Saturday, June 4, 2011

Amber Ale Recipe

I picked an amber ale for my first all-grain batch on my new system.  It's a good summer time beer, one that I can put on tap and make available to the general drinker.  I found the original recipe at TastyBrew.com, going by the name of, Air Pirate Amber.  I liked the color and hop profile and became intrigued with the use of Special B.  In my first three all grain brews, I did not use anything beyond a typical Crystal malt, so I picked this one.

I have altered the recipe slightly to be more of a session style beer, by reducing the 2-row from 11 pounds to 9.5 pounds.  I used the ultra-helpful BeerSmith to make my adjustments.

Here is what I ended up with,

9.50lb American 2-row Pale Malt
1.00lb Belgian CaraMunich Malt
0.50lb Belgian Special B Malt

Original Gravity (OG) Estimate: 1.054
Final Gravity (FG) Estimate: 1.013
Estimated Color (SRM) of 15.4

This becomes a lighter beer with some color.  The final gravity leaves it a bit sweet.  I have also tweaked up the hop additions by adding a half ounce to combat that extra sweetness.

Here are the hop additions,

60 minutes 1.50 Oz Cascade (Whole) - start of boil
15 minutes 0.50 Oz Cascade (Whole)
0 minutes 0.50 Oz Cascade (Whole) - flame out

The hop additions assuming a 5.5% alpha ends with an IBU of 30.9.  Per recommendation I went with the old stand-by for dry American Yeasts, Safale US-05.