Red Dawn Amber Ale

[HisDudeness]

I haven't got any Munich or roasted barley, but I have got CaraMunich and Chocolate... could they be used instead? I know it wouldn't be exactly the same, but they still be suitable in this sort of recipe?

Chocolate for the roasted barley yes that should be fine as its just a small amount for colour really, Caramunich is basically a crystal malt made from munich so you dont want to replace normal munich in the recipe with it or it will be very sweet. You could replace some of the normal crystal with this if you like. You can swap munich for Vienna if you have it or at a pinch I would maybe swap for wheat malt which will be a bit different but can still add the fuller body the munich. Alternatively just replace with more pale malt which should still work fine

[Notlaw]

Chocolate for the roasted barley yes that should be fine as its just a small amount for colour really, Caramunich is basically a crystal malt made from munich so you dont want to replace normal munich in the recipe with it or it will be very sweet. You could replace some of the normal crystal with this if you like. You can swap munich for Vienna if you have it or at a pinch I would maybe swap for wheat malt which will be a bit different but can still add the fuller body the munich. Alternatively just replace with more pale malt which should still work fine

I've got some wheat malt, so I might give that a go... just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to ruin it by adding something that would be especially out of place. I do also have some amber malt too... being an amber ale, could that be incorporated or should I just leave that for now and maybe use it in an English amber at some point? Cheers for this buddy.

[HisDudeness]

You could definitely put some amber in if you want, it does have a quite strong flavour (have you used it in anything already?) that can add biscuity/fruitcake like taste depending on quantity. If you like the sound of that then why not, personally I think I would prefer it in more english style ales but thats just me.

[Notlaw]

You could definitely put some amber in if you want, it does have a quite strong flavour (have you used it in anything already?) that can add biscuity/fruitcake like taste depending on quantity. If you like the sound of that then why not, personally I think I would prefer it in more english style ales but thats just me.

It's an unopened bag, I picked it up with an amber in mind. I do like the sound of those fruitcakey flavours, but I think I'll save it for a more malt-forward ale. Seeing as I want to make this a bit hoppier, I'll leave it out of this recipe. Quite looking forward to this one now, I wonder what my chances are of getting it on this week

[Notlaw]

Called unto Leyland on the way home and picked up half a kilo of Munich and a kilo and a half of Vienna. So will stick pretty close to the first version, but with half and half MO and Vienna as the base malts. Only change to the grains will be chocolate instead of roasted barley.

[Notlaw]

Sorry HD, I'm properly hijacking your thread here...

Yeast... I've got MJ Newcastle Dark Ale, MJ New World Strong Ale or Nottingham already in. What do people reckon, Dude... Clibit... Anyone..?

[HisDudeness]

Well notty is the safe bet and I have never used the other 2 so can't advise on how they will go but I'd probably experiment with one of the MJ yeasts if it was me....
And it's not really hijacking I will be interested to see how your alternative version comes out

[Clibit]

Well notty is the safe bet and I have never used the other 2 so can't advise on how they will go but I'd probably experiment with one of the MJ yeasts if it was me....
And it's not really hijacking I will be interested to see how your alternative version comes out

Agree. I'd probably use notty though! Or try New World.

[Notlaw]

I think I'm going to go with the New World Strong Ale one. First time using it, so we'll see what happens. Looking forward to doing this one now. I reckon it's going to be a good one.

[Notlaw]

I've put this together, what do you think? I forgot to add dry hopping to the recipe, but I will be dry hopping with more Cascade and Amarillo.

[Clibit]

Personally I like Centennial and Amarillo late but there are plenty of ways to skin a red cat.

[HisDudeness]

Looks great but Centennial is too good to use just for bittering!

[Notlaw]

Thanks gents, that's exactly the sort of input I appreciate. I could use something else to bitter with. I've got some Goldings, Saaz or Northern Brewer that I could use. Then add some Centennial late as well, or dry hop, or both...

[Clibit]

Thanks gents, that's exactly the sort of input I appreciate. I could use something else to bitter with. I've got some Goldings, Saaz or Northern Brewer that I could use. Then add some Centennial late as well, or dry hop, or both...

What I would do is bitter with Northern Brewer or Centennial, then use Centennial and Amarillo for late additions. Cascade is great but I'd save it for another brew. Unless I was short of Centennial, then I'd use some Cascade too. But you could put some Cascade anyway. It would fit well.

[HisDudeness]

Slight last minute change to my recipe when I dry hopped today, the Simcoe smelt so nice in the packet that I had to put more in and use up the last bit, decided to drop the cascade as u didn't want to open a fresh pack just to get 4g. Ended up with about 15g simcoe going in and 4g each of ahtanum and centennial, had a sneaky sample and it's pretty decent already