AG Irish Red Ale help.

I wanted a simple Haus Irish Red Ale. I just wanted to get some thoughts on this one. I would like it to be around 5%, on the malty side and medium bodied.

Irish Red Ale
Batch Size: 6.00 gal

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 86.4 %
1 lbs Caraaroma (130.0 SRM) Grain 2 9.1 %
8.0 oz Carafoam (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.5 %
1.00 oz Challenger [7.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 22.8 IBUs
1.0 pkg Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084) [124.21 ml] Yeast 5 -


I appreciate your feedback.

Irish reds generally have some roast barley in there, traditionally anyway. 1-2% will give it that nutty character.

That's a bit much caraaroma. Might want to cut it back a bit for a house red. Also consider flaked barley in lieu of carafoam. I use roasted barley in my winter reds but omit for summer reds. I'm brewing this one up this weekend.

5 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) 47.6 %
4 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) 38.1 %
1 lbs Barley, Flaked 9.5 %
4.0 oz Caraaroma (130.0 SRM) 2.4 %
4.0 oz English Crystal, Medium (55.0 SRM) 2.4%

I am using beer smith, so going off of this for color. I used the caraaroma to get the red color, what else works well? What do you guys think of the MO for the base malt? I have never used MO before.

Here is a recipe for an Irish Red that I brew several times a year, it comes out very nice and malty with just a hint of toasty/biscuity notes

9.00 lb Maris Otter
0.50 lb Crystal 40
0.25 lb Flaked Oats
0.13 lb Black Patent

1.00 oz East Kent Goldings [5.00 %] (60 min)
0.50 oz East Kent Goldings [5.00 %] (2 min)

1 Pkgs Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084) [Starter 1600 ml] Yeast-Ale

Mash @ 154 for 60 min.
Ferment @ 65 for 3 weeks then keg and carb (or bottle)

This comes out to about 5% ABV

I like MO base malt. 2 oz of roasted barley gives it just about the perfect color. Some crystal is usually added too.

cblack85 said:

Here is a recipe for an Irish Red that I brew several times a year, it comes out very nice and malty with just a hint of toasty/biscuity notes

9.00 lb Maris Otter
0.50 lb Crystal 40
0.25 lb Flaked Oats
0.13 lb Black Patent

1.00 oz East Kent Goldings [5.00 %] (60 min)
0.50 oz East Kent Goldings [5.00 %] (2 min)

1 Pkgs Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084) [Starter 1600 ml] Yeast-Ale

Mash @ 154 for 60 min.
Ferment @ 65 for 3 weeks then keg and carb (or bottle)

This comes out to about 5% ABV

Click to expand...

Does this fermenting time include conditioning? I might switch to EKG because I have 1/2 oz left over.

MirImage said:

Does this fermenting time include conditioning? I might switch to EKG because I have 1/2 oz left over.

Click to expand...

I usually leave it in the primary for 3 weeks, then keg. I will usually leave it in the keg at serving temp for about 2 weeks before I start pouring.

Thanks everyone for the help. I'm going on holiday for a few days so may or may not get a chance to tweak he recipe. I plan on brewing this mid to late Aug then have a tweaked 2nd batch by Dec when my Dad visits (his favorite style).

Hey MirImage. Let me help out a bit with this. First, the Marris Otter is perfectly fine in this recipe. You're right that you do want some good red coloration, but let's be particular with how we get to it. A little CaraAroma is fine, if you want that, but it shouldn't be quite that much.

You defined your goals as being red, tasting malty, and specifically Irish.

The other responses in this thread are absolutely right about the roasted barley. Use just a touch of it to get a bitter finish (5% or less), which will really help the drinkability of the final product. If you add a lot, you'll notice that it becomes a stout. Just a bit makes it red to brown.

The maltiness you want will comes from your choice of other malts. You're on the right track with the Cara products, but go with standard caramel (crystal) malts. Pick about three, like 20, 40, and 60. Mix them in your malt bill as necessary to get the color you want. The different levels of crystal cause different flavors, and this will give your beer a wonderful complexity.

If you're interested in some other ways to get malty character, try some Vienna or Munich base malts in addition to the Marris Otter for some more subtle tastes.


So, that's color and maltiness. You also said Irish too. Now, what makes the beer Irish? Unless you're using Dublin water or something, it's probably just the Irish yeast. For reds and stouts, many folks jump directly to the Irish strain. It's an awesome one, but it also excels at making very dry beers (like stouts). For your malty red, you might consider a sweeter British version, such as Scottish or English. I realize this removes the "Irish" element, but it was otherwise just an Irish Red in name, right?

Cordane makes some good points! I used S-04 yeast for mine, it came in at 74% attenuation so it was nice and malty. I followed Jamil's recipe from BCS, it was my first all grain and it came out great. I'd agree with the others that the roasted barley is key, you want a tiny roast bite at the end to keep it from becoming cloying.

Here is what I have now,


Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 86.4 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 2 4.5 %
8.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.5 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.3 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.3 %
1.00 oz Challenger [7.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 23.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) [35.49 ml] Yeast 7 -

This sits at 4.4% according to Beer Smith for a 6 gallon batch. Is 1 lb of various crystal malts too much for an 11lb grain bill?

Thanks.

MirImage said:

Is 1 lb of various crystal malts too much for an 11lb grain bill?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Definitely not. Good rule of thumb for flavor: get the most of your color from the malt that isn't the darkest. That is to say, really make your middle colored malts work for you. Use them to really add serious depth.


What would you rather have?

A stout made with pale malt and enough roasted barley to make it black;

or a stout made with some pale malt, several middle color malts of varying sorts, and just a touch of roasted barley to finish making it black?


Both will look the same, but which has more character?

Cool. I will try this out once I have some more funds....vacation killed that for the moment. Cheers.

Thats quite a bit of roasted barley, I like it, it will get some serious coffee flavours coming through and will be great as the weather cools. If its not getting too dark and more of a porter then I say go for it.

It might taste good, but it will too dark and roasty for an Irish Red. BJCP guidelies are 9-18 SRM for color. Your recipe is sitting at nearly 30 SRM with all of the crystal and especially roasted barley.

Take it for what it's worth, but I would modify this to be (6 gallon batch):

9.5 lbs MO: 4.4 color, 4 oz Crystal 40: 2.1 color, 4 oz Crystal 60: 2.8 color, 4 oz Crystal 80: 3.4 color, 2 oz Roasted Barley 300: 5.3 color. Sum is 17.9 SRM so just on upper end of guidelines. You will still be able to taste a little of the roasted barley which I think is perfect. Going to 3 oz Roasted Barley will give you 19.7 SRM, going with 4 oz RB will give you 21.2.

did you end up brewing this? if so, how did it come out

Sorry, I haven't yet but I do need a red available for March so ill make it soon. Ill play around with one and then I should have time to tinker if I make it soon.

Brewed this as
10#MO
.5#Crystal 55
.25#Crystal 80
.25#Crystal 120
.125#roasted barley
1oz Challenger @ 60mins

Mashed at 152. We'll see how it goes.

MirImage said:

Brewed this as
10#MO
.5#Crystal 55
.25#Crystal 80
.25#Crystal 120
.125#roasted barley
1oz Challenger @ 60mins

Mashed at 152. We'll see how it goes.

Click to expand...

Force kegged this and tried it. My 1st impression is it has a good balance. Nice roastiness. I would like to dial back on the darker crystal for the sake of color. It looks like a brown. Maybe do 40/60/80 or 100 with the same amounts.

Also had issues with keg being filled to high and coming out the gas post, blah.

Yeah, my reds are really dark too, but I don't mind it.