MARK III – American Amber Ale

This was our first beer where we constructed the recipe ourselves. It is loosely modeled after an American Ale from the Complete Joy of Homebrewing. We of course made some changes.

Brewed May 13, 2009

9:10PM

8oz crystal malt added to 2.5 gallons of water. Water temp brought to 160-170 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeast pouch activated and left on counter.

Used tap water, crystal malt domestic 90 lovibond. Yeast: Wyest Laboratories American Ale in an activator pack.

9:33 PM

Crystal malt steeped for 20 mins.

9:53 PM

Crystal malt removed from wort, began heating wort to a boil.

10:03 PM

Wort at low boil. 6.5 lbs malt extract added. 2oz Cascade pellet hops added, wort brought back to low boil. Stirred to keep malt from burning on bottom of pot.

Malt extract was one Brewmaster 6 lb bottle of light liquid malt extract and 1/2 lb pale malt extract from 1 lb can of Alexander’s Kicker. The bittering hops used were Cascade pellet hops 5.6% alpha acid.

10:13 PM

Wort kept at low boil for 55 minutes.

11:06 PM

1/2 teaspoon of Irish Moss added to boiling wort for clarity. Wort kept at low boil for 10 additional minutes.

11:14 PM

0.94 oz Willamette pellet 5.3% alpha acid finishing hops added to boiling wort. Hops thoroughly blended into boiling wort.

11:16 PM

Poured hot wort into 2 gallons of chilled water in the fermenter suspended in an ice bath. Tap water added to bring total wort to five gallons (about 1/2 gallon added). Wort cooled to ~77 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cooling process took ~45 mins. The ice bath was composed of 30 lbs of ice in a keg bucket with a little water and salt.

Midnight

Yeast added to chilled wort. Original Gravity 1.0502 in.

This beer was actually pretty good! It is a medium amber color with a moderate amount of head. It is slightly under carbonated. Despite only ~4% ABV, the beer finishes with a moderate alcoholic taste. This decreases the drinkability significantly.

This beer, while good, was a little too dark for a summer beer. With some modifications, would make a good fall brew.