My-Wife-Hit-A-Cop-Car Amber ale

Trying to go in a different direction with an amber ale, I have cut down on the bitterness and gone up on the hops. I have also used some cara-pils, which my brewshop says should add richness and mouthfeel compared to crystal malt. Why the name? The day after I brewed this, my wife T-boned a cop car with the mini van. Most embarassing, it was one of the guys I work with. Hey, it's all in the name.

Brewer:	Rathole		Email:	rathole2331@yahoo.com
Beer:	My-Wife-Hit-A-Cop-Car Amber ale		Style:	American Amber Ale
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5.5 gallons
Color:	18 HCU (~11 SRM)		Bitterness:	22 IBU
OG:	1.049		FG:	1.022
Alcohol:	3.5% v/v (2.7% w/w)
Water:	My local tap water, which is fairly soft, with one teaspoon gypsum added.
Grain:	1 lb. Dextrine malt (Cara-Pils)
Steep:	Steep one lb of carapils cracked grain at 155° for 30 minutes
Boil:	60 minutes	SG 1.054	5 gallons
	7 lb. Amber malt extract
	Irish moss for the last 15 minutes 1 teaspoon gypsum beginning of boil
Hops:	1 oz. Liberty (3.2% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Liberty (3.2% AA, 15 min.) 1 oz. Liberty (3.2% AA, 10 min.) 1 oz. Liberty (3.2% AA, 5 min.)
Yeast:	Danstar "windsor" dry yeast, rehydrated with a couple-three tablespoons of wort to warm it up
Log:	Brewed tonight 10/22/03. Usually, I wait until bottling to post my recipies, but oh well. I'm trying to go with a little less bitterness and some hop punch with this one. Liberty is supposed to give a hallertau-type aroma, and with the hop additions i wanted the bitterness to be lower, which is why i used the low alpha liberty. It's also supposed to be a good aroma hop, so we'll see. I WILL post updates. Additonally, the OG I got was about 1.044, less than the recipator predicts. I always get a lower OG, don't know if it's my hydrometer or my malt, if the steeping efficency is low (I always put it around 20%) or if it's the recipator. update 11/3/03: This is odd, after four days in the primary (10/26) it came out with a SG of 1.022... tonight, after seven or eight days in the secondary, it is still about the same if not a bit higher (this is due to i believe a little outgassing or the fermentation is continuing, there is still a ring of bubbles) but it tastes fine. my brew shop says carapils will leave a lot of unfermentables, which could explain the high SG. I'll bottle it in a couple days.
Carbonation:	3/4 cup priming sugar
Tasting:	11/15/03: It's been in the bottle close to a week now. Nice rich smooth taste, not bitter. The gravity came down to 1.022 and stayed there. I think the cara-pils does that, I have only used it twice and both batches did that. The beer tastes kinda thick and viscous, a whole lotta mouthfeel with a rich medium malt flavor. The hop aroma is a lot less than one would expect with the hop additions. I've never used liberty before, so this is new territory. All in all, it's a nice unassuming beer that has a mouthful of flavor and I don't think will offend the uninitiated. My wife hates bitterness, but likes this. Next time, I think I would use 1/2 lb carapils instead of a pound. Other than that, it turned out pretty much like I expected and will probably make another batch to keg for my superbowl party.

Recipe posted 10/23/03.