TinRoof Amber Ale 2.0

It was time to brew our Amber Ale once more, as our supply had run out - how’d that happen?  We decided to beef it up with a bit more crystal malt (even though the wife liked it perfectly well as it was), as well as increasing the batch size to allow us to spin off 4L for a trial batch (more on that later*).  First the style guidelines:

Amber Ale

Flavor – plenty of caramel malt, delicate hop finish

Aroma – clean caramel malt with a hint of floral hops

Balance – malty to somewhat hoppy

Seasonality – year round

Pair with – wide range of food, chicken, seafood, burgers, spicy cuisine

Gravity – 1.048 – 1.058

Alcohol – 4.5 – 6%

Body – medium

Colour – 11 – 18*SRM, pale to dark amber

Bitterness - 30 – 40 IBU medium

Recipe

TinRoof Amber Ale2.0

27L   SG 1.058

6kg pale malt   80%

1kg crystal 60 (pale to medium)  13.33%

0.5kg quick oats   6.67%

3gm calcium carbonate

1gm calcium sulfate

90 min mash at 66*c

60 min boil

60 min - 30gm Boadicea 10%AA =27 IBU

30 min – 30gm Hallertau 4.7%AA = 10 IBU

Total = 37 IBU

Yeast – Safale US-05, made into a starter over 2 days

*TinRoof Almond Ale

After cooling the Amber Ale above, we split off 4L of the wort into a glass fermenter.  Then we added 200gm of sliced almonds (previously roasted and then soaked in boiling water till they cooled), hoping to infuse a subtle almond flavor into our Amber Ale. It looks pretty cool in the fermenter with the almonds flying around everywhere due to the convection currents, I just hope we get a good almond taste out of it.