Amber Malt

[quiff]

For some unknown reason I ordered 2Kg of amber malt in my last delivery and now I'm not really sure what to make with it.
Is there a general rule of thumb as to how much percentage of amber to add to recipes? I'm guessing a beer made with large quantities of it would not be great?

[coatesg]

Think I'd go up to about 10-15%, though it is strongly flavoured and takes on quite a biscuity roasty flavour in large amounts. Works well in bitters though, and is brilliant in dark beers (esp porter/stout). A few recipes in the Durden park book use a fair whack, but you have to be a little careful as they often refer to diastatic amber malt - modern day amber won't convert itself (unless you get the Belgian Diastatic stuff of course ).

[WishboneBrewery]

I've been trying a little Amber, I think half the amount I used would be enough for flavour
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=27198

[quiff]

Thanks guys,
Nice pics pdtnc, did you find that the fg was quite high on that brew? I've read that Amber malt can yield quite a lot of unfermentable sugars.
Pondering whether I need to take that into account when deciding on IBU level. I'm thinking fuggles and challenger for bittering and EKG for late hopping. In your experiance of that brew do you think this flavour profile would work reasonably well?

*EDIT: just seen the fg is posted as 110

[WishboneBrewery]

Yeah, actual FG was 1010/1012 ish so it must have fermented pretty fully.
As for Flavour I think it may be more of a 1 bottle will do, then move onto something else, so I'd say cut it back to 10% as i think mine was over 20% which might be described as a little cloying (not that I fully understand what that word means in the beer tasting sense).

[coatesg]

I wouldn't say amber is cloying - it's more of a biscuity, dry flavour than a caramel/crystal flavour. Cloying is generally a very sweet flavour - the kind that coats your mouth for ages afterwards.

[WishboneBrewery]

Hmm, maybe not cloying but its got a fair old flavor kick to it!

[Matt]

DRB's forum classic recipe 'Bramling Beauty' uses Amber Malt. I can't find the original, but Phil revived it here

[Barley Water]

A couple of nights ago, I had the pleasure of drinking a pint of Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA. As I was quite taken with the beer, I started going through my extensive collection of beer recipies and found a clone for that brew in a book written by the head of that brewery (so I have a high expectation that the results will be good). Anyway, they were using 6 ounces of amber malt in a 5 gallon batch of 1.067 OG beer. I liked the beer for a couple of reasons one of which was the unique taste from the malt which I am sure was the Amber malt (the rest of the malt bill was American two row, a simple grist). I am of the opinion that pale ales and IPAs should not just be hop delivery vehicles but should show some malt flavor as well. By the way, the taste was not sweet at all, somewhere between toasty and a little roasty but the beer itself was fairly dry. I don't know if you get Dogfish Head stuff over on your side of the pond but if so, you might pick up a bottle and see what you think before you start formulating. I would imagine that for a dark beer, you could add quite a bit more and I am sure it would be very good.

As an interesting aside, it is amazing what this hobby does to your idea of bitterness and hop flavor over time. I am for sure not a hophead but I have noticed over the last few years that my idea of what is hoppy has drifted quite a bit. I used to think that Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was very hoppy and now the same beer just seems moderately hoppy and I seem to be gravitating towards the higher end of the hoppiness scale. I still don't much care for Stone beers as I find the hops crude in most of their offerings (I would get thrown out of the beer club if I were to utter that in public) and stuff like Pliney the Elder is just way too much for me. On the other hand, the beers on tap at my house right now are pretty malt oriented and I am getting a real craving for something with a nice hop bite. Could it be that I am drifting over towards the dark side?

[Stonechat]

For some unknown reason I ordered 2Kg of amber malt in my last delivery and now I'm not really sure what to make with it.
Is there a general rule of thumb as to how much percentage of amber to add to recipes? I'm guessing a beer made with large quantities of it would not be great?

How about OAKHAM ALES HUNKY DORY ?

Pale Malt.....4530g
Amber Malt.....450g

Start of boil
Challenger (6.2%).....69g
Last 15mins of boil
Cascade.....14g

OG 1044...FG 1009...ABV 4.5%...Mash Temperature...65c.
Quantities for 23 litre brewlength.

Have used this a couple of times for bottled brews, mainly to use up some Amber malt I had acquired. Produces an interesting beer with a coffee/biscuit taste. Have also knocked up a recipe on GW's Beer Engine using just Cascade hops and that turned out fine.

[coatesg]

Hmm, maybe not cloying but its got a fair old flavor kick to it!

Can't argue with that! I quite like it, but I don't think I'd want to over do it. Hunky Dory looks like a goodun though - I was meaning to try it this year but never got round to it.