Recommend a Red Ale extract recipe please

I did a search but ended up finding a million posts and a few recipes but none that people seemed very confident in. I brewed the All-Amarillo recipe from this forum that was AMAZING. My wife is getting into my beer and wants to try it herself.

She's decided on making a red ale. I'm figuring we'd try a fairly traditional Irish Red but are open to anything (although it probably shouldn't be a big beer since she'll want to try it out early on with it being her first!).

Thanks!

Below is my House Red Ale, everyone I've given this to, BMC Crowd included, loves this beer. You can't taste the alcohol in it, you just need to give it 3-4wks in the primary. And USE A BLOWOFF TUBE, S-04 is a monster for around the first 48 hours!

House Red Ale
Brew Type: Extract
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Volume: 6.82 gal Boil Time: 60 min

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
8 lbs DME Pilsen Light (Briess) (2.0 SRM) Dry Extract 84.21 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 15.79 %
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (60 min) Hops 26.3 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (45 min) Hops 14.2 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (15 min) Hops 7.7 IBU
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.070 SG (1.045-1.056 SG) Measured Original Gravity: 1.071 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.018 SG (1.010-1.015 SG) Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Color: 12.1 SRM (11.0-18.0 SRM) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 48.2 IBU (20.0-40.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 18.5 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 6.83 % (4.50-5.70 %) Actual Alcohol by Volume: 7.97 %

That looks good! I have a pot large enough for a full boil but haven't made my wort chiller yet so I might have to convert it. Hopefully I can get my act together though...

Thanks! Like I said, everyone loves it. I use a plate chiller, but I'm sure I could do it as a "no chill" as well.

I've been in the mood to brew an easy drinking Red Ale lately. I'll run down to the LHBS and pick up the stuff today and brew it up. I'll report back once it's all done and drinkable.

You're only pitching one packet of S-04 into it with an OG of 1.070, though?

Yep, it's worked so far for me! I wouldn't normally do that but it's the way I did it the first time and I wanted to be able to replicate the beer exactly. The S-04 will likely be done with it in the first 48hours but you want to leave it sit for around 3 weeks to have the yeast clean up the fusels that they leave behind.

Sounds good - I'll do as such and report back.

Oh, and you're taking the Caramel/Crystal Malt and "steeping" it, more or less, correct? Typically, in the Northern Brewer kits I've put together so far that's how I've done it. Steeping for 10-15 mins while the temp comes up to 170, then pull it.

This'll be my first time using DME, too. Always used LME in the past.

Sorry for the newb questions, I've only got a few batches under my belt so far but I'm learning like crazy over these past few months.

It turned out that my LHBS only had Weyermann Carawheat in stock, and didn't have any S-04, but did have S-05. I used both, along with the other recommended ingredients in the recipe, but it's definitely not a Red Ale.

I s'pose I'll have to call it an American Amber, or something. I hope it doesn't turn out too badly.

It'll be a different beer for sure, but I'm sure it'll be good nonetheless. Who knows, maybe it'll be your new House Red. ;0)

I found this recipe a few months back and decided to try it out. I sampled the first bottle over the weekend, and I have to completely agree with wyzazz. This beer is great! I also completely agree with the use of a blowoff tube. I must have missed that when reading through the original post. After about twelve hours, the fermenter lid blew off using a regular three piece plastic airlock. I snapped it back on and cleaned up the small mess it made and the beer still turned out great. Thanks for the recipe!

Sorry this is so long after the fact to be asking questions but I have newb questions on this. My brew pot is about 6 gallons, and that would be it brimming, it feels safe under 5 gallons BUT I am not sure I can heat or cool it particular quickly at that volume. Can I do the boil with 3-4 gallons and top this up water afterwards and have it basically wind up the same? This is the way my first extract kit worked and it seemed to work out ok but I am not sure if it works as a rule.