seymour posted this on jims mmmmmm
No, but here's a good American Amber Ale recipe.
Many of the techniques and ingredients will be familiar to readers of my posts.
SEYMOUR-CHRIS-TEL AMERICAN AMBER ALE
You're gonna love this caramelly ale. I'm gonna share a couple tricks,
so it'll be a fun skill-building exercise, too.
You need some crystal malt but don't buy it.
Measure out a kilo of your base malt, cracked or uncracked,
add some extra to compensate for evaporation, place it in a bowl,
dampen it with some hot water, swirl it all around with your
fingers for even absorption. After awhile, spread it out on a
couple cookie sheets, then bake it in a medium-hot oven until
it looks golden, maybe some browner edges, with some darker spots.
It won't look perfectly consistent like professionally-kilned
crystal malt. It'll cook unevenly, which is to your benefit.
With this single addition, you'll achieve complex results of a
whole spectrum of specialty grains. When the whole room smells
nice and biscuity, remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Don't stress out about it, this is an art not a science.
While you're pacing around the kitchen anyway, swipe some
molasses or dark brown cane sugar from your cabinet, and while
you're at it, grab some breakfast oats, too.
If you want it super-caramelly--which these hops can certainly
handle, think Arrogant *******--lauter some of the first-runnings
into a clean sauce-pan, stir-in the brown sugar, and boil hard til
it starts darkening and thickening into a syrup.
If you add a drop of lemon juice, it'll become
"invert syrup" which is even more fermentable.
Now the room smells even yummier. I have no idea how,
but these crazy-cool aromas will survive all the way
to your pint glass weeks/months from now, which is virtually
impossible with store-bought specialty malts. When the time comes,
add this syrup into your main boil. In the full boil,
add a pinch of gypsum to make the hops pop. Add Irish moss near end for clarity.
I love the idea of reusing your Kölsch yeast.
My second choice (totally different) would be Wyeast 1728,
the delicious McEwans strain from Scotland.
I want you to spend a little extra time and
effort on a two-step mash, which is possible even in
a cooler box. I don't care what anyone says,
it's beneficial to your mash extract rate, especially when
using potentially inefficient lager/pilsner malt and unevenly
baked malts as we are here.
Some advanced steps, I know, but worth it.
This baby's gonna be a reddish copper colour with huge,
fluffy, long-lasting beige foam and lace, lots of grapefruity,
earthy, and pine resin aromas of American hops,
but with a strong true-to-style English Bitter backbone
underneath: sweet malts, husky whole-grain bread, biscuits,
crackers, toast, nuts, caramel, plum syrup, figgy pudding,
fruit-cake, toffee. Some creamy, vanilla, butterscotch notes
from the pils malt. Lighter than expected body due to the
simple sugar addition. Awesome appearance and creamy, silky
mouthfeel from the oats. The pride-of-ownership you'll get
pouring this one will be second-to-none.
all-grain recipe
23 Litres = 5.1 Imperial gallons = 6.1 US gallons
FERMENTABLES:
50% = 5.75 lb = 2.6 kg, English two-row lager malt
20% = 2.3 lb = 1 kg, Pilsner malt
20% = 2.3 lb = 1 kg, Home-roasted malt (? 50-60°L)
6% = .69 lb = 313 g, Dark brown cane sugar (added to boil)
4% = .46 lb = 209 g, Oats (flaked, quick,
steel-cut, porridge, pin-head, Scottish, etc)
HOPS:
.42 oz = 12 g, Centennial, 90 minutes
.42 oz = 12 g, Chinook, 90 minutes
.42 oz = 12 g, Centennial, 10 minutes
.42 oz = 12 g, Chinook, 10 minutes
.42 oz = 12 g, Centennial, dry hops added to secondary fermentor
.42 oz = 12 g, Chinook, dry hops added to secondary fermentor
MASH at 122°F/50°C for 30 minutes then raise to 152°F/67°C, 90-120 minutes total.
BOIL 90 minutes
YEAST: Kölsch strain, or Wyeast 1728, or US-05/Chico if you must.
STATS assume 77% mash efficiency and 75% yeast attenuation:
OG: 1.054
FG: 1.013
ABV: 5.3%
IBU: 36
COLOUR: 13° SRM/26° EBC
(will vary depending on the shade of your home-roasted malt)
Best of luck, and keep me posted!
-Seymour
:thumb: love to make some thing tomorow wots you all think :thumb: :
