Looking for advice/suggestions/critique of a 'Use Up' Amber recipe

[Neale]

I've got a lot of small quantities of grain and hops that I need to use up so I have put together a recipe using most of it.

Its sort of supposed to be an american amber but I'm not sure if its all that close. Not that I'm bothered about what category it might fall into though I just dont want it to be drinkable, fairly malty with some reasonable hop character. Any suggestions are welcome, even if it ends up closer to a bitter/esb or whatever.

I bought the MO malt and the chinook hops for the recipe then everything else is just what I had left. I have got a bit more chocolate and roast barley and some more Chinook. I'm probably going to make a stout at some point so the chocolate and roast barley will get used eventually.

Here a link to the brewfather recipe as it is at the moment
https://web.brewfather.app/share/yL318Kz1T8UOqt

Or if its easier for anyone

Vitals​

Batch Volume: 13L
Original Gravity: 1.045
Final Gravity (Adv): 1.010
IBU (Tinseth): 32
BU/GU: 0.72
Colour: 20.5 EBC

Mash​

Temperature — 69 °C — 60 min
Mash Out — 75 °C — 10 min

Malts (2.555 kg)​

2 kg (78.3%) — Crisp Extra Pale Maris Otter® Malt — Grain — 3.4 EBC
170 g (6.7%) — Crisp Light Munich Malt — Grain — 22 EBC
140 g (5.5%) — Crisp Dextrin Malt — Grain — 3 EBC
95 g (3.7%) — Crisp Flaked Torrefied Barley — Grain — 4 EBC
51 g (2%) — Crisp Cara Malt — Grain — 30 EBC
46 g (1.8%) — Crisp Low Colour Chocolate Malt — Grain — 550 EBC
40 g (1.6%) — Crisp Cara Gold Malt — Grain — 15.5 EBC
13 g (0.5%) — Crisp Roast Barley — Grain — 1375 EBC

Hops (72.5 g)​

4 g (6 IBU) — Chinook 11.3% — Boil — 20 min
8.1 g (3 IBU) — Fuggle 5% — Boil — 10 min
5 g (4 IBU) — Amarillo 8.9% — Boil — 10 min
2.2 g (1 IBU) — Challenger 6.1% — Boil — 10 min
2.2 g (1 IBU) — Progress 5.2% — Boil — 10 min
11 g (7 IBU) — Chinook 11.3% — Boil — 5 min
40 g (10 IBU) — Chinook 11.3% — Aroma — 30 min hopstand @ 75 °C

 

[samale]

First up I would not mash at 69. I would drop the chocolate and roasted barley from the mash. I would add it at mash out to adjust the colour.

 

[Neale]

The higher mash temperature is just to try and keep the ABV down a bit and to keep a bit of sweetness.

I dont mind a bit of chocolate flavour in my beers but I did wonder if it might seem a bit wrong in an amber'ish beer.

 

[Sadfield]

It'll be malty and hoppy, and taste like beer. You've gone through a thought process to create the recipe, made decisions on malt and hop amounts, now brew it to compete the learning experience.

 

[Neale]

Just been looking through Greg Hughes book and it looks like chocolate and roast barley are often used in bitters, scottish shilling and altbeers. So I think I'll leave them in but maybe reduce the chocolate a bit. Would 1% Low chocolate malt be particularly noticable? I want it to be there in the background but not for it to over power the hops.

As you say Sadfield, its all a learning experience.