With Saint Patrick's days right around the corner, I have been thinking about making this as my first 5 gallon batch.
I currently have a Mr. Beer kit, I think everyone here calls it a LBK, and made two kits in there, and 3 batches from ingredients from my LHBS. The first batch was drinkable (suppose to be wheat beer, but was a dark cloudy Belgium ale), second batch is in bottles right now, nice amber ale but a little bitter, and my third batch is another wheat beer that's fermenting right now, but looks awesome from samples I took.
I am planning on buying a 5 gallon starter kit this weekend and make this beer. Which recipe do you like better the 2009 or 2010 version? I am leaning toward the 2010 version due to the lower IBUs, I dont like bitter beer, and I want to share this with my neighbors who drink light beers.
Could I cut the IBUs down a little more by only adding .75oz of fuggles, or will that mess with the flavor to much?
Actually, let me hit you up and all the rest of group with the most up-to-date Drunken Lullaby Recipe that I'm going to be brewing on Monday for this year's St. Paddys:
"Drunken Lullaby" Irish Red - Irish Red Ale - St. Paddy's 2013 Edition
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Batch Size: 5.250 gal
Boil Size: 6.200 gal
Boil Time: 0.000 s
Efficiency: 70%
OG: 1.064
FG: 1.016
ABV: 6.3%
Bitterness: 26.0 IBUs (Tinseth)
Color: 14 SRM (Mosher)
Fermentables
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Name Type Amount Mashed Late Yield Color
Pale Liquid Extract Extract 6.000 lb Yes No 78% 8 L
Barley, Flaked Grain 4.000 oz Yes No 70% 2 L
Roasted Barley Grain 1.600 oz Yes No 55% 300 L
Carafoam Grain 12.000 oz Yes No 72% 2 L
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L Grain 16.000 oz Yes No 74% 60 L
Wheat, Torrified Grain 16.000 oz Yes No 79% 2 L
Brown Sugar, Dark Sugar 8.000 oz No Yes 100% 50 L
Pale Malt (2 Row) US Grain 16.000 oz Yes No 79% 2 L
Munich Malt Grain 8.000 oz Yes No 80% 9 L
Hops
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Name Alpha Amount Use Time Form IBU
Kent Goldings 5.8% 1.000 oz Boil 22.000 min Pellet 11.2
Fuggles 4.8% 1.000 oz Boil 1.167 hr Pellet 14.8
Misc
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Name Type Use Amount Time
Irish Moss Fining Boil 0.000 tsp 0.000 s
Yeast
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Name Type Form Amount Stage
Safale S-05 Ale Dry 2.232 tsp Primary
As far as your question goes, yeah you can cut down on the bittering hops if you want but I wouldn't go too far - it's pretty well balanced as it is considering and not very hoppy. I think you'll like the results if you follow the recipe, but you can always mess around with the recipe in a brewing software like beersmith or promash and adjust as needed.
Have a great St. Paddy's everyone!!
