My goal is to brew an Amber Ale that’s real malty but has a lighter body. I’ve added a pound of sugar to this recipe to reduce the amount of non-fermentables. My question is: Will the one pound of sugar decrease the body, while maintaining the malty character? Thanks for your replies.
8lb. Six Row
2lb. Munich - 8.5 L
1lb. Raw Sugar - 5 L
6oz. CaraAroma - 130 L
4oz. Crystal - 60 L
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons
Original Gravity
1.056 / 13.8° Plato
Final Gravity
1.014 / 3.6° Plato
Color
13° SRM / 25° EBC
30 mins 0.5 oz Cascade
30 mins 0.5 oz Magnum
20 mins 0.5 oz Cascade
20 mins 0.5 oz Magnum
post-boil 0.5 oz Cascade
post-boil 0.5 oz Magnum
The sugar will dry it out and reduce the maltiness/mouthfeel of it. Also that is fairly bitter, and hops are used to balance out the maltiness. Having IBU’s in the 40s is definitely right on for an American Amber but that will have solid bitterness. If you are looking for more malt flavor then back off on the hops to get to maybe 20 IBU’s.
I would think that you could go with more of the unfermentable sugars (the caramel and toasted ones). I seemed to think that those were less fermentable and would leave you with more body.
I guess it depends on how malty and how hoppy. Sugar will dry out the beer and doesn’t belong in a beer where you want malty. Also, maltiness is not often associated with a “light” body unless you make a light-bodied beer with some malty grains and then don’t hop the bejesus out of it. Maybe it would help if you either give us a commercial example or maybe describe the beer you have in mind. I know you said “Amber Ale” so are you referring to something like Abita Amber? Do you want it to be a low-ABV beer too? A beer that comes across as “malty” can be as easy as adding hops at the beginning of the boil and then not adding any additional hops. You’ll get your bitterness in the first taste of the beer but then the finish will be smoother and maltier. Adding grains like Aromatic, Melanoidin or just Crystal malt (of whatever flavor you envision) can create the maltiness you want. I suppose you could add sugar if you’re looking for “lighter body” and that could be achieved with honey, candi sugar and flaked corn as well. But remember that any sugar will create dryness which could offset the maltiness.
EDIT: My MLPA is a malty pale ale/amber ale that is hopped once at the beginning of the boil (Mt. Hood) and I would consider its body to be “light”. You could mash lower if you wanted less body. The link to the recipe is HERE http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=72842&hilit=+memory+lapse
. Maybe you could use that very simple recipe as a springboard. Cheers.
The end result is supposed to leave a nice maltiness even in very well-attenuated or dry beers. I’ve done it once and liked the result, but I didn’t have a good baseline to compare against so I could try to establish what the HochKurz itself brought.
The choice of six-row is interesting too…I’ve never brewed anything with six-row, but I’ve heard over and over that it gives a more “grainy” profile. Not the same as malty, but maybe what you’re going for?
One other factor that will come into play…what yeast?
[quote=“rustyhoover”]I too am a bit confused as to what you’re really looking for, but if I’m guessing right, you might want to go with a HochKurz step mash.
The end result is supposed to leave a nice maltiness even in very well-attenuated or dry beers. I’ve done it once and liked the result, but I didn’t have a good baseline to compare against so I could try to establish what the HochKurz itself brought.
The choice of six-row is interesting too…I’ve never brewed anything with six-row, but I’ve heard over and over that it gives a more “grainy” profile. Not the same as malty, but maybe what you’re going for?
One other factor that will come into play…what yeast?[/quote]
Hochkurz step mash is a great idea. Something like 145-148x30 and then 158-160x60 would allow for maltiness to come through in a well-attenuated beer.
If you are shooting for a light body and malty profile, I shoot for an OG about 1.045 and IBUs about 15 or so. Brew with 25% or so munich malt and use about a pound of crystal.
