Brewer's Cache » American Amber Ale

July 17, 2007: So Long Elaine, Hello Sim City

brewbaron — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 01:17:16 +0000

Just finished the last glass of Elaine’s Big Head Pale Ale and the keg went dry. The hop flavor of this beer mellowed out nicely over time hoppyness but it maintained a fantastic balance with the malt. ’Tis a shame that it didn’t last a couple of more days. I have some relative coming in tomorrow and was hoping to share a glass of this ale with them. The Somegood wheat beer has also improved considerably in the last month. For a while there, I was always tasting some faint aftertaste that I just couldn’t identify; this has since disappear and Somegood wheat has turned out to be a nice drinkable pint.

I only have a two tap system and this provided me to a chance to tap the Sim City India Pale ale that has been waiting in the keg for almost two months now. I drew a pint of the Sim City IPA to clear the bottom of the keg and then filled one up for me. Being my first IPA, and a homegrown recipe at that, I had been concerned with the bitterness. With a Bu/Gu of .75, a harsh bitterness would put the tastebuds on your tongue into and then out of their misery. I was pleased to find that this new beer has a nice smooth but distinct bitterness that I think will really continue to age nicely. I will give an observation on this ale in about a week when it reaches it terminal carbonation level.

Also today, after leaving Jamil’s American Brown Ale in the primary one full month to they day, I will be racking it off directly into the keg where it will sit cold condition until the other tap is free.

It came to me at last.

brewbaron — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 03:33:53 +0000

It came to me at last, a good name for my American Pale Ale recipe. A decree has been made and hince forth the generically named “American Ale” is now titled “Elaine’s Big Head Pale Ale”. A beer with a head so big that a bird flew into it as if it couldn’t get out of the way. Hmm, I’ve never seen that before..

Elaine’s Big Head Pale Ale: Observations – 5/25/07

brewbaron — Fri, 25 May 2007 13:12:56 +0000

This American Ale needs a better name. Other than that, it has a a perfect balance and is very hoppy. I was not expecting so much hop flavor; it was the first time that I spread out my hop additons over the whole boil. The American Ale has been in the keg for a three weeks now and is running very clear ( The first few pints were downright chunky–I didn’t use a secondary on this one). This beer has excellent head retention and just looks great in one of my tall 21 oz beer glasses ( Hefe style ). I have to take it easy on this brew; I was to let it age a bit more and save some for my Big sis that is coming to visit next month.

Update: 7/3/07, this beer has a better name. This beer is all good head, so big that a bird flew into it as if it couldn’t get out of the way.

Elaine’s Big Head Pale Ale: Recipe – 4/6/2007

brewbaron — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 17:21:25 +0000

This is beer has a lot of hop flavor and a nice pumpkin-amber color. There is only a very subtle hop biterness but lends a nice balance. The detrine malt ensures a nice mouthfeel and decent head retention.

Grain Bill

8 lbs 2-row Pale Malt
1 lbs Munich Malt
.5 lbs Cara-pilz Dextrine malt
1 lbs Crystal 60L Malt*

Hops

1 oz Centennial ( 9.3% )
1 oz Cascade ( 6.0 % )
Yeast

1.5 oz Windsor Dry Ale Yeast or Liquid London Ale Yeast
(Prepare a yeast starter)
Schedule ( 90 minute boil )
0.50 oz Centennial — 60 minutes
0.25 oz Centennial — 30 minutes
0.25 oz Centennial — 15 minutes
1 tsp Irish Moss ( optional )
0.50 oz Cascade — 10 minutes
0.50 oz Cascade — 5 minutes

Notes

Target Initial gravity: 1.042
Target Final gravity: 1.011
IBUs: 25

* Selecting a crystal malt with a higher lovenbond measure will result in a beer with a darker, more saturated red color.
You could even add some roasted barley to the mix to get a nice red color.

I was shooting for a BU:GU ratio of 0.5. I didn’t want this one to be too bitter; hopefully, it wont be too sweet either.

American Amber Ale: Observation after Ageing – August 5, 2006

brewbaron — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 21:43:23 +0000

The beer is to starting to mellow out nicely. It was really quite hoppy for the first few weeks. Some of the hop sediment made its way into each bottle; this gave the beer a bit of sour and bitter taste if you accidentally churned up the sediment. After I bit of practice, I can pour a perfect glass. The beer has very good head retention and achieved perfect clarity; no sign of chill haze whatsoever. The beer does have a bitter kick but it is not overpowering.

American Amber Ale-Redux: Bottled Beer – June 26, 2006

brewbaron — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 21:41:44 +0000

Final Gravity: 1.008 !

Potential Alcohol by Volume: 5.5% – 5.75% ( not bad at all! )

There was a fair amount of yeast in the bottom; much more than expected. Some of the hops that were added in the secondary never did settle out. In the future, if dry hopping is employed, filtering should be used.

The color of the beer is darker than the previous batch. I attribute this, and the higher original gravity, to the extended steeping of the barley grains.

I had attempted to make a filter by attaching a coffee filter around the end of the siphon hose. When in use, it looked like a balloon. Trial runs were successful but I had trouble with it during the actual transfer.

The beer tasted spicy and citrusy; it already had a carbonated taste. I look forward to see how the flavor and mouthfeel changes during the three weeks of bottle conditioning.

American Amber Ale-Redux: Racked beer into Secondary – June 8, 2006

brewbaron — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 21:40:18 +0000

Gravity Reading: 1.015-1.016

The Amber Ale was racked beer into glass carboy with a final gravity reading of about 1.015 or 1.016. The second package of yeast did not make a difference in the final gravity reading; it will not try this again.

There was still some visible yeast activity in the beer, large yeast clumps were still moving about. This activity did not, however, produce enough gases to causing bubbling of the airlock.

During this time, I also added 1 oz of cascade pellet hops directly into the secondary fermenter—no bag. I hope that the hops will not prove to be a problem when it is time to bottle.

The beer had a nice floral, citrusy, hoppy aroma. The color was darker than I remember it being the last time. It also appeared that there was more trub/yeast sediment on the bottom of the fermenter than last time. I saved one bottle of the remains; I simply rinsed the bottle in bleach water to sanitize; this may not be enough to preserve a “clean” yeast strain.

Homebrewing is messy!

American Amber Ale-Redux: Second Pitch – June 2, 2006

brewbaron — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 21:39:02 +0000

After activity from the first batch of yeast subsided, I pitched the second pack of yeast into the primary fermenter. I hope that this will help achieve a more complete fermentation.

American Amber Ale-Redux: Brew Day – May 31, 2006

brewbaron — Wed, 31 May 2006 21:38:00 +0000

Procedure:

· Steeped grain for ~25 min while water came up to 170 degrees F. I never turned the range setting above 8 until the last few minutes.

· Added extract and DME (poured into bowl first to decrease the amount lost due to clumping in the bag)

· Added Willamette hops at 10 min

· Added Cascade hops at 55 min

· Strained wort into fermenter and then topped off to 5 gal. Extra water was added from the sink faucet at about four feet. The wort has boiled down to about 1.3 gal from the original 2 gal.

· Pitched one pack of yeast.

Original Gravity: 1.050

American Amber Ale – Redux

brewbaron — Wed, 31 May 2006 21:36:54 +0000

Ingredients:

3.3 lbs Briess Golden Light Malt Extract

3 lbs Muntons Plain Amber DME

8 oz Breiss Crushed Crystal 20L Malt Grain

1 oz Willamette Hops (bittering)

1 oz Cascade Hops (finishing)

1 oz Cascade Hops (dry hopping )

2 packs dry Muntons brewer’s yeast

Original Gravities: 1.042 – 1.045

Final Gravities: 1.008 – 1.010