Irish Red Ale Irish Red (1st place HBT comp)

I've been sharing my homebrew with a buddy that I race with and last night I asked him his favorite style and he said as of late it has been Red Ales. The last Red Ale i brewed was a Brewer's Best extract and was very very good. I jumped on here this morning and grabbed the recipe and headed to the LHBS. Grabbed my grain bill and headed home.

I'm brewing this today. Mashed at exactly 153. Sparged and temp stayed at 154 throughout. Getting ready to boil and wait and see how good it is. Looks to be an awesome brew.

Thank you for the recipe and all the good replies on how great the recipe has worked for others. CHEERS!

You will not be sorry. This is the best Irish Red I've brewed.

Saccharomyces said:

On Saturday I'm going to brew up a 10 gallon batch to split with a buddy. We're going to use Mexican Lager yeast.

RE the base grains, I have noticed a big difference between using Maris Otter and 2-row in my other darker beers (particularly my imperial stout). Unless I'm brewing a batch for someone else, I rarely use 2-row anymore; my go-to base grain for lighter beers is Great Western pale ale malt. This recipe might work OK with the pale ale malt but I like the slight nutty flavor that comes through from the Maris Otter.

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I am on batch #4 of your recipe... the first 3 with Rahr Pale Ale Malt as my base grain. The Irish Red that is coming out of my fermenter now is my first with Maris Otter. All to date have been using Wyeast 1272 American Ale II .

I think I will try the Mexican Lager yeast next time. What are you using for your primary/secondary fermenting and lagering schedule times/temps for this lager yeast? Do you do a Diacetyl rest?

I too have been cutting back slightly in my Roasted Barley from your 4% down to 3.4% in my last batch.

Thanks for sharing. This has been one of my favorite beers to make and share.

Anybody try this with Denny's fav 50? Wondering if it would work well with this as I'm washing some yeasties today

Hey Saccharomyces...

I was lookin' for a good Irish Red and from what I read this clearly has to be it. One question for you.

I was loading your recipe into my BeerSmith to tweak it for my system. If I crunched the numbers correctly (highly doubtful) I observe you got a system efficiency of about 83% for your OG of 1.051.

Is this correct?

I typically get about 74% so I was preparing to up the grain bill accordingly to hit the 1.051 on my rig. Just wanted to verify I was seeing things correctly.

I've enjoyed a few of these and they are pretty darned great. I haven't handed any out to get others response, but I will soon. Thanks again for the recipe.

This style should be crystal clear in the glass and shine ruby red when held up to a light. If you bottle condition, I recommend a two week secondary followed by pitching some English yeast like a half package of S-04 in the bottling bucket so the beer finishes nice and clear in the bottle.

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So since the original post recipe was for 10 gallons....I assume for a 5 gallon batch i would pitch only 1/4 pack for bottle conditioning???

Recipe states 1.051 OG.....what efficiency is that based on ?

Looks like it would have to be based on an 84% total efficiency....

I am getting OG in Beersmith of 1.042 with my typical efficiency of 70%....so I will need to bump up grain bill......

Just want to confirm that makes sense.....

So I have some harvested us-05 and Denny's fav 50. Should I use any of these or go with the original yeast in the OP. I also have the ability to lager

I'm brewing this recipe Saturday....should be ready by March 17th

Niiiiiice! I'm loving it.

Looking for feedback on those of you that bottle condition......

Original post here recommends to add 1/2 packet S-04 into bottling bucket to help clear beer....is this really necessary or beneficial? Interested in anyone who has done it either way...or possibly both ways.

I didn't do the 1/2 packet at bottling, but I left mine in secondary for what seemed like forever. Very clear and just as said, when held up to the light you get a beautiful Red hue. Mmmm mmmmm.

mgortel said:

Looking for feedback on those of you that bottle condition......

Original post here recommends to add 1/2 packet S-04 into bottling bucket to help clear beer....is this really necessary or beneficial? Interested in anyone who has done it either way...or possibly both ways.

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I typically don't add yeast for bottle conditioning and have never had an issue with carbonation. I did it this time and really couldn't tell any difference after three weeks in the bottle. However, at two weeks this brew was fully carbonated which hasn't always been my experience on two week brews.

Does added yeast help? Maybe, but the overall effect isn't significant from what I could tell on this one effort. Maybe does add a level of insurance, who knows.

Saccharomyces said:

When you condition with the primary yeast, the yeast that are left to carbonate the beer are the least flocculant cells (and there aren't many of them) meaning your beer will take awhile to carb and will be difficult to clear. When you pitch fresh yeast you have more flocculant cells and more of them, so the beer carbs quickly and clears quickly. Most commercial breweries that bottle condition beers add yeast at bottling time for this reason.

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From the second page

Thanks, This does make sense.

forcabrew said:

Anybody try this with Denny's fav 50? Wondering if it would work well with this as I'm washing some yeasties today

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I'm also curious about this. I've been enjoying WY1450 in my hoppy beers, but was considering using it in something like this as well. Anyone used it yet?

Also, when I plug this recipe (scaled in half) into BeerTools, I get a color of over 21 SRM, vs. a maximum style guideline of 18. And the little glass of beer on the recipe page does look very dark for an Irish Red - more reddish-brown than red.

Any feedback on that point? How dark does this come out?
Thanks

ResumeMan said:

I'm also curious about this. I've been enjoying WY1450 in my hoppy beers, but was considering using it in something like this as well. Anyone used it yet?

Also, when I plug this recipe (scaled in half) into BeerTools, I get a color of over 21 SRM, vs. a maximum style guideline of 18. And the little glass of beer on the recipe page does look very dark for an Irish Red - more reddish-brown than red.

Any feedback on that point? How dark does this come out?
Thanks

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I follow the recipe to the letter, and get the same color- a reddish-brown, rather than a red. And this Irish Red (which has become my standard) is good enough that the color isn't that important to me.

Yes, not too concerned about the color as this beer is delicious.

I received 2 reviews recently about this batch that I brewed a while back. Last Wednesday I took some brews to work to hand out and informed all to take them home and put in the fridge and enjoy. BUT, I said to drink 1 the night after putting them in the fridge and lose the other until a later date(at least 4 days.) On Sunday I got a call saying that the 1st one drank was good but the 1 he had just drank was WAAAAAY better.

Got another call earlier tonight from the other guy saying that it BLEW AWAY any other Irish Red he'd ever had.

Thank you again for the recipe and I think I might have done it a little justice. haha Still a very good beer and it's getting better and better and all love it!

ResumeMan said:

I'm also curious about this. I've been enjoying WY1450 in my hoppy beers, but was considering using it in something like this as well. Anyone used it yet?

Also, when I plug this recipe (scaled in half) into BeerTools, I get a color of over 21 SRM, vs. a maximum style guideline of 18. And the little glass of beer on the recipe page does look very dark for an Irish Red - more reddish-brown than red.

Any feedback on that point? How dark does this come out?
Thanks

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Racking off the 1450 this weekend. When I take a gravity reading ill let you know but it will still need to age to get the full effect of the yeast

Thanks for posting the recipe. I brewed it yesterday and used 1.75mL Hop Shots in place of the Fuggles for my 6gal batch.
I will update when it's done (if I remember to...). Also I used Wyeast1272, and kept all other ingredients per the recipe.

I have done a couple Irish Reds before, and this is the first one that looked red in the boil bubbles. I'm excited to see it after the yeast do their business!!

really stupid question, but for a 5 gal brew i just halve everything, right?

You can half everything.....but remember the original recipe was for 10.5 gallons....so you probably want to do a 5.5 gallon brew to get 5 gallons out...so multiply all ingredients by (5.5/10.5) 52%.

Also, if your efficiency is different you will need to adjust for that.

Do you have brewing software like Beersmith?

Original post calls for 10 days primary.....anyone have any thought on weather 8 days in primary will be sufficient before transferring to secondary. I am breing this Saturday and turns out I will need to transfer after 8 days because of a schedule conflict.

What SG should I be looking for before transfering to primary.

i would just pass on the secondary. I'd prefer no to rush things so I would rather not secondary than rush it, IMO.

I normally do not secondary my brews....but the original post was specific about primary then secondary.....so perhaps secondary is not really necessary which would be great.....

mgortel said:

You can half everything.....but remember the original recipe was for 10.5 gallons....so you probably want to do a 5.5 gallon brew to get 5 gallons out...so multiply all ingredients by (5.5/10.5) 52%.

Also, if your efficiency is different you will need to adjust for that.

Do you have brewing software like Beersmith?

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i do not have beersmith, but ive had no problems "eyeballing it" it so far, haha
my efficiency is usually between 75-80 (closer to 75 typically)

mgortel said:

I normally do not secondary my brews....but the original post was specific about primary then secondary.....so perhaps secondary is not really necessary which would be great.....

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If you don't normally secondary don't bother. There's nothing specific about this particular recipe that would require it. I'm sure the OP was just writing out his procedures that he would use for any ale. I have this (well, something inspired by it) in the fermenter now, and I'm just gonna leave it there for around 3 weeks until I'm ready to keg it.

I'm just going to primary mine too, because I have coffee stout that needs to take up the new 6gal Better Bottle at the same time. I may carbonate in the keg with sugar, instead of co2...since I have not done that before, and the keezer is full. Such a bummer

Wooo...I brewed this on Saturday.....normally I get a total efficiency of 70-72%....and somehow I got an efficiency of around 80% and ended up with OG of 1.059....so this will be a little more potent than the design....as long as it tastes good that is fine with me!

mgortel said:

Wooo...I brewed this on Saturday.....normally I get a total efficiency of 70-72%....and somehow I got an efficiency of around 80% and ended up with OG of 1.059....so this will be a little more potent than the design....as long as it tastes good that is fine with me!

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Pretty much same thing here.. brewed it friday.. hit 1.059 .. i usually hover around 75% so..

Planning to brew this weekend. Using Canadian 2-row instead of Maris Otter and Willamette instead of Fuggles, as that's what i have in stock. Hopefully it'll have developed enough by St Patrick's day!

hio3791 said:

Planning to brew this weekend. Using Canadian 2-row instead of Maris Otter and Willamette instead of Fuggles, as that's what i have in stock. Hopefully it'll have developed enough by St Patrick's day!

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Should be rdy and williamette is a perfect sub(what i had in stock and used) but marris is different then two little maltier so it will taste slightly different but good non the less! Good luck!

I've handed this brew out to many many friends and all have said it was AWESOME!

2 are EXTREME red guys and they want more.

I MIGHT be brewing 10 more gallons this weekend.!?

hio3791 said:

Planning to brew this weekend. Using Canadian 2-row instead of Maris Otter and Willamette instead of Fuggles, as that's what i have in stock. Hopefully it'll have developed enough by St Patrick's day!

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Finally got around to brewing this recipe. Since I used Canadian 2-row and dry yeast (US-05) and I wanted a maltier beer, I mashed at 156F. Brewed 10.5 gal that came in at 1.050 OG.

I can't justify calling this an Irish Red since I used all American ingredients (except for the British Roasted Barley and Kent Goldings), so I called this beer Irish Inspired American Red Ale.

Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Just been to my LHBS thought id give this recipe a go. Just wondering if anyone here had any experience in using Brambling Cross hops at all, as i was thinking of using these in place of Fuggles and Golding hops.

Oh yeah and . . . :rockin: YAY MY FIRST POST :rockin:

Still enjoying these Irish Reds! One of the best beers that I've brewed. Thanks again for the recipe......

Hackwood said:

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Still enjoying these Irish Reds! One of the best beers that I've brewed. Thanks again for the recipe......

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just tapped mine today and is about the same SRM.. scaled down to my setup and i somehow went from 77ish eff. and this brew ended up at 85 eff. still taste AMAZING.. will tinker with color on my end.

thanks for recipe!!

btw i used all williamette same times and came out little lower ibu's but compliments malt VERY well.

Popped the cap on my first bottle. Very good indeed. Modest head, good lace and a malty finish. What more could a man want....

Is a tad dark for a red but thats a minor tweak for the next run.

Highly recommended for those of you who perfer malt over hops.