Help with a Widmer Brrr-like red ale?

I've tried my hand at a Widmer Brrr clone a couple of times, but the proportions were so different from recipe to recipe, and it's been so long since I last made it, it's hard to remember what worked and what didn't, and what they tasted like. I'm working on a new draft and would like some input, since I'm really not too knowledgeable when it comes to putting recipes together.
It doesn't necessarily have to taste just like Brrr, as long as it's a tasty winter warmer-like beer.

Widmer lists their grains for the beer as Pale 2-row, Munich, chocolate malt, Crystal 10L, Crystal 80L, carapils.

It seems to me that the "candylike finish" they talk about comes from the munich and crystal malts, which also both are the main contributors to colour (along with the chocolate of course), is that right? Based on these assumptions, here is what I have now:


11 lb Pale 2-row (76%)
.75 lb Munich (5%)
1 lb Crystal 10L (7%)
1 lbCrystal 80L (7%)
.5 lb carapils (3.5%)
.2 lb chocolate malt (1.4%)


Haven't started tweaking the hop additions yet, wanted to focus on the grain bill first. But it will likely use Nugget for bittering (good sub for their Alchemy blend), and Cascade & Simcoe for aroma and maybe some dry hopping.

How's the grain bill look? Do I need more or less of something? Any input would be greatly appreciated! Cheers!


Edit: here's this for reference- http://widmerbrothers.com/beer/#brrr-seasonal

I just did one. It is dry hopping so my taste only told me it was a good beer, not necessarily a BRRR.

8lb GW Pale
6 Munich
1 Crystal 40
.5 Crystal 75
.65 CarPils
1oz Black Malt

5.5 g Hop Extract 60
28g Simcoe 15
50g Cascade 5
43g Simcoe DH
35g Cascade DH

6 gallon recipe, DH numbers were supposed to be 28 g but I just dump the leftover hops from the bags I had.

Whoa, that's a pretty high Munich to Pale ratio you have there. Is that the route I should be going? My previous batch I had more Munich than I do now, I just thought you're supposed to have one main base malt... (Like I said, I'm not experienced in putting recipes together all that much)

Randy Moshers Red Ale recipe from his book is as follows,

India Red Ale all-grain recipe percentages should be: 50% pale ale; 39% Munich malt; 6% medium crystal; 4% dark crystal; 1% black patent

My feeling is that a lot of breweries with Red Ales have borrowed his formula and made some personal tweaks. I've brewed this before without the CaraPils and slightly different hops and it was excellent.

samc said:

Randy Moshers Red Ale recipe from his book is as follows,

India Red Ale all-grain recipe percentages should be: 50% pale ale; 39% Munich malt; 6% medium crystal; 4% dark crystal; 1% black patent

My feeling is that a lot of breweries with Red Ales have borrowed his formula and made some personal tweaks. I've brewed this before without the CaraPils and slightly different hops and it was excellent.

Click to expand...

Hmm, alright, maybe I'll tweak mine to be more in line with this and see how it goes. thanks!

I know this is ancient, but it seems to be one of the better Brrr posts I could find. I'm wondering if anyone has made this per samc's recipe. I see that as of today, Widmer no longer lists Munich malt in this on the website. But I do like the suggestion as it supposedly comes from Randy Mosher. I definitely want my Brrr clone to be a NW red ale. I may also amp up the holiday aspects of this with some spices. Going to brew this or something similar later this month, so it's ready for the holidays.

Any other fans of this style out there? Here is my latest version of what I'm planning to brew on Saturday:

8 lb Pale 2-row (53.8%)
4 lb Dark Munich (26.9%)
12 oz CaraRed (5%)
12 oz Crystal 10L (5%)
8 oz Crystal 80L (3.4%)
8 oz Carapils Dextrine (3.4%)
4 oz Belgian Special B (1.7%)
2 oz Chocolate malt (0.8%)

I'm going to bitter with Nugget, then add some Centenniel and Cascade at 15 mins. Going to whirlpool and dry hop with Simcoe, Centenniel and Cascade.

Shooting for OG of 1.073, FG of 1.014 and about 68 IBUs.

For that Christmassy touch, I plan to add a spice tea (without the vanilla) at bottling similar to that in the famous "Holly" Christmas Ale that's in the top 100 HBT recipes article. No. 44, I believe.

I brewed the above recipe - minus 1/2 pound of two row. Looked at previous recipes and my efficiency was higher than I realized. OG was 1.071. Last night I took my first gravity reading. 8 days in and down to 1.011. 8.0% ABV. I'll be starting the dry hop tonight, then begin an attempt to cold crash with ice water in my temp controlled swamp cooler setup on Thursday night. Bottle on Saturday morning. Updates to follow.

Not sure if anyone else is following this. The beer turned out excellent. One of the best I've brewed. Now I wish I could find some real Brrrrr for comparison. I've seen lots of other Christmas beers, but not Brrrr. Hope they didn't decide not to make it this year.