Help me make the reddest beer that was ever red

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Bradinator

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She will be called the the Red Dragon. Or the maybe R.E.D. (Really Extremely Dentures).

Okay, original plan was a simple beer brewed with Pale or Pils and dry 'hopping' with the herb Safflower which, if you have never used it before, turns stuff very, very red.

Unfortunately the local hippy store is out of Safflower and knowing them it probably won't be until the late next year when they have new stock. I am scratching that plan now because I want to brew this in two week from now when I have some alone time (subtract one SWMBO).

So here is what I am thinking:

- Lots of IBU. I want this thing to pucker the a$$holes of the non-craft brew drinker. This brew is for me.
- Red. Like blood red. If I can get this thing as red as koolaid I will be a happy camper.
- Sticking to the IPA style, OG should be around 1.050ish

I have an lots of pilsner malt, lots of pale 2-row malt and lots of CM Pale Ale malt in my inventory. I can buy specialty malts as needed. I have about 1/2 to 1oz of Safflower from a previous experiment on hand as well.

So I guess I should start with the first question, what can I use to make this ale as red as the sky during the rapture?
 
food colouring, or is that not allowed? some "red #3" or whatever they call it might do the trick
 
I'd say make up a nice hoppy IPA recipe. Use those lighter malts, and then that safflower herb to color it red. That'd keep the red as vibrant as it could be. Too many specialty grains might add a deeper red. I've tried to do a red IIPA before and it didn't turn out red. You might be able to get some red out of an ounce of roasted barley, but i haven't tried it. good luck, I'm subscribed and am interested to see what you end up doing.
 
I am trying to stick away from food coloring if possible and I am unsure how well 1/2oz of safflower will colour 5 gallons of beer. It may end up pinkish.

Do you think a mix of some a few ounces of specialty grains, such as carared or roasted barely and dry hooping with the 1/2 oz of safflower could help increase the redness of this beer?
 
Beet juice... Hmmm.. That could work, but do you think it would make the beer more purple then red? If its boiled long enough and with the high IBUs (I am thinking 80+) do you think it would hide the flavour of it? I don't imagine it would lend to the beers character...
 
A combination of carared, munich, roasted barley and dark crystal will get you a nice deep red. Carared alone gives me an orange-ish color. You don't need any stinkin' food coloring!
 
Vienna (as well as Munich and presumably Melanoidin malt), rye and small amounts of certain roasted malts can get a beer surprisingly red.

Panil Barriquée (a Flanders Red), is an astonishingly red beer with flavours of red fruits/berries, and there's nothing in that beer other than barley, hops, water, and the microorganisms that ferment it.
 
How about Blood oranges in the boil? like 3 - 5 no rhine just the meat ? sugars would most likely get fermented out .
 
Magic Hat Wacko uses beets, and it's really red. Tastes good too (to me that is). Some people don't like the mossy aroma, but I do. Reminds me of being outside. Not sure if that comes from the beets or something else though.
 
Vienna (as well as Munich and presumably Melanoidin malt), rye and small amounts of certain roasted malts can get a beer surprisingly red.

I've been thinking about orange myself, and had been thinking of blending Munich with pilsener to get a golden base to which I would add roasted barley. I'm curious about the color effects of the rye, and also whether you have any idea what the grist is for the really red Flanders red.
 
gclunde said:
That might be kinda interesting to blend with a Hefe as well....

Blood Orange Hefe is an already VERY popular (and published) recipe of Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head. Though I'd wager that's not exactly news to you.
 
Experience: Beets must be pureed and even then will make the beer murky. Roasted barley @ 15 min left in mash will give red color. 60/40% mis of 60L & 120L has worked the best so far but adds more crystal.

In the future I would add the roasted barley and a smaller amount of 60/120. Beyond that I would start looking at a splash of food coloring.

It has been my year long quest to make a red IPA and this is what I have learned so far after 4 batches.
 
Perhaps try hibiscus petals. My girlfriend brought some back from Egypt one year. They make a VERY red tea, with a slight tartness to it. This with the blood oranges above could make a nice complementary flavor set.
 
Clarity is big. Often beers will look brighter and lighter in color when they are crystal clear. Any red ale should have a nice hue when it's crystal clear. Look into filtering maybe?
 
Experience: Beets must be pureed and even then will make the beer murky. Roasted barley @ 15 min left in mash will give red color. 60/40% mis of 60L & 120L has worked the best so far but adds more crystal.

Huh, I wouldn't have expected a crystal blend to get you a good red - I'm used to thinking of the lighter crystals as very yellow, and the darker ones as brown.

How much of this mix do you use? How much roasted barley?

(I'm still thinking in terms of orange, myself - I want something vividly orange by the time soccer season starts up again, because it's my local team's color - but if I can produce vivid reds and vivid yellows I can blend and come up with a recipe that way.
 
My 11/11/11 Gun Stock ale turned out pretty red. The pic below is from brew day. Since then, it has dropped completely clear and is a gorgeous deep garnet red (and has much less brown than is shown in the hydrometer sample). Is that the shade of red you're going for?

20529d1297661937-11-11-11-gun-stock-ale-old-ale-official-recipe-sspx0040.jpg
 
Huh, I wouldn't have expected a crystal blend to get you a good red - I'm used to thinking of the lighter crystals as very yellow, and the darker ones as brown.

How much of this mix do you use? How much roasted barley?

(I'm still thinking in terms of orange, myself - I want something vividly orange by the time soccer season starts up again, because it's my local team's color - but if I can produce vivid reds and vivid yellows I can blend and come up with a recipe that way.

Something like 10oz 60L to 8oz 120L. Like I said, around a 60/40 blend worked very well. But I would combine this with a small add of roast barley. This mix was used for a amber ale so for an ipa I'd go lighter on the crystal and add roast barley
 
teucer said:
Huh, I wouldn't have expected a crystal blend to get you a good red - I'm used to thinking of the lighter crystals as very yellow, and the darker ones as brown.

How much of this mix do you use? How much roasted barley?

(I'm still thinking in terms of orange, myself - I want something vividly orange by the time soccer season starts up again, because it's my local team's color - but if I can produce vivid reds and vivid yellows I can blend and come up with a recipe that way.

Orange is pretty easy. A ton of Vienna with an extended boil should really help. The most vividly orange beers tend to be saisons.
 
From a chef point of view, you could use saffron and this can be ordered off of amazon.com and a little goes a long way. You could make your mash water and HTL from it. I've been wanting to try making a saffron ale, but haven't had the time. Good luck.
 
These are all some really great ideas. Hibiscus tea is something I think I can get. Pomegranates, though possibly the worlds most annoying and messy fruit, may add an interesting flavour as well as increase the redness.

Safflower, Hibiscus, Pomegranate Ale?
 
I've had hibiscus beers. They've been intensely PINK, not red. And I don't just mean a diluted red that will look more red in a greater concentration.
 
teucer said:
I've been thinking about orange myself, and had been thinking of blending Munich with pilsener to get a golden base to which I would add roasted barley. I'm curious about the color effects of the rye, and also whether you have any idea what the grist is for the really red Flanders red.

I don't off-hand. Maybe I can find it...

I still insist you can achieve a pretty damn red beer with just malt and an extended boil. Would be way more awesome than what pretty much just amounts to adding a natural dye, too. In that case, you might as well just pull out all the stops...

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cochineal#Dye
 
I've had hibiscus beers. They've been intensely PINK, not red. And I don't just mean a diluted red that will look more red in a greater concentration.

I am thinking that if I brew a very light beer and try to change its colour with a herb or fruit it will end up pink unless its heavily diluted. So what I am thinking now is to build a recipe that would lead to a red coloured ale using some of the specialty malts mentioned above, then dry hopping with a hibiscus and safflower mixture to intensify it.
 
I'm convinced that Raspberries would work great. Of course, if you don't want fruit in your beer it could pose a problem.

Here's a picture of a beautiful Raspberry Mead (Melomel):

RaspberryMelomel.jpg
 
Orange is pretty easy. A ton of Vienna with an extended boil should really help. The most vividly orange beers tend to be saisons.

Yeah, I'd been thinking light Munich with a bit of Pils thrown in, but Vienna would be about the same effect. But that's partly because I wanted to darken it up a bit with roast barley, and that meant a bit of a yellow ingredient; an extended boil would probably do better.
 
My 11/11/11 Gun Stock ale turned out pretty red. The pic below is from brew day. Since then, it has dropped completely clear and is a gorgeous deep garnet red (and has much less brown than is shown in the hydrometer sample). Is that the shade of red you're going for?

Whether the OP is or not, your description sounds intriguing and I'd love to hear what went into it.

(In case you can't tell, color beyond degrees Lovibond is something I've recentishly become interested in exploring myself and am mostly not so clueful about.)
 
Here's the recipe we all followed:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f74/11-11-11-gun-stock-ale-old-ale-official-recipe-197241/

The only difference was I used blackstrap molasses instead of treacle. I also used Fawcett amber malt, which is darker than other ambers. I didn't get to bottle in time to take part in the swap, which is a shame, but I'm going to keep some of this around for the next time a swap is organized. The latest sample I took tasted so good, I really have my hopes high. If I get around to bottling soon, I'll try to remember to take a picture and post it back here.
 
Here's the recipe we all followed:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f74/11-11-11-gun-stock-ale-old-ale-official-recipe-197241/

The only difference was I used blackstrap molasses instead of treacle. I also used Fawcett amber malt, which is darker than other ambers. I didn't get to bottle in time to take part in the swap, which is a shame, but I'm going to keep some of this around for the next time a swap is organized. The latest sample I took tasted so good, I really have my hopes high. If I get around to bottling soon, I'll try to remember to take a picture and post it back here.

Was it the molasses/treacle that turned it red?
 
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