My 1st Brew: Irish Red Ale - HELP!

Hey folks

I'm about to start brewing for the first time and for my first project I'd like to make a beer familiar to my country.

I haven't got a masher, so I'm guessing I'll have to steep my grains in a pot. Will I have to buy an extract to steep my grains with? That is the thick syrupy liquid?

I was thinking of using

Hops: Fuggles and Super Styrians
Malt: Roasted barley, crystal (200) and chocolate
Yeast: WYeast Activator 1084 - Irish Ale
Adjunct: Irish Moss (if necessary)

I really want to get a beautiful red/ruby colour out of this, a lovely roasty, malty flavour with hints of chocolate and a sweet fruity edge. I don't even know if that sounds like a hash...

Any advice about getting a red colour and O' Hara's/Hobgoblin's ruby beer taste would be so appreciated. Anything about making an extract Irish red in general would be great too.

Btw... would it ruin the beer if I make it 6% alcohol, I might have to just add more ingredients to balance it? I'm aware irish reds are light session drinks, but I really love darker beers too. I want the alcohol lvl round 5% or 6% if it will still taste good.

Sorry for being so naive, got to begin somewhere. Thanks!

Hi Friend -

My advice is before you start worrying about brewing a particular style or type of beer, you need to become more familiar with the basic process of how to brew. Here's some resources to help you:

1. A sticky thread in the beginning brewing subforum here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/beginner-extract-brewing-howto-99139/

2. an online book whose first and second chapter is what you need to read www.howtobrew.com

3. a channel on Youtube that has a number of videos that go in order, showing you everything - its kind of slow moving, but good http://www.youtube.com/user/HomebrewingVideo

4. a guy who sells an excellent beginners brewing video www.basicbrewing.com

Hope these help! Soon, you'll be enjoying your own hand-made beer!

Most Irish Red's I've come across use East Kent Goldings or a combination of Fruggles and East Kent Goldings. How do Super Styrians compare to East Kent Goldings?

Keith, I think East Kent Goldings are just for aroma, do you add a small amount near the end? I'm not sure why they don't make red ales with more hops... maybe it's because Ireland was never really able to grow them or have them imported back in the day. The internet tells me east kent goldings are mild, gentle, fregrant and simply pleasant.

I chose fuggles because I believe they are also really just for aroma, only they have a mild, woody/earth-like flavour or as we say in northern ireland, 'maughty' not to be confused with how the scots use the word - think it means mighty over there.

Styrians...hmm, I bought super styrians mainly because hobgoblin ruby beer use them, as for super styrian... i wanted the fruityness.

Somebody posted on another website forum 'I’ve used them in my recent brown ale, blended with EKG. They seem to give a slightly spicy, fruity aroma without being over the top. Some sources on the internet describe them as cannabis-like and I can definitely imagine that to be true in higher amounts. I think you won’t regret buying them, they’ll work great in classic pale ales, brown ales, etc.!'

Quoted from another source using only super styrians 'The beer straight from the FV had a fantastic pineapple flavour and aroma. I sampled the first pint (above) 10 days after mashing. The hop gives a great, mellow tropical fruit flavour and aroma, along with a slight herbal, marijuana flavour. Pineapple and mango, but without any of the sharper citrus notes I get from similar US hops. It has a mellowness and approachability I associate with Slovenian hops.

Overall a very pleasant and impressive hop that I will be adding to my arsenal and using regularly. Great for a summer ale and with enough character of its own to stand up in a single hop beer.'

I'm most likely going to have to experiment with my choice of hops, why do people use EKGs so much in red ales?

Cheers Pappers, thats a great help! Seriously appreciated. I've still got a question however. How on earth do I know what measurements of ingredients to use in order to have a balanced beer?

Riastradh said:

How on earth do I know what measurements of ingredients to use in order to have a balanced beer?

Click to expand...

When people talk about a balanced beer, what they are often referring to is the proportion of maltiness to bitter. So, the Original Gravity (OG) of the wort (before fermentation) and the estimated International Bittering Units (IBU) of the hops you intend to use. I use a great software program, Beersmith, to estimate the IBU and OG of a recipe. You'll want to measure the OG of your actual brew, too, but no one I know of measures the actual IBU, but we can taste it.

There are other ways to think about balance, too, but I suspect this is what you're talking about.

Until you're comfortable with the process of brewing, I always suggest following a tried and tested recipe (or use a kit). It just takes out one more variable (a bad recipe) that could ruin your beer. You can find recipes here on HBT in the recipe database - scroll down on the front page and you'll find many. Make sure you're looking at recipes that are for "extract" not "all-grain."

Here's one, for example, of an Irish Red by Schlenkerla, who has a lot of good recipes here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f65/quaffable-irish-red-extract-55441/

Thanks, I downloaded brewsmith and Promash, they look great! They should be very very helpful. See how people crush/crack open the malts then put the grains into hot water to germinate them before going in the mash turn to make the wort, will I have to germinate grains too if im steeping? I bought all my grains crushed (bright red face if im going wrong here haha)

When these guys pour/drain out the liquid...the wort is it? They have the brown water, into a fermenter then add the yeast. Surely I don't need to buy an extract to accompany steeping, can you just steep to make the wort without the syrup-like extract? If you must have the extract, why is that? It's just steeping looks like you get the same coloured water like you would from the mash or the extract when water is added.

Thanks again, I'll try something simple out before brewing my own. I just still have all these questions. Btw about the balance thing, that helped.

Riastradh
Thanks for the info on the Styrians, I'll have to try them in my next Irish Red. The last one I brewed had all East Kent, at 60 and 20 minutes. It's OK, but not the best I've had. Time to try something different, like yours. What is your hop schedule?

I'm a little confused by your question, but I will tell you what I think based on what I hear you saying. Your 'Extract' (aka. syrup-like liquid) contains most of the sugars that will be turned into alcohol as well as the 'base' or fundamental flavor of the beer. The grains you will be 'steeping' are specialty grains which hopefully will give you the other characteristics you are looking for (i.e. roasty, malty, chocolate, etc.). The hops then will give you bitterness (a crisp or sharp finish) if boiled long - 60+ min, flavor (citrus, spice, etc) if boiled moderately - 15-20 min, and aroma (floral, spice, etc) if added at the end - 0-5 min. (This is hyper-simplified)

The amount/type of hops and how long you boil will determine the strength of these qualities. Just the right amount of hops to offset the sweetness of the malt is considered 'balanced'.

Start by following Pappers advice and reading about the basics of brewing. Most extract kits come with detailed instructions. For your first batch, get the ingredients, and follow the directions. Once the batch is ready to drink, find out what you liked/did not like or what you would like to be different and go back and read some more. Eventually you will understand the process much better and be able to craft a beer that fits the style you like.

Also, most Home Brew Stores have plenty of people there who would love to help answer the questions you have. This is an invaluable resource... use it.

Good luck, and let us know how things turn out.

http://www.irishcraftbrewer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55&Itemid=47

Take a look at those pages. It's answered everything I wanted to know and enlightened me on thigns I didn't realise to consider. Very informative

I'm only left uncomfortable approaching what malt extract to use for any brewing projects. Pale, light, amber... :S what? What's the difference? I can imagine to a faint degree, but I really haven't a clue what the consequence would be choosing one over the other for a certain style, or personal pref within the style. I'm thinking you could use pretty much anything for a red ale, maybe even a dark malt but they'd maybe be more popular for stouts?

How do you guys choose, what would you suggest to promote/compliment the ruby colour or avoid effecting the hue completely. Pale, light??? Do they taste different as well as body and stuff?

Thanks guys!

Jake - I don't have a hop schedule yet. I haven't started brewing so I don't know how to control hops according to the different properties of various breeds. I'm going off Jmiltime's kind advice and the basics of what I've read online. Lets just experiment

Just my opinion but, I wouldn't brew anything until I had read "How to Brew" or "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing". All of your questions will be answered in either of these books and you will gain valuable knowledge concerning, what, why, when and how.

Good luck.