Deschutes Red Chair NWPA knockoff/recipe construction
Next weekend is a brewing weekend, and its been quite some time since I brewed a nice pale ale. One of the better pale ales I've enjoyed recently is the Deschutes Red Chair NWPA. It seems a little different from when it was called the Red Chair IPA, but it is quite delicious and very drinkable. Both my girlfriend and I love to knock these down with dinner so this seemed to be a great influence to start with.
Since this beer is relatively new and I haven't seen anybody deconstruct this one I emailed Deschutes to see what I'd get. Lo and behold I got a response with a few "clone recipes" that are brewery authorized, but it only lists ingredients and not times/temps/etc. It is a decent starting point though.
A little digging on the internet reveals a bit more useful info:
ABV: 6.4%
IBUs: 60
So they are obviously bittering with Centennial and finishing with Cascade. I might do an Apollo / Simcoe version since those are some of my favorite hops.
The grainbill is a bit complex. Its not very thick so the attenuation is probably around 75%
2row malt character is present, so its probably 75-85% 2row.
The color is fairly light so the crystal malt and carastan must be of the low lovibond varieties and in small amounts.
A touch of carapils is probably for head retention as there isn't much body.
The munich is obviously part of the nice "red" soft caramel smooth maltiness.
The pilsner malt just confuses the hell out of me.
Who wants to take a crack at decoding this recipe? I'm working on mine and I'll post in the morning after some more thought.
Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 53.85 %
2.50 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 19.23 %
1.50 lb Pilsner (2 Row) UK (1.0 SRM) Grain 11.54 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 5.77 %
0.75 lb Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 5.77 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.85 %
0.50 oz Citra [11.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
0.50 oz Apollo Pellet [18.30 %] (90 min) Hops 31.8 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [8.30 %] (15 min) Hops 13.4 IBU
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (15 min) Hops 21.0 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [8.30 %] (5 min) (Aroma Hop-SteepHops -
0.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (5 min) (Aroma Hop-SteepHops -
1.10 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) Yeast-Ale
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 13.00 lb
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Single Infusion, Light Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
75 min Mash In Add 21.00 qt of water at 161.0 F 152.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 11.70 qt of water at 200.0 F 168.0 F
Despite all of this, Red Chair is still a hop forward ale, but not in the way many have gotten used to. You will find no cloying, mouth puckering bitterness here. In its place a straight up succulent citrus punch to the nose. This is due to the experimental nature of some of the hops, as well as, how late in the process they were added.
My guess is this beer gets most of its IBU's from late additions.
My guess is this beer gets most of its IBU's from late additions.
Good call. Missed that. It doesn't have the huge hop burst that a majority-late hopped IPA has.
Its hoppy and bright, but not like punch you in the face necessary to get 60 IBUs from 15 minutes and under additions. Maybe half of the IBUs are from 30 minutes and under?
WLP002 is indeed an "English Ale Yeast" but they are getting close to 80% attenuation with it. That is most decidedly not the WLP002 I can get as that tops out around 71-72% attenuation.
I just have WLP001 in there for now until I can come up with a better substitute.
I realize I'm changing the hop schedule up a lot. My new recipe sheet is already different than whats up there. I'll update.
Deschutes yeast is rumored to have descended from Wyeast 1968. If you serially propagate the less flocculant cells from a couple of starters, and are patient with rousing up the yeast every day for a week after fermentation dies down, I bet you can get it down to 80% attenuation.
If you don't want to go to all that trouble I would recommend Wyeast 1028, I have great results with it in hoppy beers and it has no trouble reaching 80% attenuation as long as you keep the % of crystal low and mash at 150.
I'll see about picking up a 6-er and will weigh in with other useless mumble jumble after I'm too to post correctly.
WLP002 is indeed an "English Ale Yeast" but they are getting close to 80% attenuation with it. That is most decidedly not the WLP002 I can get as that tops out around 71-72% attenuation.
Just talking about taste, not atten.
In one of their hoppy beers, you won't notice much anyway. Use the 001, won't hurt anything.
Deschutes yeast is rumored to have descended from Wyeast 1968. If you serially propagate the less flocculant cells from a couple of starters, and are patient with rousing up the yeast every day for a week after fermentation dies down, I bet you can get it down to 80% attenuation.
If you don't want to go to all that trouble I would recommend Wyeast 1028, I have great results with it in hoppy beers and it has no trouble reaching 80% attenuation as long as you keep the % of crystal low and mash at 150.
I'll see about picking up a 6-er and will weigh in with other useless mumble jumble after I'm too to post correctly.
The ESB yeast would make sense, London could produce a similar taste. I am still going with my 1275 Thames Valley though, I made a Jubelale clone with it and the yeast was pretty dead on in attenuation and taste.
Speaking of which...maybe I will walk in with a sterile jar on a brew day and make some slants for anyone who sends me a vial. I'll ask them if it's OK.
The ESB yeast would make sense, London could produce a similar taste. I am still going with my 1275 Thames Valley though, I made a Jubelale clone with it and the yeast was pretty dead on in attenuation and taste.
Speaking of which...maybe I will walk in with a sterile jar on a brew day and make some slants for anyone who sends me a vial. I'll ask them if it's OK.
Deschutes Red Chair NWPA knockoff/recipe construction
to post correctly. 
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