Fake Tire Amber Ale 1.2

One of my favorite beers from last year was my Fake Tire Amber Ale (a clone of Fat Tire). The first batch was so good that I brewed it again! The second batch was largely the same as the first, except I used pelletized hops instead of whole hops. The unfortunate effect was that the beer was slightly more bitter. Thus, I decided to further refine my pelletized recipe for this brew session. Following advice elsewhere, I reduced the overall hops amounts by 10 percent, to compensate for the greater surface area (and contribution of bitterness) from the pellets versus the whole cones. I also changed the yeast, from Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II) to White Labs WLP051 (California V Ale), based on what was available at my local homebrew supply shop.

The result is:

Fake Tire Amber Ale 1.2

• 5 pounds plain extra-light DME
• 0.5 lb Munich light malt
• 0.5 lb Carapils malt
• 0.5 lb biscuit malt
• 0.5 lb crystal malt (20° Lovibond)
• 0.5 lb crystal malt (40° Lovibond)
• 1.0 oz chocolate malt
• 0.9 oz. Cascade hops (60 minutes boil)
• 0.9 oz. Mt. Hood hops (5 minutes boil)
• 1 tsp. Irish moss (15 minutes boil)
• White Labs WLP051 Yeast (California V Ale)

Steps

• I heated 3.5 gallons of tap water to 154° F, and steeped the grains for 45 minutes. Then, I sparged the grains with 0.5 gallons of tap water at 154°.
• After bringing the mixture to a boil, I turned off the heat and added the malt. I brought it back to a boil, and threw in the Cascade hops.
• After boiling for 45 minutes, I added 1 tsp. of Spanish moss.
• After boiling for another 12 minutes (for 57 minutes total boil), I added the Mt. Hood hops.
• After 3 more minutes (60 minutes total of boiling), I cooled the wort with my chiller, added cold tap water to a total of 4.5 gallons, and pitched the yeast. Pitching temperature was 76° F, and starting gravity was measured at 1.052 (gravity is recalculated to what it would be at 60° F).

Steeping the grains for Fake Tire Amber Ale 1.2