American Amber Ale

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pms67

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This ale is good ale !!!
These new kits from Youngs are good quality. Very similair hop levels to Festival kits.
Anyone else done the Amber Ale?, its only 4 weeks old and hasnt cleared properly yet but who cares,tastes great.
 
This was only my third kit. But I am very impressed with it. I bottled it about 5 weeks ago and it has cleared lovely. The taste and the smell are divine.
 
I'm just conditioning the American Pale Ale. It's been two weeks in bottles. I'm itching to get at it, but I'm desperately trying to follow the one week per % final ABV tenet!!!

Aaaaaargh, the waiting !!:?
 
All gone now but truly amazing beer for a kit !
I have just brewed the. Pale Ale and have the IPA waiting.
Don't know if it's the hops or the yeast but my my its the new standard to beat.
(Although I'm supping a Festival Special edition Elderflower ale and it is vey close)
All in all you get what you pay for and the kits for £20 plus are way better than some of the **** you get from the shops (except anything from the Williams Bros but 2 quid per bottle ain't happening)
Amazing hobby
Happy brewing ;-)
 
I cannot seem to find any info on the ingredients, or anything else for that matter, on this kit. An American amber was the first "craft" beer that me and SWMBO would agree on and share.

I've since moved on to IPA's, ESB's, and stouts mostly as my go to beer styles, though I enjoy most everything. I think I mostly enjoy an abundance of flavor. A honey wheat is quite nice too.
 
I am brewing this one at the moment. I have previously done the American IPA kit from them which has been my best brew so far.
 
I'm doing this at the moment. Its taking an age to clear but after 4 weeks in the keg its drinkable. Still a bit cloudy but its shaping up into a really nice pint. Not as hoppy as an IPA but has a slight grapefruit taste which is really nice.
 
Did you enjoy it mate ?

I've kept two bottles of the APA back to see if it improves. The rest went inside a month!

Yes I bloody did enjoy it! I've got another batch waiting to go.

I've ordered the Amber Ale now.

These kits are the mutts nuts.

I don't know how I'm resisting those last two bottles - they keep 'looking' at me every time I open my beer fridge!!!:lol:
 
"...the one week per % final ABV tenet!!!"

I'm not following this. What does this mean?

It's a generalisation for conditioning beer. The higher the alcohol content the longer it's likely to take to be in peak condition...


...I rarely follow my own advice!:whistle:
 
Here the general rule of thumb is 2 weeks for a lighter less complex beer such as a wheat or blonde, but 3 weeks for most everything else, unless it is very strong or very complex.

And what I've been doing is generally giving my beers 4 weeks both to ferment and to condition followed by a week in the fridge instead of the 3 days most state. I had an IPA that tasted very similar to a commercial beer, but a week later when my friend found the time to stop by and try it it had completely changed and made a liar out of me! Since then I've given most 4 weeks. But I've had more roasty complex and alcoholic beers seem to take a bit longer until it's melded very nicely.

I'll be considering the week per % now!
 
So there are no crystal malts to steep?

Do you boil these for 60 mins I'd guess then?

Most of the beers I brew are American styles and fairly hoppy, but that's mostly because those ingredients are cheaper and easier to get. I've finally brewed an ESB, and have in mind to brew a British IPA, barley wine, and a brown, and then I also want to brew an Irish and Scottish beer too, and I want all of these to be as authentic as possible. It's actually why I joined this forum as who better to ask questions from since an American can't possibly know much about good British beers and what it takes to brew them! Right?

:cheers:
 
It's actually why I joined this forum as who better to ask questions from since an American can't possibly know much about good British beers and what it takes to brew them! Right?

:cheers:
Not really, Rod, thanks to the miracle of reading, you probably know as much as anyone, given that you're interested.

There is a section on the Forum on books and Graham Wheeler's book on making british beers might be of some interest. Commercial beers of the period GW refers to were pretty variable, from what I recall, but if you can get your hands on the book and decide on what takes your fancy, then perhaps we can give you some ideas on what they tasted like and what was good / bad about them.

My understanding is that the Youngs and Festival kits are just kits that involve a bit of dry hopping at the end, no boiling to speak of.
 
Correct - no boil. Kit comes with a bag of malt extract, just pour that into the FV and add hot & cold water to get a full-volume temp around 21C, then pitch the yeast. After a week or so, add the bag of hop pellets, and when it's fermented out it's done. So simple for such a great beer, doesn't taste like a kit, the kits have really come on the last few years.
 
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