Tell me all your Amr. Amber Ale secrets

[Mills]

JZ always says if you cant get pale chocolate, just use half the amount of chocolate malt. It is not the same but close enough.

Mills

[bcmaui]

You owe me, BC.

OK - I'll trade you a secret Hawaiian recipe for your generosity - Spam Musubi

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2008 ... sushi.html

[a10t2]

Could a 50/50 mix of amber and biscuit pass for victory?

I believe Victory is just Briess' trademarked name for their biscuit malt. They're very similar.

[vejgaardzoo]

Could a 50/50 mix of amber and biscuit pass for victory?

I believe Victory is just Briess' trademarked name for their biscuit malt. They're very similar.

Yeah I get that a lot when browsing round the site. They are similar but still not quite the same.

I'm going to buy the malts from a Danish webshop that will crush the malt and deliver it in one bag. So whether I get 500g biscuit or 250g each of biscuit and amber doesnt matter. Its the same hassle and costs (to me).

I've been brewing for a couple of years and have made almost 20 batches but I still get confused by the selection of malts some times. Castlemalting has amber, biscuit, 2xmelano and 2xaroma malts and Weyermann has a large number of carasomethings.

But nothing that looks to be equivalent of Briess' victory

[Field]

I like to use more characterful base malts (mix Mild Ale malt and Amber malt) in place of a percentage of the 2 row, and use less crystal malt than many recipes use for an amber

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

I like to use more characterful base malts (mix Mild Ale malt and Amber malt) in place of a percentage of the 2 row, and use less crystal malt than many recipes use for an amber

Tease.

[Wutz]

40% 2-row
40% Maris Otter
14% Munich 20
5.5% Crystal 60
0.5% Chocolate

Nugget for bittering (35 IBUs)
Simcoe and Amarillo for flavor (and 10 IBUs) at the end-ish of boil. I used about an ounce total of Simcoe and an ounce total of Amarillo between 10 minutes left and flameout.

Wyeast 1056 or WLP 001

OG: 1.052
IBU: 45

This banged out a really great beer. Early in its life, it was a really balanced beer leaning toward subtle-ish hop flavor. As it ages, a bunch of pleasant Munich, Maris Otter, and Crystal flavors really come out.

[mediumsk]

Thanks for the feedback.
I guess I'll give a modified version of Jamil's a try.

Victory is a bit difficult to come by here. What would be a good substitute?
Preferably something from Castlemalting or Weyermann.

Could a 50/50 mix of amber and biscuit pass for victory?

no

go with biscuit. pound for pound that is as close to victory as you can get.

And does anyone have an idea whether chocolate or light coffee would be the best substitute for pale chocolate?

maybe light coffee, you should decide, the primary use of the pale chocolate is to dial in the color and back up the toasty/super slight roastiness, just look at it this way, if you add too much your in the realm of american brown ale.

if your trying to get your head around this style I would suggest brewing 3 things

1. brew the JZ amber

2. brew the JZ west coast blaster recipe ( or any old red rocket clone)

3. Brew the CYBI clone (almost cloned) recipe for Oskar Blue's Gordon

as a beer brewer/ drinker on the west coast of america I feel like recipe number 1 is quickly becoming obsolete yet is still worth brewing to get a good handle on where the style is going, the latter two are on a continuum.

good luck