gambrinus—Can.), aka brumalt; 18°L

* intense, sweet honeyish aroma & flavour

* superb for improving/increasing aroma and colour of darker beers without introducing astringent roast flavours

* good for giving low-alcohol beers flavour & aroma that they might otherwise lack

* enough diastatic power that, if carefully mashed, will self-convert (but amounts of no more than 50% recommended, given its intensity)

* mashing produces fermentables, but extract brewers can steep for flavour & aroma”

Since this malt seems to be ‘built’ for mashing I personally would not use it as a steeping malt.

I suppose I would suggest to the OP to just use 1.5 lbs. of 60L crystal malt (nix the specialty malts of Honey Malt and Melanoiden since they appear to need to be mashed).

Cheers!

 

I agree with Jack's suggestion, the only add I have is instead of using 1.5# 60L, use some portion of 120L. Maybe .5#120L and 1#60L. You're shooting for a big amber at 1.074, I think the 120L will add a nice dimension to it. I do this with my bigger ambers.

I didn't do the calc, but what is your IBU target? It looks a bit under hopped to me. But it all depends what your shooting for.

 

The IBU:SG ratio for amber can vary, your's is about 0.6. I'd say that is on the lower side of the spectrum. So your balance will be more toward the malt side. I've gone as high as 1.2, but most all of the IBU's were flavor additions at 30min or less. But I was going for specific hop profile with that. It really comes down to what you are trying to do.

I haven't used Galena, nor Tett and Perle in combination. Individually they are great hops.

Personally I like to use higher alpha hops at flameout and 5 min. I'll use Tett in lighter OG beers at 5min or less, but I'm not sure you'll get much from the Tett in this case, your OG is fairly high.

Also, C120 defines an amber for me, however, I don't want to aggravate the style police.

Cheers, let us know what you decide.