Need input on a Boddington-Irish Red hybrid

TexasBock · 12-21-2011, 04:51 PM

Hello, fellow beer heads! I'm a long time lurker and finally decided to post. I am on my 7th batch or so and I am getting the urge to step out of style confinements, although this may just be a style I'm not aware of. I want to do a hybrid between a Boddington clone and an Irish red ale. Please give me your observations, advice, experience and criticisms!

The recipe I have come up with is a partial mash with lots of specialty grains. Below I have listed the grain bill according to each style. These styles overlap greatly in the bill so I will only list it once in the first style and list the remaining unique grains in the second style. The lists will obviously be combined to create the hybrid recipe.

Boddington
Light DME..................5 lbs
2 row malt.................1 lbs
Cara-Pil Dex...............1/2 lbs
Crystal 60L US............1/2 lbs
Flaked Oats................1/2 lbs
Flaked Wheat..............1/2 lbs
Brown Sugar...............1/2 lbs

Irish Red Ale
Chocolate Malt............1/4 lbs
dark roasted barley......1/4 lbs
Vienna Malt................1/4 lbs

Yeast - WLP004 (Irish Ale)(1L starter w/ 1 cup light DME and yeast nutrient, hand swirled every few hours for about 36 hours)
Hops - Cascade (60 min)
Willamette (10 min)
Adjuncts - Whirfloc
Gelatin (if necessary)

Notes: I do a 3 gallon boil and add water to make 5 gallons. Temp controlled fridge at 68F for 4 weeks, no secondary. Kegged.

plumbob · 12-21-2011, 05:07 PM

Lose the wheat and brown sugar. That also strikes me as a lot of roast barley.

TexasBock · 12-21-2011, 05:36 PM

@plumbob, thanks for the advice. I have the same feelings on the brown sugar as well. I literally just spliced two recipes so the amounts are a little out of control.

daksin · 12-21-2011, 06:20 PM

It would be easier to give advice if we knew what you were going for. I think a cream ale and an irish red ale are much more different than you think. It's sort of like asking "I want to make a drink that tastes like a cross between horchata and mulled wine."

TexasBock · 12-21-2011, 08:12 PM

@daksin, I'm looking for the body and maltiness of Boddington with the slight hoppiness and crispness of the red ale.

plumbob · 12-21-2011, 11:15 PM

I think if you want body and crispness I would also drop the oats, it always gives a heavy feeling to beer, IMO. Maybe push up your mash temp a couple of degrees and replace what you've taken out with pale malt (I like 6 row for BIAB, but thats kind of an academic argument). That might get you a better compromise between a drinkability and body.

If you are going to do both chocolate and roast barley I wouldn't do more than 2oz of each. With a 1/2lbs of grains over 300SRM you're going to get upwards of 20SRM for your beer as a whole and you'll probably lose the red color you are looking for and be heading into stout territory.

EDIT: Assuming a 5gal batch

daksin · 12-22-2011, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexasBock

@daksin, I'm looking for the body and maltiness of Boddington with the slight hoppiness and crispness of the red ale.

Not sure I get it, I've always had reds that were fairly full bodied, malty and hoppy, whereas a cream ale is very thin, dry, and smooth, with low bitterness and almost no hop aroma or flavor.

TexasBock · 12-23-2011, 01:29 AM

Yeah I dunno. I'm just throwin' some stuff together. We'll see what happens.

**BigUgly** · 12-23-2011, 02:22 AM

It sounds like a fun hybrid to me. I'd drink the shat out of it!