Texas Dark Amber Ale

This turned out to be such a nice beer. Very nice light tan head, good lace on sides of glass. I was working on a presentation on my laptop and decided I needed to kick back for a little bit. I went to the fridge and poured a glass from my “Tap-a-Draft” mini keg. I sat back and savored the unique taste you can only find in a fresh home-brew. The recipe was just a guess but it was based on some prior knowledge. The guess turned out superbly! I have had nothing but great compliments and that feels good, but I knew that it was one of the best beers I have crafted in my short brewing “career”.

So, I was thinking, I can’t share the beer in the fridge with everyone ( I am a little selfish with the actual beverage), but I can share the recipe. I hope that you wind up with the same results as I have.

I ordered all of my ingredients from Williams Brewing (www.williamsbrewing.com/), but I have used Northern Brewer (www.northernbrewer.com/) in the past and our local store in Houston called Defalcos (www.defalcos.com/) for misc. supplies.

6 lbs. of American Amber Malt Extract

1 lbs. 40 deg. Crystal Malt – steeped in 1 gal at 165-170 deg F

2 oz. Fuggles Hops –  pellet – 1 oz. at 15 min. and 1 oz. at 30 min.

2  oz. Amarillo Hops – pellets – 1 oz. at 45 min. and 1 oz. at 55 min.

1/2 tsp gypsum before boiling

1/2 tsp Irish Moss at 30 minutes

Liquid American Ale yeast pitched at 75 deg F

Boiled with 2.5 gals plus 1 gal steeping water –  Ozarka Spring Water. Final batch size was 5 gals. While brewing drank an Abita Springs Bock, one of my American Ales and sampled  my Imperial Stout that was about 6 weeks along to check gravity – OG wa s1.108 and now was 1.040…… too young and not far enough along.  I will sample a bottle of the stout around April 15th. I will report out those results.

OG. – 1.075

At 8 days transferred into secondary. Gravity was 1.022 at 68 deg.  F – FG – 1.015 at 68 deg.

Kegged into my Tap-a-Draft 6 L bottles after another 13 days in secondary. Used 2/3 of a Williams kit corn sugar to prime.  Sat 12 days at room temp before placing the first keg in the fridge. I have tapped and now drinking the final 6 L bottle –  April 3, it was bottled on 2/20/2011. It is very mellow now and has improved but was always excellent. Good beer doesn’t seem to last very long.

If you try it I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.