Red Ale - Second Attempt

Hey all,

Been brewing for about 5 years, 3.5years all-grain. I tend to not brew the same recipies multiple times (exceptions = cream ale and IPA).

This is my second go around at a red ale. I'm looking for something that has a nice malty backbone and is a deep red color (~15SRM?). I love those reds that have a malty, almost raisin-y finish to them, but with a balancing amount of hop bitterness. That is why I'm leaning towards American Red rather than Irish for the hops.

Here is my crack at it:


8.5# US 2 row
1# Munich Malt 10L
12oz Crystal 120
8oz Melanoidin Malt
8oz Carapils
4oz Special B
1# Honey (not Honey Malt) just for ABV boost

1oz Cascade (5.5%) @ FWH
1oz Cascade (5.5%) @ 20min

WLP080 Cake from Cream of Three Crops currently in Primary (I will not use the entire cake, more like 1/2 depending on what I calculate as an appropriate pitch...)

I know that using another yeast like Denny's Favorite (Wyeast 1450 - that I have on hand) may be better suited to the malty backbone, but I really am interested in what this clean yeast, fermented at ~58-60, can do for me.

Let me know what you think! Any hop changes? Dry hop? Flameout?... Not sure about my hop choice and I have a freezer full of US and a bit of Nobles.

Cheers

Have you ever tried to brew Jamil's West Coast Blaster? It's dead nuts with your description and an easy brew to bang out.

I haven't, but I just looked it up and see that it is pretty much what I'm going for. I think ill brew the one above to use up some grains, and switch up my hops using Jamil's recipe as inspiration. Thanks for the insight@

No problem! Let me know how it turns out and what you changed your hops up to.

Here is the spin-off of Jamil's recipe that I will be brewing Saturday:

11 gal batch
Est. 1.068 OG (16.6 Plato)
Est. 1.016 FG (4.3 Plato)
Est. 16 SRM
Est. 58 IBU
Est. 6.8% ABV


23 lb. Canada Malting 2-row
2.0 lb. Briess crystal 40L
1.5 lb. Victory malt
1.0 lb. Briess crystal 120L
8 oz. Pale chocolate malt 200L

1oz US Magnum (60 min.)
1oz US Magnum (30 min.)
2oz Cascade (10 min.)
2oz Belma (12.7% A.A.) (10 min.)
2oz Cascade (1 min.)
2oz Belma (1 min.)

Wyeast Belgian Ardennes (3522) (2L starter)

So I brewed my red this last Friday (11/23/12) and made some changes based on what I had in my grain bin. In all honesty though I think that this may be exactly what I was after.

5.5 gallon batch

7.5# Pale Malt US 2-row
2.5# Munich
1.5# Vienna
12oz Melanoiden Malt
8oz Crystal 40
8oz Crystal 60
4oz Aromatic Malt
4oz Crystal 120
4oz Special B

75 min mash @ 152f

0.5oz Simcoe @ FWH
0.5oz Cascade @ FWH
0.5oz Magnum @ 60min
0.25 Simcoe @ 10min
0.25 Cascade @ 10min
0.25 Simcoe @ 0min
0.25 Cascade @ 0min

Approximately 150 ml of washed WLP080 thick slurry from a cream ale fermented at 60f

That's where she sits now. It's been 3 days now and I just took the blowoff tube off (needed). Should be good!

OG: 1.068

Bottled my Belgian Red last night. Ended up dry hopping for 10 days in the Primary because I really wanted to smell the Cascade and Belma in the final product. 2oz each for 10 days gave it a really strong nose of floral citrusy berry!

OG - 1.067
FG - 1.012

While I was bottling one of the necks broke off as I was capping. That never happened to me and I contemplated re-bottling but waited till the end of the batch to decide what to do... I ended up just drinking it! It was the most excellent flat beer I've ever had. A little sweet from the priming sugar but it made me that much more excited about the final product.

So is it like a really hoppy American style belgian red with all of those late hops? Hop prevalent is the spiciness and esters of that yeast?

This interests me because I just bought what I need to make my first American Red pale ale. It's going to over 1.060 OG so decently high abv, Warrior backbone with Cascade finishing. The SRM is my concern, I've never made a red. Right now im dialed in for a SRM 20, whi ch I fear may be too high. Bring it back to 17-18ish maybe? At 20 SRM my bill consists of 2% Roasted Barley and 4% Crystal120, thoughts? How'd your coloring come out?

I was shooting for a little on the darker side - I think mine came in around 16-17SRM, which is pushing it a little for a red. At 20SRM you're likely to end up with a beer that is too dark, IMO.

I would get rid of the RB completely and let the dark crystals do the coloring. I got most of my SRM points from my Special B and C120. The vienna (if you're using it, which you should for a nice malty flavor) will also contribute to a nice red hue.

OCBrewin said:

I would get rid of the RB completely and let the dark crystals do the coloring. I got most of my SRM points from my Special B and C120. The vienna (if you're using it, which you should for a nice malty flavor) will also contribute to a nice red hue.

Click to expand...

This! I like to use the combo of Special B and C-120 for my red. 5% of each (which is 8oz for my recipe) should do the trick for a normal beer.

OCBrewin said:

I was shooting for a little on the darker side - I think mine came in around 16-17SRM, which is pushing it a little for a red. At 20SRM you're likely to end up with a beer that is too dark, IMO.

I would get rid of the RB completely and let the dark crystals do the coloring. I got most of my SRM points from my Special B and C120. The vienna (if you're using it, which you should for a nice malty flavor) will also contribute to a nice red hue.

Click to expand...

Mine ended up much darker than I anticipated, probably in the 22/23 range.

Next time I brew this I will halve these two additions:

1.0 lb. Briess crystal 120L
8 oz. Pale chocolate malt 200L

I'd rather have the victory impart some orange and have the 120/Pale chocolate add a touch of color from there.

OCBrewin said:

So is it like a really hoppy American style belgian red with all of those late hops? Hop prevalent is the spiciness and esters of that yeast?

Click to expand...

Actually the bitterness is not there to say it's really hoppy, but the hop aroma is definitely there. The Belgian Ardiennes yeast really left a lot of fruity esters that help back up the fruity nose of the Belma hops. It's not a fruity banana or green apple, it's almost like strawberry. I also never really got any spiciness, but it's still green and needs a couple weeks to carb up. So we'll see how it tastes then...

Just updated my other thread so I thought I should update this one too. Here was my final outcome. Came out well. Kicked the keg about a month ago and am missing it now...