Looking for the reddest color in my brew

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Laurel

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I'm working on a recipe for an American red ale, and I'd very much like it to be VERY red. Is there a grain I can add to my steeping grains to redden it up a bit? What would be the best extract to use to develop a red color? Thanks!:mug:
 
Toast some pale malt for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. It's amazing the color it will give you. 2 pounds ought to do it.
 
Is this similar to any other malts? Will it make the flavor very malty? The other steeping grains that I have in this recipe are Munich, Caramunich and Special B. Should I cut any of these out or add them to the toasted pale?
 
.5 lb munich
.5 lb caramunich
.25 lb special b

7 lbs liquid munich extract

.75 oz amarillo @ 60 min
.75 oz amarillo @ 15 min
.75 oz amarillo @ 5 min


This is AHS American Red, I liked it a lot, but wanted to toy with it a little, and I'd like it to be a little more red.

I'd be interested in creating a different beer, I like balanced beers, leaning towards slightly bitter, but nothing like Arrogant Bastard.
 
I like using the roasted barley for my reds, i like the flavor that comes out of it better than the other malts listed. i made a red with all armarillo not to long ago and it was spectacular one of the best beers i have ever made.
 
I've been thinking of ramping up the bittering hops to about 1.25 oz. According to beeralchemy this should give me about 23 IBU which should be okay.
 
Running through beersmith with what you have in your recipe, IT looks like your on the back end of the red color almost dark brown. Adding anything else would probably make it too dark for what your looking for.
 
Plus, can you steep munich? Idunno.....plus if you're using munich LME then why steep more munich?

Roasted barley sounds nice :D
 
Running through beersmith with what you have in your recipe, IT looks like your on the back end of the red color almost dark brown. Adding anything else would probably make it too dark for what your looking for.

I'd be happy pulling something out, or changing the recipe however. What would you suggest to lighten (and redden) it up without sacrificing flavor?
 
I'd be happy pulling something out, or changing the recipe however. What would you suggest to lighten (and redden) it up without sacrificing flavor?

I would drop the special B and Munich steep and use like a pinch of chocolate malt. like .05 # (22.5) grams. Or you could leave the special B and drop it to .10 # and still use Chocolate malt. That will put you at the back end again. Do you have a scale to weigh with?
 
I would drop the special B and Munich steep and use like a pinch of chocolate malt. like .05 # (22.5) grams. Or you could leave the special B and drop it to .10 # and still use Chocolate malt. That will put you at the back end again. Do you have a scale to weigh with?

Yes. My scale reads in 1/8 oz increments as well as grams.

So drop the .5 lb munich and .25 lb special b and just use a tiny bit of chocolate? Will this have any body with that much steeping grain missing?
 
Yes. My scale reads in 1/8 oz increments as well as grams.

So drop the .5 lb munich and .25 lb special b and just use a tiny bit of chocolate? Will this have any body with that much steeping grain missing?

You can do it that way or the other way, in which you would drop the Special B to .10 # and use .05# Choc and use the same .50 # CaraMunich. Which ever way you do it...It will have the same body because those grains dont add much to the body and you are using a lot of munich to begin with. It will still be a medium body ale.
 
Ok. Thanks for the help!

One other question that you may or may not be able to help with - Beer Alchemy (a mac program) doesn't have munich malt extract. Is there a way I can add a profile for it?
 
Ok. Thanks for the help!

One other question that you may or may not be able to help with - Beer Alchemy (a mac program) doesn't have munich malt extract. Is there a way I can add a profile for it?

I have it as 1.035 O.G. and 13 SRM, Im not familiar with your program but I hope this helps.
 
Just a warning, Laurel.... With the roast barley suggestion, back when I was doing extract brews, I steeped 3 oz (what the recipe called for) for an Irish Red and it came out waaaaay dark. Reddish hue with a light bulb right behind it, but too dark. I'd go for 1 oz tops if I tried again with extract (they just always come out darker).
 
.75 oz amarillo @ 60 min
.75 oz amarillo @ 15 min
.75 oz amarillo @ 5 min


I'd be interested in creating a different beer, I like balanced beers, leaning towards slightly bitter, but nothing like Arrogant Bastard.

This will taste absolutely nothing like Arrogant Bastard! It'll be kind of hoppy, but I think they use Chinooks in AB and Amarillo are much more citrusy. :)
 
I was using Arrogant Bastard as an example of what I don't like in microbrews when it comes to hops. :)
 
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