Amber ale, willamette

This was a refinement of my "seat of the pants" amber. I wanted more hoppyness, but didn't quite make it, but it's pretty good and easy. I only used the goldings as bittering 'cus that's what I happened to have, otherwise it would have been all willamette.

Brewer:	Rathole		Email:	rathole2331@yahoo.com
Beer:	Amber ale, willamette		Style:	American Amber Ale
Type:	Extract		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	12 HCU (~8 SRM)		Bitterness:	28 IBU
OG:	1.042		FG:	1.010
Alcohol:	4.2% v/v (3.3% w/w)
Water:	Local tap water, they stopped chlorinating it, so it's ok
Boil:	60 minutes	SG 1.042	5 gallons
	3.3 lb. Amber malt extract 2 lb. Light dry malt extract
	Irish moss in the last 15 minutes, I always use irish moss
Hops:	1 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 60 min.) .5 oz. Willamette (5% AA, 60 min.) 3 oz. Willamette (aroma)
Yeast:	Coopers dry ale yeast, rehydrated and a couple tablespoons of wort added to kick start it.
Log:	Add 1 1/2 oz willamette at end of boil, steep 10 minutes. Dry hop with 1 1/2 oz willamette for about 10-14 days.
Carbonation:	normal 3/4 oz priming sugar
Tasting:	It turned out nice. Little light on the hop aroma, but nice malty taste and fairly well balanced. This one was interesting. I thought it was gonna be too light, the OG was only about 1.038. I used M&F DME which I think was responsible for a surprisingly malty taste, or maybe it was the coopers malt extract, I don't know, but it turned out very nice. I'm going to experiment with the hop schedule, I would have liked it to have more hop aroma and flavor. You might try splitting the last 3 oz of willamette at 10 minutes, 5 minutes, and then steep or dry hop the last ounce. If you do that, I would suggest you cut out 1/2 oz of the bittering hops to keep the IBU's about the same. I have already started on another refinement of this recipie with a little grain added, a different hopping schedule, and different hops. I guess that's a little more than a refinement! We'll see what happens.

Recipe posted 10/16/03.