Red House Red Ale

This is my red house red ale. It's not really an Irish Red due to yeast/hops but I call it one since did this trying to appeal to my Killians-drinking friends. This was difficult due to the fact that I've never drank Killians.

6 lb 2 row
4 lb munich dark (weyermann munich II 8-10L)
1/4 lb caramunich 45
1/4 lb crystal 120

Mash @ 150 for 70 minutes. I got 86% efficiency on this, best I've ever gotten!

hops: (all about 5% aa, don't recall the specifics)
1/2 oz kent golding @ 60
1/2 oz kent golding @ 30
1/2 oz kent golding @ 15
1/2 oz kent golding @ 5

I used pacman yeast that I built up out of a couple rogue shakespeare stout 22oz bombers but if you don't have access to this your standard 1056, safale us-05 etc. are what to go for. I wanted a really clean, lager-like taste.

Fermented as low as I could get it (hot in my apartment, but was able to keep it around 60 or so). Once primary fermentation was over, I waited a day or two to make sure, then kegged it and put it in the fridge at 40 on gas. Tried it yesterday after about 2 or 3 weeks of conditioning and it is very tasty. Very, very clean taste to it. The kent goldings hops shine through in a very balanced way and complement the munich sweetness very well. The only disappointment to me is that the color isn't as boldly red as I expected-- it's more of a "dirty water" red.

For a beer that I brewed with intent to satisfy my miller lite loving friends, I think I really outdid myself. This will definitely be my house ale for some time.

Future modifications I might try are replacing the dark munich with "regular" munich, using pilsener malt instead of 2-row, and trying this with a bavarian lager yeast. But this beer definitely does not need improvement to taste great.

Try subbing out the Crystal 120 for roasted barley, that will put you more in the Irish Red style. What 2-row did you use? If you used Maris Otter (or do in the future), you're pretty much in style. The hops are fine as Kent Goldings are a UK hop. Sounds like it'd be a good beer even if not completely 'true to style'

Gremlyn1 said:

Try subbing out the Crystal 120 for roasted barley, that will put you more in the Irish Red style. What 2-row did you use? If you used Maris Otter (or do in the future), you're pretty much in style. The hops are fine as Kent Goldings are a UK hop. Sounds like it'd be a good beer even if not completely 'true to style'

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I believe I used Rahr, but I probably never knew for sure (just picked it out of whatever bin was closest to the crusher @ LHBS). They don't carry maris otter by the pound for some reason, but I will probably make an order to AHS at some point because I hear great things.

You're definitely right about the roasted barley. I decided to omit that kind of stuff as not to deter my BMC-fan friends from liking the beer. I do find that Crystal 120 has a slight burnt taste to it, but definitely not the roastiness you look for in an Irish Red. The yeast isn't really appropriate for an Irish Red either.

Another thing you could try is substitute your munich dark with crystal 60L and the crystal 120L with british brown.