Irish Red Ale Raging Red Irish Red Ale

Brew day went well... But the beer came out more brown than I'd have hoped. At least that's how it looks in the fermenter at present... Had a bit of a orange hue though when I was taking my gravity reading. I'll keep you guys posted... Still early days yet.

its a very very dark red. once it's back lit you'll see the red shine through.

Looks great. Think this will make a great brew for my Da this christmas. He likes a good ale.

Would this work with Chico yeast? Wlp001


What does this compare to for common reds?

HootHootHoot said:

Would this work with Chico yeast? Wlp001


What does this compare to for common reds?

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WLP001 is the yeast that I used so yes, it will work!

as far as what red does it compare to? no idea.

I can't wait for this one to carb up. I'm excited for this one.

First BIAB, first AG. Process went smoothly, save for having to boil down for TWO HOURS because I grossly overestimated the amount of necessary sparge water. Beersmith is telling me I still hit 72.5%.

Just went in the bottle today. It's going to be a loooooong 21 days, judging by how insanely good the test sample tasted.



Here's what my version ended up looking like.

8 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 72.7 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 2 9.1 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.5 %
8.0 oz Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.5 %
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 15.4 IBUs
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 6 -
1.00 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 7 6.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg Nottingham Yeast (Lallemand) [23.66 ml] Yeast 8 -
1 lbs Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 9 9.1 %

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.059 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.052 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.018 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.1 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.5 %
Bitterness: 21.5 IBUs Calories: 175.9 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 14.7 SRM

Looks pretty dark going in, but when one of the bottles caught the sun it was glowing.

Big_Blue said:

First BIAB, first AG. Process went smoothly, save for having to boil down for TWO HOURS because I grossly overestimated the amount of necessary sparge water. Beersmith is telling me I still hit 72.5%.

Just went in the bottle today. It's going to be a loooooong 21 days, judging by how insanely good the test sample tasted.


Looks pretty dark going in, but when one of the bottles caught the sun it was glowing.

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congrats on your first of many BIAB brews!! This beer was my first BIAB (and first AG) as well. Yep, the beer looks pretty dark until it gets backlit.. then BAM

Mysticmead,

What is the ABV of this brew? Also, how would it affect the taste and color if I added 2 lbs of honey instead of 1? (I'll be using Orange Blossom Honey btw)

fury556 said:

Mysticmead,

What is the ABV of this brew? Also, how would it affect the taste and color if I added 2 lbs of honey instead of 1? (I'll be using Orange Blossom Honey btw)

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this is a 6-6.5% beer (depending on how well it ferments for you. ) adding as extra pound of honey will raise it to 7-7.5%. I probably wouldn't change the color much but the taste would change. Probably have a noticeable alcohol warming which is out of place for the style

I haven't brewed this recipe yet, but am very tempted, given the rosy reviews and my liking for Irish red ale.

Some of the more recent comments relate to a desire for a rich ruby red colour. A few months ago I brewed an Irish red which had Vienna malt in the recipe. The red color imparted by this malt is superb and the flavour is well suited to the style. I would recommend substituting Vienna for the crystal to achieve a rich red color.

wobblymadman said:

I haven't brewed this recipe yet, but am very tempted, given the rosy reviews and my liking for Irish red ale.

Some of the more recent comments relate to a desire for a rich ruby red colour. A few months ago I brewed an Irish red which had Vienna malt in the recipe. The red color imparted by this malt is superb and the flavour is well suited to the style. I would recommend substituting Vienna for the crystal to achieve a rich red color.

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if you look at the recipe, I used no Crystal malt. I did use melanoiden and Caraaroma. Both with provide a very deep red. The caraaroma also adds the maltiness that an irish red should have. Now this is a very deep red and will almost look brown until its back lit. Then the deep red shows. the images below are the same beer (different glasses but same beer) top one is not back lit.. the flash gives a hint of the red color but just a hint.. the second one shows the beer once back lit.

Right you are - crystal HOPS, not crystal malt! I need to read more carefully, although some people in this thread were subbing crystal in here and there too.

The colour is superb in those photos, and the beer has been getting rave reviews. It has been added to my recipe hitlist. Great stuff.

you can sub crystal 120 for caraaroma... although in my opinion it would take away from the aroma of the beer.

This came out great last time I brewed it. I think this will be the next batch I brew.

I had to sub in Crystal 120 since I couldn't get the Cararoma. Smelled plenty fine to me. Ready in little over a week.

hi, are you fermenting htis at 68 ambient or 68 wort temp in a controlled chamber?

between 65-68 ambient when I first made it. now 65 in ferm chamber.

Can you recommend a yeast other than WLP001 that would work well in 58-61 deg temps without changing the flavor of this brew? I use a winefridge as my fermentation chamber and I have no way to control the temps, the fridge usually sits right around 61 deg. Thanks

Mysticmead said:

this is a 6-6.5% beer (depending on how well it ferments for you. ) adding as extra pound of honey will raise it to 7-7.5%. I probably wouldn't change the color much but the taste would change. Probably have a noticeable alcohol warming which is out of place for the style

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Mysticmead,
I am all set to brew this tomorrow. At 72% Beersmith is telling me 5.7%. I will be using BRY-97 American West Coast Dry Yeast. This will be for a competition in my local Homebrew Club so I want to try and stay in range.
Were you spot on at 72% effeciency and did you get a real strong fermentation in order to hit 6-6.5%?
I am trying to figure out what I might need to tweak, if anything.

I hit 72%.. had a killer fermentation with wlp001 are you also including the honey? that'll add 1%

Just got done brewing this recipe. I ended up with 5.15 gallons @ 79.5% eff., 1.070 SG (I used 2 pounds of honey). The color is f'n awesome and smells great. I made a slight change and used 5lbs Marris Otter & 3lbs 2row.

awesome... post pics when its done!

I was looking for a brew to use up some leftover ingredients, as luck would have it this is the first recipe I looked at and I saw I've got pretty much everything to do a 1 Gallon batch with some minor substitutions (both my 3 Gal carboys are in use).

Malt:

1# 6 oz Organic 2-row
3.5 oz pilsner (to top off base grain since it was short)
3.2 oz Caraaroma
1.8 oz Carafoam
2 oz Munich (sub for melanoiden)

Hops:

0.325 oz German Hallertauer 5.4% AA FWH (used slightly more to use up my hop)
0.2 oz Cascade @ 30 min 5.3% AA
1/4 teaspoon Irish moss @ 15 min
3.3 oz honey @ Flameout

Yeast:

WL 004 Irish Ale made starter from washed batch and pitched @ high krausen.

It is fermenting like mad today!

O.G was 1.07, beer calc gave me 1.064 but the variable could be in the honey as there is no standard concentration, mine is from a farmer not the grocery store. I use the BIAB technique exclusively now (love it!) and used 1.5 Gal water to mash, boiled off perfectly, topped up with 400ml starter and had enough for an 8 oz cup of hot scotchie (wort post boil with shot of scotch added, very tasty!) Mash temp was low to start 144 F, heated up to 157 F, cooled and maintained 152-154 F.

I just brewed this again. My new brew store here in Durham didn't have Crystal hops so I ended up going with Challenger at 50 minutes. hopefully the results are appropriate. I loved this one last time. Thanks again for a great recipe.

jjeremy said:

I just brewed this again. My new brew store here in Durham didn't have Crystal hops so I ended up going with Challenger at 50 minutes. hopefully the results are appropriate. I loved this one last time. Thanks again for a great recipe.

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I brewed this for the 2nd time last month and I had to do the same with Challenger hops for Crystal and it turned out great.

Brewed this today. LHBS didn't have caraaroma or carafoam so used cara-pils and dark crystal malt instead. Smell was awesome :rockin:. OG 1.06. Can't wait to drink.

mickeyproctor33 said:

Brewed this today. LHBS didn't have caraaroma or carafoam so used cara-pils and dark crystal malt instead. Smell was awesome :rockin:. OG 1.06. Can't wait to drink.

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carafoam is also called cara-pils.. dark crystal works as a decent sub for caraaroma if your LHBS doesn't carry it. If you make it again, brewmasterswarehouse.com carries caraaroma.

Mysticmead said:

carafoam is also called cara-pils.. dark crystal works as a decent sub for caraaroma if your LHBS doesn't carry it. If you make it again, brewmasterswarehouse.com carries caraaroma.

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I hate to order things online since the LHBS is so convenient for me. Is there a better substitute for caraaroma?

mickeyproctor33 said:

I hate to order things online since the LHBS is so convenient for me. Is there a better substitute for caraaroma?

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really... no there isnt. the only thing that is close is crystal 120-130. Even that will miss the aroma part. I guess you could use crystal 120 subtract .25lb and replace that with .25lb aromatic malt. that could get more malt aroma.

What would be the best way to convert this to an extract brew?

okcnyyfan said:

What would be the best way to convert this to an extract brew?

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I would use Beersmith to convert it...with a few slight changes...

7 lbs Pale Liquid Extract
12.0 oz Caraaroma
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L
8.0 oz Carafoam / cara-pils
1 oz Crystal hops 4.3% 60 minutes
1 oz cascade hops 5.9% 30 minutes
1 whirflock 10 minutes
1lb honey flameout


that should get you fairly close.
you really should look at moving up to All Grain.. BIAB (Brew In A Bag) is an affordable option for All Grain brewing. Its easy to brew All Grain, its cheaper, and the beer in my opinion tastes better.

mickeyproctor33 said:

Brewed this today. LHBS didn't have caraaroma or carafoam so used cara-pils and dark crystal malt instead. Smell was awesome :rockin:. OG 1.06. Can't wait to drink.

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Makes me appreciate my LHBS

Mysticmead said:

I would use Beersmith to convert it...with a few slight changes...

7 lbs Pale Liquid Extract
12.0 oz Caraaroma
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L
8.0 oz Carafoam / cara-pils
1 oz Crystal hops 4.3% 60 minutes
1 oz cascade hops 5.9% 30 minutes
1 whirflock 10 minutes
1lb honey flameout

that should get you fairly close.
you really should look at moving up to All Grain.. BIAB (Brew In A Bag) is an affordable option for All Grain brewing. Its easy to brew All Grain, its cheaper, and the beer in my opinion tastes better.

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I second this. BIAB all grain is easy and satisfying. Also, spent grain is a good way to make friends with chicken owners and get some free eggs.

*subscribed

So I was making another batch of this last night having made it last year and remembering its awesomeness...but half way through the boil I thought I forgot the honey and added it then, instead of at flameout...how do you think this will affect the outcome?

patchedboard said:

So I was making another batch of this last night having made it last year and remembering its awesomeness...but half way through the boil I thought I forgot the honey and added it then, instead of at flameout...how do you think this will affect the outcome?

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You will lose the flavor that the honey adds to the beer. Basically, that is equivalent to pouring pure sugar into the wort

Not sure if the typo is OP's or my LHBS's website but I couldn't find "Melanoiden" malt when searching their site. Googled it and found the spelling "Melanoidin" which they did have!

Everything in stock at the LHBS...Placed the order and I'll pick up tomorrow after work. Cant wait to brew, hopefully next weekend!

So, I've made two batches of a slightly altered version of this.

The first I brewed on 10/4/12 and bottled on 10/25/12. Looked good, smelled good... tasted sketchy. It had a medicinal quality to it. I kicked up some trub when bottling, so I thought that might be why. I figured it would settle out. After cracking open most of the bottles throughout December, I found that some of the bottles were fine (tasted exceptional) and some were not (tasted like old Band-Aids). I'm not sure what the issue was. Bottles weren't all clean enough? I scrubbed the hell and sanitized them all the same. Excess sediment got dropped in random bottles? Possibly. I really did piss it off when bottling. Was it the honey? Maybe? I bought bulk and racked on top of it, rather than adding it at flame out. Maybe the quality of the honey wasn't as good as it was made out to be. Something, somewhere along the line wasn't as clean/sanitized as it could have been? Possibly, though I'm very meticulous and I figure that would have been 100% bad across the board, rather than 50/50-ish.

At any rate, I drank them all/gave them away, horrible taste or no.

I brewed a second batch almost as soon as my fermenter was empty, on 11/20/12. I had not really discovered that the original batch was funky as I was doing this, but when I had I kinda decided to just let it hide away in my closet. I didn't want to find out that it, too, was funky.

While the beer was being quarantined, I decided to upgrade to a kegerator (I could no longer see myself spending an entire day bottling every few weeks. I'm lazy and I drink quickly -- not a great combo).

I finished my build this past weekend and finally got the CO2 tank on Monday. The second batch went in the keg (the first ever) after seven weeks in the fermenter. I was particularly careful about not disturbing the ginormous cake at the bottom.

The sample (reading at an ideal 1.010) was, despite my trepidation, fantastic. It was also much, much clearer than the first run.

Currently, I'm burst carbing it and should have a glass drawn off tonight. If all goes well, I'll have a picture or two to follow (the original batch made me so sad I forgot the camera).

glad you gave it a second shot. that bandaid taste is either a Brett infection or Chlorine.