Specialty Grain Madness

Do you ever just want to go crazy with specialty grains and maybe add too much to a beer? Well, I played around with that idea, and this gem resulted. It's light and clean, while filled with flavour.

Brewer:	Shbobdb		Email:	-
Beer:	Specialty Grain Madness		Style:	American Amber Ale
Type:	All grain		Size:	5.5 gallons
Color:	40 HCU (~19 SRM)		Bitterness:	35 IBU
OG:	1.058		FG:	1.008
Alcohol:	6.4% v/v (5.0% w/w)
Water:	I used a PUR water filter for most of the water, however, one gallon was Mountain Spring Drinking Water.
Grain:	1 lb. Wheat malt 5 lb. American Vienna 5 lb. American Munich 8 oz. American victory 1 lb. Belgian aromatic 8 oz. Belgian Special B
Mash:	71% efficiency
	-Gel in at the acid rest. Start the first decoction after ten minutes -Perform a simple decoction to the protein rest. Total time: 1/2 hour. -Another decoction, this time in the low end of the saccharification rest. Total time: 1/2 hour -Another decoction up to around 158°F. Don't hold it here, let it drop naturally over the next hour.
Boil:	75 minutes	SG 1.045	7 gallons
	Some Irish Moss near the end of the boil is ALWAYS a good idea.
Hops:	1 oz. Bullion (8.5% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Tettnanger (4.5% AA, 15 min.)
Yeast:	I used a blend of the Wyeast German ale Yeast and Danstar Nottignham.
Log:	In primary for a week. (around 65F) In secondary for a week. (same temp as primary). 20 days to carbonate/condition. (Cellar temp, around 50F).
Carbonation:	Prime using corn sugar with just a *touch* of molassas.
Tasting:	This Beer is pretty amazing, actually. Lots of complex flavours going on here. Lots of them. Man, it just washes over your tongue with sweet malts, mixes to toast and sweet with just enough hops to leave the beer feeling clean. The bittering hops were just the right alpha acid; however, I'd rather use some Perle next time for a more Germanic feel. Also, I'd consider dry-hopping with Spalt. Mmmmm, Spalt. Personally, I liked the 1lb of Aromatic, but I could see how some people might want to halve it and make the beer less sweet. The beer was also a touch thin, so maybe play around with the mash temps a bit.

Recipe posted 02/22/06.