Hoppy Irish Red recipe - will this work?

I know, kind of an oxymoron, but I'm trying to make something in the vein of 3F's Brian Boru. I mostly make pretty lightly colored pale ales and IPAs so it's my first all grain attempt at something darker. I'm looking for some advice on this recipe. Am I going overboard on the specialty malts? And I know the hops are totally different from a traditional Irish red, but I want it to be hoppier and Brian Boru clocks in at 40 IBU. I just want to make sure I'm not making an abomination.

10 lbs. Maris Otter
1 lb. Crystal II (essentially C-60)
8 oz. Special B
4 oz. Melanoiden

Thinking about mashing around 154 to leave a little more body. I do BIAB.

Hops:
1 oz Centennial at 60 min
0.5 oz. Amarillo at 15 min
0.5 oz. Amarillo at 5 min
1 oz. Amarillo dry hop

Ferment with US-05

Hopping brings the IBUs to 39 according to Beersmith. Is the dry hop a mistake?

Anything I'm missing here? Thanks for any help. I've been meaning to try this one for awhile and finally getting around to it!

I just made an imperial "hoppy red". I used different recipe with a bit more hops than you to balance the higher malt bill. I dry hopped and tasted after 3 weeks in bottle. Came out great. Sweeter than the ipas I have made before. The hop aroma from the dry hopping is a nice twist. It won't really be an Irish red, but sounds like it will be good.

Good to know. Yeah, the hops definitely kick it out of the Irish red category although it fits in as an American Amber. I'm not terribly worried about category, I just based the malt bill off of an Irish red extract batch I'd done before.

Looks great to me. The lack of IBUs and hop presence is the only thing stopping me brewing an Irish red.
If I were you, I would be tempted to throw in another 0.5oz @10 mins just for good luck.The luck of the Irish that is.

use S-04 and replace c-60 with wayermann carared if you can, the hops should turn out nice + keep the dryhop for sure

bigbadal said:

use S-04 and replace c-60 with wayermann carared if you can, the hops should turn out nice + keep the dryhop for sure

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I'm going with what I've got in inventory, but I like the idea of the Carared. I'd probably get better color. I jacked the Special B up more than I had originally thought would be needed to try and bring that red out. If this turns out I'll definitely keep the Carared in mind for next time though.

The US-05 is the same deal since it's what I have. What difference do you think the US-04 would bring. I've never used it in any of my beers.

I've done hoppy Irish and US red ales. The former has never really worked out great, while the latter is wonderful. Irish Reds are just too malty, IMO, for all the hop character. Your recipe looks good, but I'd back the Special B down to 4 oz for such a beer. Good luck!

Brulosopher said:

I've done hoppy Irish and US red ales. The former has never really worked out great, while the latter is wonderful. Irish Reds are just too malty, IMO, for all the hop character. Your recipe looks good, but I'd back the Special B down to 4 oz for such a beer. Good luck!

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I agree. I have a soft spot for Irish reds because I think it was the first beer I would go to at a brewpub when I first tried craft beers. But as the hop demon as taken over, I definitely prefer things on the hoppier side rather than maltier.

Too late in this one as I was already in the kettle, but what's your thought with backing down the Special B? I originally had it at 4 oz, but increased it for more color. I guess I am kind of pushing it with the amount of specialty grain I've got in this one.

The good news is I was high on efficiency and I'm going to wind up around 6% if all my measurements are correct. Hopefully the extra ABV will help balance it out if I'm on the sweet side.

SpacemanSpiff said:

I agree. I have a soft spot for Irish reds because I think it was the first beer I would go to at a brewpub when I first tried craft beers. But as the hop demon as taken over, I definitely prefer things on the hoppier side rather than maltier.

Too late in this one as I was already in the kettle, but what's your thought with backing down the Special B? I originally had it at 4 oz, but increased it for more color. I guess I am kind of pushing it with the amount of specialty grain I've got in this one.

The good news is I was high on efficiency and I'm going to wind up around 6% if all my measurements are correct. Hopefully the extra ABV will help balance it out if I'm on the sweet side.

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It doesn't take much Special B to overwhelm a beer with burnt caramel, dark fruit tones... subtle is better.

It seem's great to me, I will try to make this one

SpacemanSpiff said:

I'm going with what I've got in inventory, but I like the idea of the Carared. I'd probably get better color. I jacked the Special B up more than I had originally thought would be needed to try and bring that red out. If this turns out I'll definitely keep the Carared in mind for next time though.

The US-05 is the same deal since it's what I have. What difference do you think the US-04 would bring. I've never used it in any of my beers.

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Yep no worries use what you got in stock, S0-4 is less fruity and more flocculant, the carared make a nice colour I just used is in a hoppy red ale

Finally got to the dry hop addition on this one and did a gravity. I was a little surprised that it came out about 1.017. A little higher than I expected. Not sure if it's the amount of specialty grain in there or the higher mash at 154. The sample still tasted pretty good though, so I'm optimistic. This should now clock in around 5.4% ABV.

SpacemanSpiff said:

Finally got to the dry hop addition on this one and did a gravity. I was a little surprised that it came out about 1.017. A little higher than I expected. Not sure if it's the amount of specialty grain in there or the higher mash at 154. The sample still tasted pretty good though, so I'm optimistic. This should now clock in around 5.4% ABV.

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It's both. 1-3/4 lbs. specialty grains is a lot in 5 gallons. I would've mashed this at 150.