Caramel Amber Ale — Home Brew Recipe
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Style: Amber Ale | ABV: ~4.8% | Volume: 23 litres | Difficulty: Beginner
About This Recipe
A beautiful amber ale with a rich caramel backbone, gentle bitterness and a warm copper hue. This is a crowd-pleaser — complex enough to be interesting but approachable enough for everyone to enjoy. The multi-crystal malt bill gives it beautiful layers of toffee, biscuit and dried fruit.
Ingredients
- 2.8kg pale malt extract
- 250g Crystal Malt (Thomas Fawcett)
- 150g Dark Crystal Malt (Thomas Fawcett)
- 100g Caramalt (Thomas Fawcett)
- 25g Target hops (T90 Pellet) — 60 min
- 20g Willamette hops (T90 Pellet) — 15 min
- 1 packet Gervin GV12 Ale Yeast
- ½ Protafloc tablet — 15 min
Method
- Sterilise all equipment.
- Steep all three crushed crystal malts together in 3.5L at 67°C for 30 min.
- Remove grains, bring to boil, dissolve malt extract and begin 60-minute boil.
- Hops: Target at 60 min, Willamette + Protafloc at 15 min.
- Cool to 22°C, top up to 23L and pitch yeast. Ferment 18–20°C for 6–7 days.
- Add beer finings before bottling for clarity.
- Bottle with carbonation drops. Condition 2–3 weeks.
Brewer's Notes
The three-crystal-malt combination is what gives this beer its depth. Don't be tempted to simplify it — each malt adds a slightly different caramel and toffee note that makes the finished beer genuinely complex.