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| Sprecher Special Amber Lager: The Replicator |
| by Steve Bader |
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| A clone recipe for this classic german lager from Milwaukee. |
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Dear Replicator,
I would like to see a clone of Sprecher Special Amber Lager. This amber beer is brewed here in Milwaukee, the birthplace of great American beer. I have enjoyed this brew for many years. If you could clone this, and maybe even feature Randy Sprecher, it would be greatly appreciated. He not only brews great ales and lagers, but — as a good citizen — also supports public television and many local events.
The brewery’s description of this beer says that “a delicate balance of toasted malt and fresh hops give this medium-bodied German-style lager an intriguing, complex flavor. A creamy head, deep golden color and an impressive hop bouquet make this a very special beer.” I can enjoy this beer fresh from the brewery here in Milwaukee, but it deserves to be made by homebrewers everywhere. In my opinion, it is a fine lager.
Glenn Gavin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The Replicator responds: Special Amber is the flagship beer for Sprecher Brewery, and no wonder: The brewers at Sprecher make this beer with great care. I talked to Craig Burge — who has been making beer since 1990 at Sprecher Brewery — to find out how they craft this beer.
Craig tells me this is a true lager beer, fermented with lager yeast at cool lager temperatures. The cool temperatures and lager yeast enhance the maltiness and minimize the fruitiness that you might get if you used an ale yeast and fermented at higher temperatures. Craig said they ferment this beer around 50° F. When the beer has finished fermenting, they drop the temperature to about 33° F for about five weeks. This period of aging gives this beer the smooth, malty flavors for which it is known.
Hopheads should love this beer, since Sprecher Special Amber has a rather aggressive hop level, with the IBUs in the mid 30s. This is higher than normal for a German or Bavarian lager, which would usually have about 20 to 28 IBUs. By hopping to a higher IBU level, they balance this beer nicely to match the high malt level from the lagering process.
The hard part for all you homebrewers is going to be lagering this beer for five weeks or so. But hold steady and don’t succumb to the temptation of sampling it before it is done. It will be well worth the wait!
For more information about Sprecher Brewery and their beers, go to www.sprecherbrewery.com or call them at (414) 964-2739.
Sprecher Special Amber Lager
(5 gallons, extract with grains)
OG = 1.054 FG = 1.015 IBUs = 34–37 ABV = 4.7%
Ingredients
4.0 lbs. Alexander’s pale malt extract syrup
2.0 lbs. Briess Light dry malt powder
0.5 lb. dark Munich malt (20° L)
0.5 lb. crystal malt (120° L)
0.5 lb. Belgian CaraVienna malt
8.5 AAU Cascade hops (bittering)
(1.7 oz. of 5.0% alpha acid)
4.0 AAU Mt. Hood hops (aroma)
(1.0 oz. of 4.0% alpha acid)
1 tsp. Irish moss
Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager) or White Labs WLP830 (German Lager) yeast
0.75 cup corn sugar (for priming)
Step by step
Steep the crushed malts in three gallons of water at 150º F for 30 minutes. Remove the grains from the wort, add malt syrup and powder, and bring this mixture to a boil. Add the Cascade hops and Irish moss and boil for 60 minutes. Add the Mt. Hood hops for the last two minutes of the boil. When done boiling, strain out the hops, add the wort to two gallons cool water in a sanitary fermenter and top off with cool water to 5.5 gallons. Cool the wort to 70º F, aerate the beer and pitch your yeast. After the beer has started fermenting (about 12-18 hours), move the fermenter to a 50° F location and let the beer cool and ferment until fermentation is complete, about 14 days. Then, cool the beer to 33° F and lager for an additional three to five weeks. Bottle your beer, carbonate and enjoy!
All-grain option
Replace the light syrup and powder with 8.5 lbs. Pilsner malt. The Sprecher brewery does a two-step mash. Mash all your grains at 122º F for 30 minutes, then raise the temperature to 155º F for 45 minutes. Collect enough wort to boil for 90 minutes and have a 5.5-gallon yield. Lower the amount of boiling hops to 0.9 of an ounce to account for higher extraction rate of hop bitterness in a full boil.
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