James Squire Amber Ale

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Thursday Jan 27, 2005 9:54 am

Hi Guys,

Anyone have a top clone recipe for the infamous James Squire Amber Ale.

Cheers,
Jay.

Post by **Oliver** » Thursday Jan 27, 2005 11:30 am

Jay,

I went to the homebrew shop on Saturday morning seeking the same information.

I came away with a prepackaged kit. It is 1.5kg can of Black Rock liquid amber malt, a can of Munton's Blonde Beer (1.5kg), 5g (!!!) Golden Cluster hops and Safale yeast.

I was very dubious about whether this would end up being "amber" enough, so bought some chocolate malt to add. I might try about 50-100g to give it some colour. Or maybe 50g chocolate and 50g crystal. Thoughts anyone?

(As an aside, at the homebrew shop I asked the young guy behind the counter whether he'd brewed any of the Malt Shovel (James Squire) beers. He said he hadn't really, which it turned out meant that he had, but stuffed it up. He'd added sugar to the kit, which you're not meant to do. It is completely beyone me why you would work in a homebrew shop and (a) not know how to brew a beer and (b) admit to a customer the said lack of knowledge. Also while there I ended up giving advice to a customer on how to brew a nice cider (while the older guy behind the counter fluffed around trying to find a recipe sheet with a cider recipe on it). I reckon I could do better. Do you have to be a fool to work in a homebrew shop?)

Cheers,

Oliver

juddy · Post by **juddy** » Thursday Jan 27, 2005 11:53 am

closest thing to james squire Amber Ale is ESB Fresh Wort , Amber Ale style .It comes in a 15 lt container . You just add a blue saffel yeast and 5 litres of water . Very easy , fast and extremely drinkable . Only problem is it is more expensive than normal brews .

Cheers ,
Juddeye

thehipone · Post by **thehipone** » Thursday Jan 27, 2005 12:28 pm

One thing I do know is that Amber ale uses Willamette hops. You could probably fudge it pretty close by drawing up something with a few kg of light extract, some crystal malt to get the color right and some willamette hops for about ~25-30 IBU. IIRC, it has some hop flavor, but not a real lot, maybe a bittering addition to get most of your IBU's backed up with small 20 and 5 minute additions. As far as yeast goes, a medium attenuative strain is probably in order to accent those malty flavors.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thursday Jan 27, 2005 1:14 pm

Yeah, I wouldn't trust a bloke in the homebrew shop unless he was at least 40, with a red drinker's nose and beer gut

.

I've got a recipe here that I thought looked a bit dodgey as well.

Morgans Amber Ale (1 can I suppose)
1kg Light Malt (This would extract yeah?)
200g Dried Malt Additive (is this the same as the dried light malt that Coopers sells at Coles?)

I wasn't sure if the brew would 1) be amber enough 2) have the same malty character as the real thing 3) have enough fermentables. I also thought of maybe adding 50g choccy malt for more colour. Is there enough in the way or fermentables? I also noticed that, when a bit warmer, the amber ale has a subtle yet noticable honey aroma/flavour. Could this be replicated by adding a small amount of honey when priming or during primary fermentation?

Great to know your thoughts.

Cheers,
Jay.

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Monday Jan 31, 2005 11:09 am

went to a different (and much more helpful) home brew shop and got the following recipe for JSAA.

1 can morgans amber ale
1.5kg liquid Amber extract
15g willamette hops (taste)
50g English crystal malt
Safale Yeast

Threw this down yesterday and it had the right colour although I don't know the OG because I broke my hydrometer as I was taking it out (It has lasted only 3 brews - what a record) but I calculate around 1.044. The guy gave me a taste of the english crystal malt and just ordinary crystal malt and the english was much much sweeter.

Jay.

thehipone · Post by **thehipone** » Monday Jan 31, 2005 12:31 pm

Just found this recipe on byo.com, loos like it might give you something close to what you made already, but if anyone else is up for trying it might be useful. I think the English crystal you mention is the 165 oL crystal.

Outback Amber Ale
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.052 FG = 1.013
IBU = 39 ABV = 5.0%

Ingredients
3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg) Coopers light
malt extract
3 lbs. (1.4 kg) amber dry malt extract
8oz. (224 grams) crystal 40ÂºL
2oz. (56 grams) crystal 135-165 ÂºL
1/2. oz. (14 grams) Chinook hops
(60 minutes)
1 oz. (28 grams) Willamette hops
(30 minutes)
1 oz. (28 grams) Willamette hops
(5 minutes)
White Labs WLP001 (California
Ale) yeast
1 tsp. Irish moss at 45 minutes
3/4 cup priming sugar

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Tuesday Mar 08, 2005 4:24 pm

The recipe I mentioned in the above thread is almost spot on (5 weeks in bottle).

1 can morgans amber ale
1.5kg liquid Amber extract
15g willamette hops (10min. boiling water)
50g English crystal malt (10min. boiling water)
Safale Yeast

A bit hoppier than the real thing but will probably mellow out in a few more weeks.

Jay.

Antsvb · Post by **Antsvb** » Wednesday Mar 09, 2005 12:45 pm

Jay,
Was that the Morgans Royal Oak Amber Ale in their "export" range?
Cheers

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Wednesday Mar 09, 2005 12:59 pm

Yes it was the royal oak, not sure if it was supposed to be.
Picked up all the gear from Hunter Brewing at Mayfield for around $30. I think they went off a recipe sheet.

Cheers,
Jay.

beermeister · Post by **beermeister** » Wednesday Mar 09, 2005 1:50 pm

Thanks Jay,

I will definitely give the Amber Ale recipe a go.

BM

Antsvb · Post by **Antsvb** » Wednesday Mar 09, 2005 8:19 pm

Yeah, cheers.

Might have to try that recipie as the Royal Oak is just about my fav kit at the moment.

flosso · Post by **flosso** » Tuesday Jun 14, 2005 4:23 pm

I just tried some of the actual James Squire Amber Ale for the first time over the weekend and was instantly hooked. Hence the next batch I will try will be one a clone of this.

Jay, given that it has been a while now since you bottled - is it still a bit hoppier than the real thing? Would you recommend using less hops than the 15g mentioned?

Also, what/how much did you use to prime before bottling? Any other subtle hints/tips that you could pass on?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wednesday Jun 15, 2005 5:44 pm

Flosso,
Haven't had one for a while coz I'm conserving them to see how they go over time (3 left)
From memory the hops settle out nicely. Will have one on the weekend and let you know.
I plan on doing this again but with 10g willamette, 100g grain and with lager yeast (any suggestions). The reason for the lager yeast is that I've heard that James Squire's ferments at lower temps see the link...

http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... .php?t=936

Cheers,
Jay.

flosso · Post by **flosso** » Thursday Jun 16, 2005 9:47 am

Thanks for the reply Jay,

I would be more than happy to use a lager yeast for this seeing as Melbourne is really starting to cool down (top of 14 degrees today - woohoo!!).

By using 100g of grain do you mean 100g english crystal malt (or something like the 50g English crystal malt/50g chocolate malt mix). Apologies for the ignorance as I've never used malt/grains before.

Also wondering how you primed before bottling - did you use dextrose or something else?

Cheers

Post by **Oliver** » Thursday Jun 16, 2005 12:04 pm

Having tasted my "Amber Ale", I'd suggesting adding even more liquid or dried malt. Perhaps another 500g. It just wasn't malty enough; it was a bit too thin.

Of course, this might be solved by using a yeast other than Safale that doesn't attenuate so much.

Oliver

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Monday Jun 20, 2005 11:27 am

Flosso,
100g of english crystal.
Had one on the weekend and was very happy (wish I'd have left a few more). If you like a strong hop profile use the 15g (Maybe more). I tend to not go too large on the hops (personal preference). I used dextrose to prime.

Oliver,
I didn't find it to be too watery compared to JSAA on tap but I did find that mine was a little less sweet.

Anyway I still reckon that this will give you a good starting point.

Cheers,
Jay.

Post by **Oliver** » Monday Jun 20, 2005 1:20 pm

I had another one last night. It was quite bitter compared with the real thing. So I think that the 5g as suggested might have been fine (I added 10g).

Oliver

flosso · Post by **flosso** » Monday Jun 20, 2005 2:11 pm

I just went to Australian Winemakers in North Melbourne to pick up the JSAA ingredients as per Jay's recipe/amendments.

When I told the guys behind the counter what I intended to make, they pointed out that Malt Shovel (makers of James Squire Beers) have their own kits out, and to make a JSAA clone mix together a Malt Shovel Pale Ale with a Malt Shovel Nut Brown Ale and yeast.

I'm sure most other good HBS would stock Malt Shovel kits - I'd already purchased the ingredients as per Jay's recipe and being a fellow Novocastrian I decided to stick with them, but for the next batch I will try using the Malt Shovel products.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has tried a JSAA clone using these 2 Malt Shovel products and what succes they have had.

Evo · Post by **Evo** » Monday Jun 20, 2005 7:17 pm

Just a side note, how much are the James Squire kits ? From memory they are close to the $20 mark. $40 for a kit brew is pushing it in my books (and I normally have no idea of the value of the dollar).