Irish Whiskey Red

Hey folks. So, I'm planning to brew an Irish red with some whiskey characteristics for St. Paddy's in a couple of weeks. This is the recipe I'm tooling with:

Grain
7.5 lbs Stout Malt (SRM 2)
3 lbs Melanoiden (SRM 20)
1/3 lb Cherrywood Smoked Malt (4 SRM)
1/3 lb Roasted Barley (300 SRM)

BeerSmith tells me I'll get about 15-16 SRM with that bill.

Hops
1/2 oz. Target @ 60
1/2 oz. Willamette @ 15
1/2 oz. Fuggles @ knockout

Yeast: WLP004

Doing a single infusion mash with a batch sparge.

What do you guys think? Specifically, what do you guys think about the addition of the smoked malt in this? Will it be too little to make a difference? Will the smoke flavor ruin this beer? Any ideas for improvement?

Cheers!

3 lbs of melanoiden strikes me as a LOT. I usually use .25-1lb tops.
The smoked malt is relatively low. How about some medium roast oak cubes and 8 ounces of Jameson whiskey in secondary fermentation for a month?

Now the Jameson and oak cubes I could definitely do. So, you think the melanoiden is too much? I wanted to go for a sweeter, rounder red. The last time I used WLP004, the beer was exceptionally dry. That's good, but I wanted to offset that a little with some more maltiness.

Maybe someone else will chime in on the melanoiden - but I would be afraid it would make it too sweet. Maybe use a couple pounds of munich to add some sweetness and maltiness. Mash a little higher in the 154 range to keep it a little fuller as well. A good irish whiskey will add a little sweetness to it as well.

I think this could be a pretty good beer - never thought about an irish red with whiskey in it until I saw your title. I make a bourbon porter every year that I love, I could see this being a smaller, lighter version of a similar beer.

Wait to see what others say about the melanoiden . . . maybe others have used it successfully in that quantity.

Thanks for the mash notes, I'll definitely do that. This will only be my second all-grain batch, my first being an qualified failure.

So, I don't do secondary fermentation. Primarily because carboys are super expensive and I'm a brewer on a budget, but also because my Palmer book tells me it's unnecessary. Should I invest in a carboy and start doing secondary?

I have been trying to figure out what to brew today - and this idea has inspired me - Irish Whiskey Red is on the brew list for today. I found this recipe that looks very well popular, and will probably do something similar to this - I like the idea of the cara aroma in it.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f65/raging-red-irish-red-ale-239188/

Also looked up melanoiden, and it said can be used "up to 20% of grainbill" but I will probably keep to my normal half pound or so and sub in some munich.

Fermenting - I generally only primary ferment for 3 weeks and then keg/bottle too. When doing this beer (and bourbon porter) though, I will primary for 3 weeks. About a week before the 3 weeks are up, I will put 8-12 ounces of Jameson in a mason jar with two ounces of medium roast oak cubes and let them sit (in case anything needs to be sanitized on the cubes). I will then transfer to a secondary with the whiskey and oak and let it sit another 2-4 weeks. Then keg/bottle.

I use buckets for fermenting. Cheap, easy to clean, etc. You could get a bucket for secondary fermenting for $10-$15 easy. Then you would have it in the future for additional fermenter.

Thanks for the inspiration - looking forward to trying this beer out.

Also - FWIW - I will skip the honey addition in the above recipe.

Braufessor said:

I use buckets for fermenting. Cheap, easy to clean, etc. You could get a bucket for secondary fermenting for $10-$15 easy. Then you would have it in the future for additional fermenter.

Click to expand...

I am a moron. I have no idea why I thought I'd need a carboy for secondary fermentation. I actually have 2 fermentation buckets, I just assumed, weirdly, that they'd always have to be for primary.

Anyway, glad I was able to inspire! And thanks for all your tips and suggestions, I'm ordering my ingredients now.

The secondary needs to have very little headspace to prevent oxidation since your beer won't be producing enough co2 to fill a lot of headspace. If you really don't want to get a carboy you could purge the headspace of a bucket with co2.

This is the recipe I settled on (6.5 gallon batch)- time to head to the basement and start weighing grain and getting my water heating. Thanks again for the inspiration - looking forward to this experiment.

Irish whiskey red
Style: Irish Red Ale OG: 1.051
Type: FG: 1.013
Rating: 0.0 ABV: 4.98 %
Calories: 167 IBU's: 20.23
Efficiency: 80 % Boil Size: 7.39 Gal
Color: 16.1 SRM Batch Size: 6.50 Gal
Preboil OG: 1.048 Boil Time: 60 minutes

Fermentation Steps
Name Days / Temp
Primary 14 days @ 60.0°F
Secondary 21 days @ 60.0°F

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
4.50 lbs 36.63 % Rahr 2-Row 60 mins 1.035
2.00 lbs 16.28 % Weyermann Munich I 60 mins 1.038
0.66 lbs 5.37 % Weyermann Caraaroma 60 mins 1.034
2.00 ozs 1.02 % Roasted Barley 60 mins 1.025
0.25 lbs 2.04 % Melanoiden Malt 60 mins 1.037
0.25 lbs 2.04 % Carafoam 60 mins 1.033
4.00 lbs 32.56 % Fawcett Golden Promise Pale Malt 60 mins 1.038
0.50 lbs 4.07 % Oats, Flaked 60 mins 1.037

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
1.50 ozs 20.23 Goldings, East Kent 60 mins 5.00

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg German Ale starter Wyeast Labs 1007

Additions
Amount Name Time Stage
1.80 g Calcium Chloride 15 mins Mash
0.50 g Gypsum 15 mins Mash
1.00 tbsp Irish Moss 15 mins Boil
0.50 tsp Yeast Nutrient 15 mins Boil
0.30 g Epsom Salt 15 mins Mash

Mash Profile
Medium Body Infusion In 60 min @ 154.0°F
Add 15.36 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.0°F


Notes
Three gallons RO water. Two gallons tap water. Bru'n water amber malty profile. Will add 8-12 ounces of Jameson whiskey and two ounces of medium roast oak cubes to secondary for about 3-4 weeks.

Done and into the fermenter

Finally got around to doing mine (albeit last Sunday). We finished up with a 1.058 OG and just measured today, we're at 1.010. My experience with this yeast is that I might knock a few more points off before I bottle next Sunday. Going to prime with some light DME and 8 ounces of Jameson in the bottling bucket.

Also, it tastes really good! That cherrywood smoked malt adds this slight, sweet-and-spicy smoke flavor right on the end of the taste. Not enough to distract. Looking forward to drinking this at St. Paddy's!