Sin City Brewery’s Amber clone
Full-bodied and proud, this amber hued lager may be an Oktoberfest-style beer, but it is available to be enjoyed year round. A robust micro-brewed lager made with imported and specialty malts, Sin City Amber balances a full-bodied malt character with imported German Hallertauer hops.
Sin City Amber clone
(5 gallons/19 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.053 FG = 1.012
IBU = 18 SRM = 11 ABV = 5.3%
Ingredients
3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg) Pilsen liquid malt extract
2.25 lbs. (1.0 kg) Pilsen dried malt extract
1.5 lb. (0.7 kg) German dark Munich malt (15 ºL)
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) German Munich malt (10 ºL)
1 tsp. Irish moss (15 mins)
4.75 AAU Hallertau Hersbrücker hops (60 min.) (1.0 oz./28 g of 4.75% alpha acids)
2.4 AAU Hallertau Hersbrücker hops (10 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g of 4.75% alpha acid)
White Labs WLP820 (Oktoberfest/Märzen Lager) or Wyeast 2308 (Munich Lager) yeast
0.75 cup corn sugar (for priming)
Step by Step
Steep the 2 crushed Munich malts in 3 gallons (11 L) of water at 150 ºF (66 ºC) for 30 minutes. Remove grains from wort, add the malt syrup and dry malt extract and bring to a boil.
Add the first addition of Hallertau Hersbrücker hops, Irish moss, and boil for 60 minutes. Add the last addition of Hallertau Hersbrücker hops for the last 10 minutes of the boil.
Now add wort to 2 gallons (7.6 L) cool water in a sanitary fermenter, and top off with cool water to 5.5 gallons (20.9 L).
Cool the wort to 75 ºF (24 ºC), aerate the beer and pitch your yeast. Allow the beer to cool over the next few hours to 68 °F (20 ºC) and hold at this temperature until the yeast has started fermenting. Then cool to 50 °F (10 ºC) until finished fermentation.
Sin City then does a diacetyl rest by warming the beer to 70 °F (21 ºC) for 4 days. Then rack the beer to a secondary and cool the beer again to 50 ºF (10 ºC) for another four days. Finally, Sin City lagers the beer at near freezing for another two weeks.
All-grain option: This is a multiple step infusion mash. Your grain bill will be 8.5 lbs. (3.8 kg) German Pilsner malt, 1.5 lbs. (0.7 kg) German Munich (15 °L), and 1.0 lbs. (0.5 kg) German Munich (10 °L). Mash grains together at 100 ºF (38 ºC) for 20 minutes, then increase to 125 ºF (52 ºC) for 10 minutes, then 150 ºF (66 ºC) for 25 minutes, then 162 ºF (72 ºC) for 30 minutes, then 172 ºF (78 ºC) for 5 minutes, then begin runoff. Collect enough wort to boil for 90 minutes and have a 5.5-gallon (20.9-L) yield (~7 gallons or 26.6 L).
