Specialty IPA: Red IPA India Red Ale

ChoochNW said:

Gonna give this one a go on Thursday. What efficiency is your recipe set for Tim?

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Glad you are brewing this. I do 75% for all my recipes as a base, but I have been getting around 80% lately. This recipe is set for 75%

By the way this beer just won another 1st place at Slurp and Burp for "Northwest" Style Ale. I dry hopped 3 smaller doses and that really brought the aroma. I did .25 oz each Simcoe, Cascade and Amarillo every 3 days for 9 days.

Cheers!

Tim

Tim,

I have been looking for a good "india red ale" recipe for quite a while. I brewed Jamil's "Evil Dead Red" a while back and was somewhat dissapointed in it. This looks like a very nice recipe.

It seems that you have brewed this a number of times, with different hop combinations, and at least one grain change (the C120). Would you mind posting the recipe again in its current form (either the recipe that recently won again, or the version that has been your favorite)? That would be really helpful. I think that I will brew this in the comming months, and will post back with results if I do. Thanks for your help.

JG

Both are great beers, the original with the 80L and 40L is a bit lighter in color and less complex.

The version I just did used .5 lbs C-120 and .75 C-40. The only judges suggestion was that it may have been a bit sweet, and recommended notching down the crystal. I really like it as is, but I will bring it down to 6oz 120 and 10oz 60 next time to see how that is.

Hope that helps, Tim

JasonG said:

Tim,

I have been looking for a good "india red ale" recipe for quite a while. I brewed Jamil's "Evil Dead Red" a while back and was somewhat dissapointed in it. This looks like a very nice recipe.

It seems that you have brewed this a number of times, with different hop combinations, and at least one grain change (the C120). Would you mind posting the recipe again in its current form (either the recipe that recently won again, or the version that has been your favorite)? That would be really helpful. I think that I will brew this in the comming months, and will post back with results if I do. Thanks for your help.

JG

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Tim,

Thanks for the info. So is this what your current recipe is looking like?

Pale Ale Malt 6.5 lbs
Munich type 1 (10L) 5 lbs.
Crystal 40L 0.75 lbs
Crystal 120L 0.5 lbs
Black malt 1 oz

All whole hops
Simcoe(13% aa) 1 oz 60 min
Amarillo(9.3% aa) 1 oz 30 min
Cascade (7% aa) 1 oz 5 min
Colombus 1 oz FO

Mash 155 for 60 min
Collect 7 gallons
Boil 90 min

American Ale yeast

Dry hop # 1 (3 days)
Simcoe 0.25 oz dry hops
Amarillo 0.25 oz dry hops
Cascade 0.25 oz dry hops

Dry hop # 2 (3 days)
Simcoe 0.25 oz dry hops
Amarillo 0.25 oz dry hops
Cascade 0.25 oz dry hops

Dry hop # 3 (3 days)
Simcoe 0.25 oz dry hops
Amarillo 0.25 oz dry hops
Cascade 0.25 oz dry hops


You mentioned using some colombus at FO and in the dry hop in one of your posting. Have you stuck with that? Thanks

JG

Hey Jason, on this last iteration I did 1 oz Simcoe at FO this was better than Columbus in my opinion. Like mentioned by others, this malt bill can stand up to almost any hop assault
All looks good
I mashed at 152- that seems a better range for this crystal-heavy beer.

So does that 1 oz of black malt just deepen the red color a bit w/o adding any dark/roast flavor? Kind of like only using 2-3 ozs roasted barley?

I'm always looking for ways to tweek colors a bit Would 1 oz de-bittered black do the same thing?

This looks like a nice, "sturdy" base grain bill to try out different hop recipes - I like a malty backbone along w/ the hop flavors.

the black is for color.

i often times do an ounce of both Simcoe and Cascade at flameout. cant go wrong there.

as for the columbus, when i followed Tim's hop bill that time, i'd say that it initially didnt stand up to the other versions, but a few months later i thought it aged better than any other version. the columbus just added a little something that, over time, was really awesome.

I am honored that this thread has a life as great as this beer. Dustbow, as jman said, the black is there for color. I think it also does add a very subtle roastiness to the beer that is only noticed when you brew without the dark malt.I have brewed without, and it is too "caramel-ly" for me. The black malt just barely covers a bit of the crystal with its roasty bite that I think it may be the most important nuance of this beer.

I would not use roast barley, as I think the black patent has the right sharpness to balance the malt bill. But, if you try it, please tell us what it does. Homebrew is all about playing with recipes anyway.

Finally, my latest batch was consumed in a violent beer massacre during a fishing trip. 5 gallons, nine guys. 2 hours. Yikes, that was supposed to last 2 days.

Cheers!

Going to be trying this one out this weekend. Couldn't get any amarillo though, so I went with chinook as it's done will in IPAs for me and is about the same AA as the amarillos I've used in the past...

Any big issue with that change maybe?

BulldogBrewer said:

Going to be trying this one out this weekend. Couldn't get any amarillo though, so I went with chinook as it's done will in IPAs for me and is about the same AA as the amarillos I've used in the past...

Any big issue with that change maybe?

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I think it will be great! Another variation is always good in my book.

Happy brewin'

Wow, the hydro sample of this tastes simply amazing. Can't wait for this one to be done!

BulldogBrewer said:

Wow, the hydro sample of this tastes simply amazing. Can't wait for this one to be done!

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Glad I am not the only one drinking my wort!

mmm looks good!

I don't have any black malt but have an ample supply of roast barley and chocolate. Could I use one of these to add colour? Should I use them in the mash, or throw some in the sparge just to extract colour and not too much flavour?

ChillWill, I have not tried it with other roast malts but I think it will work, just be different. Add to the mash, you want just a touch of roast character to counter the sweetness of the crystal malts.

Cool, thanks. I don't have any cascade either, but I've got citra, ekg, chinook, simcoe, amarillo on hand, which should I swap it for? More amarillo?

I wasn't able to get any amarillo, so I made this with chinook, simcoe and cascade. The sample tasted amazing, so I can't imagine chinook, simcoe and amarillo being bad

I've done Chinook, simcoe, and citra combo before. Very tasty combo.

ive done simcoe/amarillo/amarillo with this one before. came out great (i still prefer the cascade in there, though). you could always BLEND together your simcoe and amarillo and then use this blend for all stages of hopping. sounds like an interesting and tasty experiement.

I would do a split of Simcoe and Amarillo at the 5 minute mark. I have done this and it is very good. (1 oz of each)

jman said:

ive done simcoe/amarillo/amarillo with this one before. came out great (i still prefer the cascade in there, though). you could always BLEND together your simcoe and amarillo and then use this blend for all stages of hopping. sounds like an interesting and tasty experiement.

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I brewed this last weekend using all Falconer's Flight hops on the same schedule and maintaining the IBU's. The krausen dropped today so I took a sample and hit the predicted FG of 1.015 using US05. This beer smells amazing with the falconer's flight hops and already tastes amazing after 5 days in primary. I can't wait till it's done.

That sounds like an awesome version. I love those hops. Dry hopping with them is amazing. Keep us updated

Well this one is carbed up now... Wow it's good! This may make it into my pipeline rotation!

I've made something based on this, few tweaks to fit what I had on hand. Seems to be a little darker than I expected and a hydro sample was pretty nice, bit of roasty chocolate in there and hops, not dry hopped yet though, will do that over next couple of days.

Just brewed with Wyeast Staro Prague Lager yeast for kicks. India Red Lager-inspired by an amazing India Pale lager I had at Oregon Brewers Fest couple a weeks ago.. Fermenting happily at 55f.

My "Red Falcon" batch is 11 days into fermentation and going to get 3 oz of Falconer's Flight hops dumped in tonight. Will be giving it about 9 or 10 days then bottling next weekend. The samples have been awesome.

Drinking some right now... Excellent... This will likely end up in my "pipeline"..

Just bottled my version, changed recipe a bit to account for what I had on hand and ended up with a 1.056 OG and 1.012 FG using S-05, pretty much where I had aimed to get.

Maybe a little darker than I wanted but I only had Crystal 50l and roast barley on hand for colour so it was never going to be as 'red' as you could get with 120l crystal.

The Amarillo-Simcoe dry hop smelled amazing, tastes a little bitter from bottling sample, should condition nicely though I think, got a decent chocolate flavour in it, not as sweet as I thought it might be. My malt was MO, Crystal 50l, Aromatic, Roast Barley and wheat malt, then used simcoe and amarillo. Will update in a few weeks as to how it has come out.

Just tasted my first "Red Falcon" version of this recipe after 1 week in the bottle (I couldn't wait any longer). It turned out awesome. The munich leaves lots of residual sweetness to balance out the hop bitterness perfectly. I'm getting tons of fruity goodness from the Falconer's Flight hops and crazy aroma from the dry hopping. This beer may be my new favorite. Definately better than any other IPA I've made and might be my new favorite IPA period. This beer showcases the fruity, mango, passionfruit, pinapple side of these hops. Thanks so much for the recipe, going to be doing a 10 gallon batch of this next and keeping it on hand.

Just taste tested this one week into carb. Fantastic.
I subbed the hops due to availability:
1 oz centennial@60
1 oz centennial@30
1 oz cascade@5

1oz citra dry hop
1 oz centennial dry hop
.5 oz cascade dry hop

It is amazing so far. The most dry hopping I have done (usually about an oz if at all)
The hop flavor is great. I imagine by the time it is fully carbed it will be a well balanced beer.

Finished bottle conditioning and it's great! A bit too dark although if you hold it up to natural light it glows red.

Hop flavour is awesome! Seems almost 'juicy' followed by a touch of roast dryness to offset the sweetness and bitterness. Head retention is pretty good.

First time using S05 and it has a bit of estery smell to it, fermented at 68f I think.

ChillWill said:

Finished bottle conditioning and it's great! A bit too dark although if you hold it up to natural light it glows red.

Hop flavour is awesome! Seems almost 'juicy' followed by a touch of roast dryness to offset the sweetness and bitterness. Head retention is pretty good.

First time using S05 and it has a bit of estery smell to it, fermented at 68f I think.

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Glad you like it! It can get pretty dark depending on the crystal and black roast you use. I have lightened it up a bit in my last two batches by decreasing the dark crystal to about 5 oz.

Esters from S-05...must have been struggling a bit, or maybe crept into the 70f range for a while.

Cheers,Tim

IRL - India Red LAGER update.

After 5 weeks lagering this beer is done. It is fantastic. Clean, hoppy and balanced.

I decreased the crystal to 9 oz of the lighter and 5 oz of the darker. Color is more "normal" red than the super deep maroon of the original. Otherwise, same recipe. Just used Staro-Prague lager yeast instead of American Ale yeast.

I recommend if you can lager.

Cheers, Tim

Timmy, you've inspired me to brew this. I went with Warrior for bittering and strictly Centennials for there on out. Waiting for my shipment of ingredients...

I do have a question though, has anyone tried S-04 instead of 05? I usually use 04 at cool temps in my ipa's.

Thank you for the recipe!

I did a batch with Wyeast 1968 - that is the Fuller's ESB strain which is similar to S-04 it was tasty for sure and added another layer of complexity.

Brewed this 8/26.

Just cracked one open.

My favorite beer to date. Hands down.

Thanks a million TimBrewz!!!! This will be on tap year round as soon as I switch to kegging.

So glad that this recipe it bringing joy and hoppiness to so many!

I have never dry hopped before and have a couple questions about it

1. Do you use a hop sack or just toss them in?

2. If you use a hop sack do you remove the first set when you put in the second set on day three?

Thanks

1) just toss them in
2) i put all of those in at the same time and leave them in for 5-7 days

just make sure you slide a hop bag or something over your siphon tube when you rack. that'll keep any hop particulates out of the finished product.

jman said:

1) just toss them in
2) i put all of those in at the same time and leave them in for 5-7 days

just make sure you slide a hop bag or something over your siphon tube when you rack. that'll keep any hop particulates out of the finished product.

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Yep, like Jman says, I just throw in the hops. Whole hops will float for a few days, and you can VERY gently agitate the fermenter to get them to sink a bit faster. Pellets just atomize and sink. I use both without issue.

If you dry hop in a keg, use a hop bag with whole hops only. Add a couple sanitized marbles or some other non-reactive weight to get them to sink.

I have never covered the racking cane with a hop bag over it(though that would filter even more), the little plastic tip seems to work OK for me.

Thanks guys! I can't wait to brew it. Hopefully this weekend