Small Beer Amber Ale

(Boil additions of Magnum to get you to 25 IBUs)

Brewing at low gravities presents many brewing challenges that I’ll likely detail in a future blog post. In a nutshell, good brewing practices are necessity, since any flaw will easily show. Additionally, in the recipe design, use base-malts and speciality-grains that have intense flavors, since low alcohol beers have small grists. For the session amber, I went with some flavorfuls malts I normally use in small percentages: Munich, Crystal 75 L, Aromatic malt, and made it the entire grist. On the yeast side of things, I suggest using a strain that will improve the mouthfeel. I used Wyeast 1450, which is a mouthfeel and caramel enhancing strain with a neutral ester profile. Most English strains are also good, but will usually produce some fruity esters, a must-have for any English-style session ales.