Irish Red Recipe. Please critique

So my first batch has gone so smooth that I thought I'd take a stab at my own recipe. I'm still not sure as to some of the quantities of the malt but I think its good.

5 gal. batch

4# Alexanders Pale Malt Light
3.3# Muntons Unhopped Light

12 oz. 90L Dark Crystal Malt
8 oz. 10L Briess Caramel
8 oz. Munich Malt
3 oz. Roasted Barley
1 tsp. Irish Moss

2 oz. East Kent Goldings 60min.
1 oz. Willamette 15 min.

Irish Ale Yeast

Looks good! You're looking at OG 1.064 IBU ~46.

I think you should watch out for two things.

First is the amount of Crystal/Caramel malt. Much more than 10%, and you risk the beer becoming cloyingly sweet, no matter how bitter it is. You're at 13.5% right now, and that's pushing things. Moreover, more than half of your Crystal is 90L, which will have quite a flavor impact on your beer.

Second, you list Irish Ale yeast, which is a malty, low-attenuating strain (relatively speaking). Combined with the Crystal-malt profile in your grist, it's going to end up quite sweet and full-bodied. If you use a drier, more attenuating yeast, like Nottingham or S-05, you'll not only end up with a more balanced beer but pitch enough yeast to achieve the theoretical ideal.

Good job!

Bob

So maybe if I decrease the 90L crystal to maybe 8 oz., making it 11% and use Nottingham yeast instead. That would be a bit more balanced and less sweet right? I'm still trying to make better sense of the effects and quantities of different ingredients and just started to look at different software for making the calculations. I've still got much to learn.

You're on to a winner with those modifications.

On second thought, I just noticed that 3.3 lbs of your LME is Muntons, which tends to ferment very dry. Hm.

Okay, it's officially a crapshoot.

If you were using Briess or Alexander's LME exclusively, I'd say modify the Crystal malt amounts, as Alexander's is 100% 2-row pale malt and Briess Gold is something like 95% pale malt with 5% CaraPils. Using Muntons, though, makes me second-guess that reduction in Crystal; having 13% Crystal might actually be beneficial.

Tell you what I'd do as a learning experience: Brew the full five gallons with the grist and hops indicated originally. Split the batch into two fermenters. Pitch one with one of the dry yeasts and the other with a smack-pack of Irish Ale yeast. You'll be able to decide which yeast, at least, makes the beer you prefer.

Sorry I can't be of more help!

Bob

Thanks a bunch for the advice Bob. I think I might stick to the original recipe and see how it is. After all, I have to learn some how. I'll probably end up tweeking the recipe in the end whether I change it or not.

As for splitting the batch into 2. I currently only have 1 fermenter available so I'll have to just do the whole batch as one. I do have a second one but there's currently an IPA in it. Unless I wait till I bottle that, but I've become addicted and want to brew up another batch soon. Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

No worries! I'm sorry if I confused more than helped. By all means, stick with the original recipe. I suspect you'll drink it regardless of the crystal-malt effects!

Bob

Update on the recipe!!

First batch wasn't all too great. At least not what I was looking for. Still good and I still have a 12er left.

Second batch. Made a few modifications to the recipe. Nothing too drastic. The kegerator has now lost its virginity with the one of the best red ales I've had and a dunkelweizen which I will try in a couple minutes.

One question about the read ale. I have been using the nottingham dry yeast and it has worked good but was wondering what kind of an impact irish ale yeast would have on it?

Irish Ale yeast is a less-powerful attenuator than Nottingham, certainly. So the beer will, comparatively speaking, be sweeter than the beer you fermented with Nottingham.

Bob

I just made a similar irish red and am looking forward to bottling tomorrow.

One more question. The 2nd batch was dry hopped in a secondary for a week. Would I be able to dump the hops straight into the keg? How would it affect the beer if the hops were left in there? They were whole hops too, not pellets.