Straightforward · 20 litres · all grain
American Amber
Caramel malt and citrus hops arguing politely. The trick is keeping the crystal low enough that the beer still finishes dry, which is where most amber ales go wrong.
Original gravity
1.058
at 72% efficiency
Final gravity
1.015
75% apparent attenuation
Alcohol
5.7%
by volume
Bitterness
31 IBU
Tinseth
Colour
10.5 SRM
21 EBC, Morey
Grain bill
5.30 kg
0.27 kg per litre
Brewed to American Amber Ale, and all five computed figures land inside the published ranges for it.
OG inFG inABV inIBU inSRM inWhat decides this beer
Crystal malt discipline. Amber is a colour, not a sweetness, and the colour here comes as much from Munich and CaraRed as from crystal.
Fermentables
| Malt | Weight | Colour | Extract | Of grist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pale two-row malt | 4.20 kg | 2 L | 37 ppg | 79% |
| Munich malt | 0.50 kg | 10 L | 35 ppg | 9% |
| Crystal 60L Stop here. Crystal above about 10% of the grist leaves a stickiness the hops cannot cut. | 0.40 kg | 60 L | 34 ppg | 8% |
| CaraRed | 0.20 kg | 20 L | 34 ppg | 4% |
Colour and extract are read from the malt reference, not typed into this recipe, so they are the same figures every other page on the site uses.
Crushing your ownGrain mill$92.90Hop schedule
| Hop | Weight | Alpha | Time | Contributes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Centennial | 20 g | 10% | 60 min | 21.5 IBU |
| Cascade | 30 g | 6% | 15 min | 9.6 IBU |
| Centennial Whirlpool 15 minutes below 80C. | 25 g | 10% | 0 min | 0.0 IBU |
Alpha acid varies by crop year and lot, which is why it lives on the recipe rather than on the variety. Brew to the figure printed on your packet and the bitterness will move; the IBU calculator will tell you by how much.
Method
- 01Mash at 66C for 60 minutes.
- 02Boil 60 minutes on the schedule.
- 03Ferment at 19C and let it drop clear; this strain flocculates hard.
- 04Package at 2.4 volumes.
Numbers for the day
- Mash
- 66 C for 60 min
- Strike water at 3 L/kg
- 72.3 C
- Strike volume
- 15.9 L
- Boil
- 60 min
- Ferment
- 18-20 C
- Carbonate to
- 2.4 volumes
- Priming dextrose
- 120 g
- Yeast
- California Ale VWhite Labs WLP051
Strike temperature assumes grain at 20C and priming assumes the beer peaked at 20C after fermentation. Recompute both for your own kitchen on the strike and priming calculators.
For the mashDigital thermometer$12.31
For the fermentTemperature controller$36.00Before you package
Take a gravity reading two days apart and only package when it has not moved. A beer bottled while still fermenting keeps fermenting in the bottle, and the sugar you prime with lands on top of whatever was left. At 2.4 volumes this one needs about 120 g of dextrose for the batch.
To know it has finishedHydrometer and trial jar$21.99