Irish Red Ale.

Hi there. Im new here - in Home Brew Talk. Nice people and atmosphere!

So here is my recipe, post your thoughts about it.

38% Belgian Biscuit Malt - 2.2 kg
15% Simpsons Golden Promise - 0.9 kg
8% Simpsons Dark Crystal - 0.45 kg
23% Simpsons Golden Naked Oats - 1.36 kg
17% Candi Sugar (blond) 1kg

Palisade Hops (boil) - 25g 60min
Palisade Hops (aroma) - 15g 20min
Chinook Hops (aroma) - 15g 20min

White Labs WLP004 yeast

I also wanna add a roasted hazelnuts (about 500g).


This would be my first brew..

Welcome to the forums. I don't know how much flavor you get from the nuts, since most of their flavor is probably in the oils. Try some hazelnut extract at bottling if that is what your tastebuds fancy. Also some rice hulls to help prevent a stuck sparge with all those oats.

250g rice hulls would be enough?
I should make this one at home!

That's what I'd do. Except probably leave out the sugar and vanilla bean (unless you want the vanilla). And I usually just eyeball the rice hulls if I think my sparge is going to stick.

I have made a hazelnut porter. For a 5 gallon batch 1 oz of commercial hazelnut extract was enough to give it a very noticeable taste. Any more and it wouldn't taste like beer.

Ok, so i would like make some hazelnut extract at home.

Sounds more like an attempt at a Belgian beer than an Irish red, IMO.

I would say there is too much biscuit regardless of the style, and not enough base grain. And where is the roasted barley? The roasted barley really gives that Irish Red roasty quality. You don't need a lot of it at all. I have an Irish Red on here (click recipes under my avatar) if you want to take a look.

Nice recipe Gremlyn!
I should add some roasted barley to it? I would use biscuit like a base grain.

420Brewer said:

I would use biscuit like a base grain.

Click to expand...

You can't. It can't convert itself and needs a base grain to convert it.

15% Belgian Biscuit Malt - 0.9 kg
38% Simpsons Golden Promise - 2.2 kg
8% Simpsons Dark Crystal - 0.45 kg
23% Simpsons Golden Naked Oats - 1.36 kg
17% Candi Sugar (blond) 1kg

I change golden promise to base malt. Now its fine?

I think it all depends on what you're going for. Are you trying to make an Irish Red that is to style? If so, the recipe you have is all wrong. If you want to make a beer that you are going to call an Irish Red, styles be-damned, then I would still make some changes such as dropping the candi sugar, unless you're looking for a drier beer, and also completely drop out the oats, or maybe drop it down to 5% of the total. They don't add much in the way of fermentables, and are mostly for body and mouthfeel.