Gearing up for St. Patty's Day - IRISH RED!

Just looking for some input on my latest recipe that I am hoping to brew up for St. Patty's Day. SWMBO is of Irish/Scottish lineage and I figured I would do this one up for her.

Let me know what you think. My main concerns are type of yeast and if I am using enough CaraPils for head retention...

Mcnelis' Irish Red

Size: 5.2 Gallons
Est. OG: 1.055
Est. FG: 1.014
Est. IBU: 22.4
SRM: 13
Boil Time: 60 min.
Efficiency: 70%

Ingredients:
9.5# Maris Otter 79%
1# Caramunich 8%
1# Melanoiden Malt 8%
0.5# CaraPils 4%
----
1 oz. Willamette (5.5%AA) @ 45min
1 oz. Willamette (5.5%AA) @ 5min
----
1 pkg. Danstar Nottingham Ale Yeast


Any feedback would be nice, especially in terms of the yeast and use of carapils.

Thanks!

I guess it must be perfect then?

I like wyeast 1084 Irish ale yeast. You could put 1oz peat. I just made an Irish Ale with Scottish tendencies, just like my Mom's side of the family.

The yeast should be fine, but if it were me I'd go with one of the liquid Irish Ale strains, either Wyeast 1084 or White Labs WLP004. And .5 LB carapils should be more than enough for the head retention.

When I think of an Irish Red, I think roasty, but you don't have any malt in the recipe that will achieve that. You might consider adding .5 LB roasted barley (300). The 1 LB melanoiden is certainly going to give you the deep red color, but in combination with the 1 LB of caramunich, it may be over the top in maltiness, which isn't really to style, more like a Scotch Ale. I'm not sure how much that matters to you. Personnally, I'd drop the melanoiden, cut the caramunich to .5 LB and add .5 LB of C120. But in the end, it's your recipe, so do whatever you want.

I haven't brewed an Irish Red before and typically don't drink them so I appreciate the input. I have tweaked the grain bill but think I will stick with the Nottingham yeast since I don't really want to have to make a starter or buy more than 1 vial of liquid yeast.

• 10# Maris Otter
• 6 oz. Roasted Barley
• 4 oz. Crystal 60
• 4 oz. CaraPils

Hops and yeast are as they were. I avoided the C-120 because it ended up making things too dark with the roasted barely. As it is now, this should come in around 16 SRM. Thanks for the help!

Looks good. Be sure to let us know how it turns out.

Definitely! Hoping for a little luck o' the Irish on this one... It will be my 3rd AG batch and I have yet to really dial in my process. My volumes are typically off and I have only been seeing about 65-70% efficiency.

The revised recipe looks a fair bit like the IRA I just brewed, only using EKGs and Wyeast 1084, though the Notty should do just fine. Just bottled it on the weekend so no feedback yet, but I'm confident it will be quite nice. With 6 oz each of C40 and C120, it is pretty dark for a red, but they should also give it some subtle complexities. Dang, this is making me thirsty...

I think you really need to use one of the liquid Irish yeasts to make it an Irish Red. The yeast character is key to this style.

That's what I was originally thinking, but after looking through the recipes on here I found that even some of the highest ranking Irish Red's used Chico yeast which is virtually invisible and doesn't leave much of a yeast profile.

After doing some reading, it seemed that as long as I used some ale yeast strain that wasn't meant for wheats I would be okay and an English Ale yeast just seemed appropriate. Maybe I will split the batch and pitch Irish Red in one and Notty in the other and see what happens.

jubelale said:

I think you really need to use one of the liquid Irish yeasts to make it an Irish Red. The yeast character is key to this style.

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I agree. Good bad or ugly I didn't make a starter for my Sneaky Pete Flannigan OG 1.053. FG 1.011. Tastes great. I like to ferment low low.

Ended up using liquid Irish Ale yeast from White labs. I pitched 2 vials into 5.5 gallons of 1.055 wort.

Was probably overkill but I didn't want it to stall or anything. Beer tastes great, its got that dry bready irish character but is a very malt forward with a hint of roast. Not typically what I like drinking but St. Patty's Day isn't about IPAs... it's about getting durnk on irish grog

I brewed this one back in January, and finally tapped the keg last weekend. It turned out fantastic! It's got a nice, smooth character, and a perfect red hue. Highly recommend for your next batch.

Just as an update, plowed through a half case of this stuff on St. Patty's Day. It's a really nice beer. Clean, malty... pretty standard Irish Red.

It is a little dark on the color but still hits the style marks so I am not worried. I would recommend this to anyone wanting a standard Irish red (Brownish Garnet color) Ale

ApothecaryBrewing said:

Just as an update, plowed through a half case of this stuff on St. Patty's Day. It's a really nice beer. Clean, malty... pretty standard Irish Red.

It is a little dark on the color but still hits the style marks so I am not worried. I would recommend this to anyone wanting a standard Irish red (Brownish Garnet color) Ale

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glad it turned out good!

so, post #5 was your grain bill?

could you please post a picture, when you can?

Thanks!

GrogNerd said:

glad it turned out good!

so, post #5 was your grain bill?

could you please post a picture, when you can?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

You can see when there isn't direct light through it it is a dark brown but with a light it is a gorgeous red color. The mix makes it like a dark dark burgundy garnet red.

I guess I never ended up posting the final recipe... sorry everyone!

Here it is...
Stats
Batch Size: 5.5 Gallons
SRM: Says it should be around 15-17 SRM but I think it came out closer to a 22 or 24. It is appears brown but against a light it is a deep garnet color
IBU: 25 ish
ABV: 5.25%
OG: 1.051
FG: 1.011

Malts

• 10# Marris Otter
• 0.5# Crystal 40
• 0.5# CaraMunich III (Roughly 57 Lovibond)
• 0.25# Roasted Barely

Hops

• 1 oz. UK Kent Goldings @ 45 Minutes
• 1 oz. UK Kent Goldings @ 10 Minutes

Used WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast (Pitched 2 vials for 5.5 gallons of 1.051 wort)
I mashed it at 152F for 60 minutes at a ratio of 1.25 qt/lb
Batch Sparged in 2 additions
60 Minute boil

If you brew it let me know how it goes.