Midwest Irish Red Ale Kit

I just ordered the Midwest Irish Red Ale kit through the last groupon deal and plan to gift it to a beginner home brewer and help the recipient brew it.

I plan to use 11.5g of Nottingham yeast in place of the Muntons.

Can anyone comment on their experiences with the flavor of the end result of this extract kit?

Is it malty or have a dry finish? Similar to any commercial Irish Reds?

Better than any commercial red. Good choice on the Notty too.

I added 1.5# of wildflower honey during cooling (about 110 degrees F) and it really made that kit pop!

I've since crafted my own AG recipe around it that is by far one of my favorites.

I've had some of that brewed with just the ingredients in the kit and thought it had a dry finish with a nice hop aroma/flavor. I noticed that it was different from the Brewers Best Kits red ale that I had brewed. I wish I had more experience with home brewed red ales for comparison.

I've actually got that kit sitting on deck ready to brew. Now I just gotta find a day off. Never thought about adding honey to it

Diver165 said:

I've actually got that kit sitting on deck ready to brew. Now I just gotta find a day off. Never thought about adding honey to it

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I love brewing with honey. The problem most people have is that they get paranoid and add it in during boil or when the wort's too hot. You lose all of the flavor and end up with a drier, higher abv beer.

I use raw honey from local NJ apiaries and add it when it's cool enough to retain flavors but warm enough to dissolve thoroughly.

My Irish Red kit arrives today. Seems to be a popular kit this winter.

Thats my biggest problem with my Red Ale (brewers best). I can't find anything commercial to compare it to. To be honest, I don't even know what a red ale should taste like. It was my first brew so I wanted to do something easy. It is pretty good though.

Red irish ale as a style gets all the flavor notes from the yeast they use, not the malts so much. This style would be best brewed with a liquid Irish Yeast strain, Nottie will work fine and taste good, but for this beer to be true to style it needs to have a Irish liquid yeast. It's probably about 15 points in a BJCP comp.

I should also say "this was my first kit of choice to try" way back when I started brewing 110 batches ago.

According to Midwest this kit is their most popular one locally here in Minneapolis. I brewed mine about three weeks ago with the recommended strain of WhiteLabs. I did the all-grain version (available at the store also) and it turned out a little deeper/darker red than I imagined. The smell is heavenly. Mine should be kegged in a few weeks here but I've got a couple others on deck too so we'll see!

The extract kit would be a great kit for a beginner. Minimum 2 weeks (sugessted 3-4 weeks) then keg or bottle!

Thanks to all for all of the replies! Any additional always appreciated.

I ran across this thread and was wondering if you adde dthe honey in the secondary or at flame out ,coool down? I have an Red Ale in the secondary now and was wondering if i could add a little honey (.5 lb) will it harm any thing? Also too Mischief brewing is your all grain recipe available?

I add the honey to secondary with great results. I have a good sensitivity for picking up the flavor of honey too so you results may vary.

I'll see if I can track down the recipe. I had it stored in brewpal but that app got corrupted and I can't trust anybody my old recipes. I've brewed it again a few times with slight changes so I'll read through my notes and post the best when I get a chance.