Cascarillo Amber Ale
(23 Litres)
Interesting beers are often the result of interesting recipes. This amber ale is certainly no exception. This recipe, often referred to as "extract brewing", uses only un-hopped malt extract as the wort base and requires the brewer to impart the necessary hop bitterness, flavour and aroma through boiling a portion of the extract with timed hop additions. The final result is a delightful blend of rock melon, passionfruit and marmalade characters while residual sweetness from the crystal malt is balanced nicely with a medium bitter finish.
Ingredients
- 3kg Thomas Coopers Amber Malt Extract (2x 1.5kg)
- 50g Amarillo Hop pellets (2x 25g)
- 50g Cascade Hop Pellets (2x 25g)
- 11g Danstar BRY-97 Yeast (or American Ale yeast of your choice)
- Coopers Carbonation Drops
Background
Many of the DIY Beer recipes are formulated with the underlying principle; “a great result with minimal effort”. With this in mind, Cascarillo Amber Ale needs only a few extra, yet simple, steps to produce a beer worthy of a craft brewery label – but you made it, yourself!
This recipe, often referred to as “extract brewing”, uses only un-hopped malt extract as the wort base. The necessary hop bitterness, flavour and aroma will be added to the brew through boiling a portion of the extract with timed hop additions.
The final result sits neatly in category 10.B. (American Amber Ale) of the BJCP style guidelines, with the Cascade/Amarillo hop combination producing a delightful blend of rock melon, passionfruit and marmalade characters while residual sweetness from the crystal malt is balanced nicely with a medium bitter finish.
- Colour: Copper
- Body: Medium
- Bitterness: Medium
- Approx. Alcohol Level: 4.6%
- Carbonated: Natural
STEP 1: Mix
In a good sized pot (around 8 litres) bring about 500g of Amber Malt extract to the boil with 5 litres of water.
Add 25g of Amarillo Hops and boil for 20min.
Then add 25g of Cascade Hops and continue to boil for another 10min.
Add another 25g of Cascade Hops and remove from the heat to let sit for about 15min.
Set the pot in a cold/ice water bath to cool then strain into a fermenting vessel.
Add the remaining 2.5kg of Amber Malt, stir to dissolve then top up with cool water to the 20 litre mark and stir thoroughly.
Check the brew temperature and top up to the 23 litre mark with warm or cold water (refrigerated if necessary) to get as close as possible to 18C.
STEP 2: Brew
Sprinkle the dry yeast or stir in liquid yeast, fit the lid and try to ferment at 18C.
On day 4 or after the foam has subsided, add the remaining Amarillo Hops (we recommend wrapping them in a mesh cleaning cloth, pulled straight from the wrapper).
Fermentation has finished once the specific gravity is stable over 2 days. It should finish in the range of 1006 – 1010.
STEP 3: Bottle
We recommend the use of PET bottles or reusable glass bottles designed for storing beer.
For information about kegging see the FAQ section.
Bottles need to be primed so that secondary fermentation (producing the gas in the bottle) can take place
Add carbonation drops at the rate of 1 per 330ml/375ml bottle and 2 per 740ml/750ml bottle. Sugar or dextrose may be used at the rate of 8g per litre (approximately 6g of sugar to a level metric teaspoon).
Store the bottles out of direct sunlight at 18C or above for at least 1 week while secondary fermentation occurs. Your beer can be consumed after 2 weeks.
STEP 4: Enjoy!
To take advantage of the fresh hop characters, drink this brew early, while planning another batch of the same!
Expect the alcohol content to be around 4.6% ABV.
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