Taste Updates: Amber and DIPA
My two most recent beers are finally carbonated, conditioned, and tasting their best. The first is my Amber Ale, and the second is my Furry Penguin that was brewed here. Below are the tasting notes.
American Amber:
**Update (05/18/12) – This beer took Silver with a 39 in the Great Arizona Homebrew Competion!!**
Clarity is good, but not brilliant. For some reason, this beer never fully cleared up. Color is a beautiful deep red. Aroma is a mix between citrusy hops and sweet toffee from the caramel malt. Taste is more of the same. Malt sweetness hits first, then some hop citrus, then some bitterness in the finish.
I’m very happy with this beer, but the recipe still needs a little tweaking. I’m thinking a little less C60, and a little more dry hops. It’s really close to where I want it though.
Furry Penguin Double IPA:
I absolutely love this beer. Clarity is fantastic, color is golden with a little orange. Aroma is heavy citrus notes, with some sweet tropical fruit character. There’s also a little oily, resiny, dank character in the background. The taste follows the aroma. Sweet citrus, tropical fruit, and a smooth but firm bitterness that doesn’t linger.
Definitely a dry beer, but there’s some light background sweetness that keeps it drinkable. This beer is just a mouthful of hop oil, which I absolutely love. I’m submitting this one to the NHC this week, so let’s all keep our fingers crossed that it does well.
Those both look delicious! Love the glassware. Good Luck at NHC
Thanks man! I'm going straight into the lion's den — submitting a DIPA to the San Diego regional, but I've got my hopes up.
Where did you get that glassware?
A little glass shop here in Chandler. http://www.disciacca.com/
These were on sale 4 for $5, which was a steal. They also make the pint glasses I use in a lot of my pictures.
sweet thanks ill be down in chandler on tuesday ill have to stop by.
The color of your amber is amazing. It's exactly what I want for a red IPA, but I want less malt note and more IPA-esque hop bite. What do you recommend to change the grain bill?
A little more Munich, a little less C60 and C120, and a pinch more chocolate to keep the color right.
My next batch will be:
1.25lbs Munich
14oz C60
6oz C120
1-1.5oz Chocolate
If you want more hop bite, double up the 10 minute additions, and dry hop with more hops than I did.
I forgot to mention, if you really just want the color, without the caramel character, take a page from the Irish Red play book, and add a few ounces of highly roasted malt. Carafa III Special is 550L but adds very little, if any roast flavor. If you drop all the crystal malts, 4oz of carafa III should get you that color
Just altered my recipe to this, what do you think? I wanted to use all Columbus hops…
11.75 lbs Pale Malt (2 row) US
1.5 lbs Munich Malt
5 oz Crystal 120L
2 oz Black (Patent) Malt
1.5 oz Columbus (20 min)
1.5 oz Coumbus (10 min)
2 oz Columbus (flameout)
2 oz Columbus (dry hop)
SG = 1.065
ABV = 7.0%
IBU's = 57.5
Color = 12.5 SRM
Great blog, by the way!
Thank you!
Recipe looks great. If that's for a 5 gallon batch, my calculator says the SRM is dead on. If it's for a 6 gallon batch, you'll need 3.5oz black patent to get the color you want.