Irish Red Ale Homebrewdad's Big Irish Red

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homebrewdad

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2012
Messages
3,283
Reaction score
403
Location
Birmingham
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
WLP004 (Irish Ale)
Yeast Starter
yes
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.25
Original Gravity
1.065
Final Gravity
1.014
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
29
Color
16.4
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
2 weeks
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
2 weeks
Tasting Notes
Malty, some grainy complexity, reserved esters.
I love Irish red ales, but I often feel like they are just a bit lacking. Understand, I don't want some monster 9% Frankenbrew, but to me, it would be perfect if you had an Irish red that was a bit more substantive.

This is my very first recipe that I call my own. That being said, I want to give full credit to Malticulous - this recipe is based off of his very popular Mojave Red ale recipe (a west coast red). Also, let me give props to Revvy, who gave me advice on formulation.

The final result is everything good about an Irish red.... just a bit bigger than normal. Malty with a dry enough finish to make you want another sip. Nice grainy complexity with some subtle esters from the yeast. Just delicious beer that I can honestly say is the tastiest I have ever brewed.

As an aside, it brews a beautiful deep red color. :)


ABV: 6.7%

Grain (assumes 74% efficiency)
10 lb 8 oz Maris Otter
8 oz Crystal 40
8 oz Crystal 60
8 oz Crystal 80
3 oz Melanoiden
2 oz Carafa II
1 oz Roasted Barley

Mash @ 152 degrees F.

Hops
1 oz Challenger (7.2% alpha) @ 60 minutes
.5 oz Northdown (5.7% alpha) @ 20 minutes
.5 oz Fuggles (5% alpha) @ 10 minutes

I personally add a tablespoon of Irish moss @ 15 minutes for clarity.

Ferment @ 65 degrees F.

When I brew this, I let it primary for at least 3-4 weeks, then secondary for a week or two (yeah, I'm one of those guys). Obviously, the secondary step is not necessary.

This isn't a monster beer that needs extended aging, but I find that it does improve with some age.

Carb to 2.3 volumes of CO2.


If you brew this one, please let me know how it turns out for you. Sláinte!
 
Wow, that sounds good. Crap, now I have to add another recipe to the "to brew" list. Well, SWMBO loves reds, so maybe this should go up the list.
 
Gearing up to brew this again on Father's Day. Also starting to watch the mail; a guy from the reddit homebrewing sub brewed up ten gallons of this six or so weeks ago, and is sending me a sixer. :D
 
Any pics of this homebrewdad? Just curious about color. My JZ's Irish Red has turned out very well, but my efficiency was higher than expected and OG was around 1.060 (FG 1.012), so slightly bigger than planned. Also darker. I did 3 gal AG. Seeems to hit all the hurdles in the style guidelines as far as aroma, taste, dryness etc though. Does yours get better with age? Wait, nm, I see you said that in your OP. JZ also uses more roasted barley I think.
 
Any pics of this homebrewdad? Just curious about color. My JZ's Irish Red has turned out very well, but my efficiency was higher than expected and OG was around 1.060 (FG 1.012), so slightly bigger than planned. Also darker. I did 3 gal AG. Seeems to hit all the hurdles in the style guidelines as far as aroma, taste, dryness etc though. Does yours get better with age? Wait, nm, I see you said that in your OP. JZ also uses more roasted barley I think.

This batch is still in primary, so the pics there won't be too helpful for color. I plan to do a full blog post about this brew, however, in case you care to read/look at pics.

I will gladly post a color pic once this batch is ready, but be warned - I'm very much of a "patience" guy, so I doubt that I bottle for at least another month, and I probably won't crack one sooner than a month in bottles. I'm not sure if I took a pic the first time I brewed it.
 
When I switched over to AG the my first try was NB's Irish Red kit. It tasted so bad that I would have gone back to extract if my second batch hadnt been outstanding. Ive been avoiding reds since, but I want to take a run at this one.

Any thoughts on WLP002 or WLP013. Maybe WLP 029 fermeted cold?
 
When I switched over to AG the my first try was NB's Irish Red kit. It tasted so bad that I would have gone back to extract if my second batch hadnt been outstanding. Ive been avoiding reds since, but I want to take a run at this one.

Any thoughts on WLP002 or WLP013. Maybe WLP029 fermeted cold?

From what I read, I think that WLP002 would be a better match than WLP013. WLP029 is a kolsch yeast, which seems like a mismatch to me... but what do I know?

I will say, though, that the WLP004 (Irish ale yeast) that the recipe calls for is really nice with this beer. I think that the flavor balance is excellent, but if you do go a different direction, I'd love to hear how it turns out.
 
029 ferments out very crisp and clean at low temps. Ive started using it in my IPA's and it really emphasizes the hops (at least to my taste).

Probably go with 002. Id pick up the 004 but Im a yeast hoarder and need to get rid of some old jars... or start slanting. Ill put this on the agenda for late July and let you know how it tastes.
 
029 ferments out very crisp and clean at low temps. Ive started using it in my IPA's and it really emphasizes the hops (at least to my taste).

Probably go with 002. Id pick up the 004 but Im a yeast hoarder and need to get rid of some old jars... or start slanting. Ill put this on the agenda for late July and let you know how it tastes.

lol... yeast hoarder. Nice.

Do let me know how it goes, and I would be very interested if you make any other adjustments and the like.
 
I've been asked a couple of times about a partial mash version of this recipe. I'll go ahead and post it here for future reference.

I would have edited the first post and included it there, but the forum won't let me.


********************************


Partial mash for a 5 gallon pot. Hop schedule adjusted a bit to keep the same bitterness ratio.

Recipe Type: Partial Mash
Yeast: WLP004 (Irish Ale)
Yeast Starter: yes
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.067
Final Gravity: 1.018
IBU: 29.1
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 16.2


Grain (assumes 65% efficiency)
5 lb 4 oz Maris Otter
8 oz Crystal 40
8 oz Crystal 60
8 oz Crystal 80
3 oz Melanoiden
2 oz Carafa II
1 oz Roasted Barley

4 lb 8 oz extra light dry malt extract (added @ 15 minutes to preserve color)

Mash @ 152 degrees F for one hour. Beersmith suggests that we mash in with 8.91 quarts of water @ 163.7 degrees F.

Sparge with 3.03 gallons of water. We're assuming a partial boil, that you'll top off with 2.5 gallons of water at the end when you go into your fermenter.

Hops
.9 oz Challenger (7.2% alpha) @ 60 minutes
.5 oz Northdown (5.7% alpha) @ 20 minutes
.5 oz Fuggles (5% alpha) @ 10 minutes
 
I'm bottling this either tonight or tomorrow.

I had a guy from the reddit homebrewing sub brew this. His opinion was that it was very tasty, but a little sweeter than he would have liked. I'll pay attention to that is this batch, though I honestly did not get that impression at all when I first brewed it. I'm curious if this is a fair criticism, or if it's simply a difference of tastes.

I will definitely post pics of the beer when it's done.
 
Okay. I cheated and opened a bottle a little early. Fortunately, it was nicely carbed - a good inch and a half of foam, and while the big head melted fairly quickly, the beer kept a nice cap through the whole glass.

I was honestly a little worried about this beer. As you may remember, this was my first recipe that I considered to truly be my own. A guy from reddit had brewed it, and recently sent me feedback (finally). He liked it, but thought it was too sweet. Said there was just too much crystal, that other brewers agreed with him.

I was bummed, so I approached this glass with a really critical outlook.

All I can say is that there is no accounting for taste. I really picked this beer apart, and I honestly do not believe that it's anywhere near too sweet. I get some sweetness up front, but that gives way to grainy maltiness almost immediately. The beer finishes dry, with perhaps just a hair more bitterness than I might choose.... but man, this is a really nice, flavorful beer. I expect maltiness in an Irish red, and it delivers.

The only edits I would really do have to do with appearance. I might drop the barley back down to a half ounce (I used a whole ounce this time), and might drop the carafa to one ounce instead of two. The beer is a beautiful dark red when held up to the light, but on the table, it's browner than I'd like it to be. Just a bit too dark, I think. It is, however, really nice and clear, which makes a couple of beers in a row that have worked out like that. Maybe I'm finally figuring things out a bit.
 
Sorry, I forgot for a while to post a pic of this brew.

GQgtNK2.jpg


To be perfectly honest, I managed to catch it in a perfect light. Under typical conditions, I does look more brown than red - you have to hold it up to the light to see that rich red color. As I mentioned, I plan to adjust the recipe a bit before I brew it again so to ensure a more vibrant red under normal light.

If you are curious, the glass is one my wife had custom made for me. It says "Confederate Dragon Brewing Company, Est. 2011".
 
In preparation for St Patty's day I was looking for an Irish Red Ale that had a hop kick to it so I decided to use this recipe. We brewed it yesterday and followed the updated recipe with 1 oz of carafa II and .5 oz of roasted barley.

I was probably going to only let it ferment for 4 weeks total but have an extra week I can let it go and still keg it a week before St Patty's day.

I will update once the beer is ready.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Sounds good, fishp23! Do let me know how it turns out!

I've edited the recipe a bit, as I promised. I subbed the Cyrstal 80L for carared, added a little melanoiden, and decreased the carafe III to one ounce... all in the pursuit of a really red beer. :)
 
Going to brew this the weekend of 2/22. Going to go with your exact recipe, but going with an 11.50 gallon recipe and a 78% Efficiency ratng. Looking forward to this. I have been looking for bigger than usual, maltier red for years now. Have never really exprimented with it though. Looks like you are doing that for me. :fro:
 
Going to brew this the weekend of 2/22. Going to go with your exact recipe, but going with an 11.50 gallon recipe and a 78% Efficiency ratng. Looking forward to this. I have been looking for bigger than usual, maltier red for years now. Have never really exprimented with it though. Looks like you are doing that for me. :fro:

Sounds great! Please let me know how it turns out.

The very latest version of the recipe is here: Enchantress (big Irish red ale), but the version here in the thread is delicious.
 
I brewed on 2/1, kept it in the primary fermenter for 4 weeks and secondary for 1 week. OG was 1.068 and FG was 1.012, which I was happy with. I kegged the beer a week ago on 3/8 and have had it on about 12 psi of CO2 for a week.

I tasted it today and it had an off taste. I am going to let it sit another week before tasting again since some people say it gets better with a little age.

It also came out more brown than red.

I'll update again next week after I taste it again.



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I brewed on 2/1, kept it in the primary fermenter for 4 weeks and secondary for 1 week. OG was 1.068 and FG was 1.012, which I was happy with. I kegged the beer a week ago on 3/8 and have had it on about 12 psi of CO2 for a week.

I tasted it today and it had an off taste. I am going to let it sit another week before tasting again since some people say it gets better with a little age.

It also came out more brown than red.

I'll update again next week after I taste it again.



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

What sort of off taste? I've brewed this recipe three times, and have been very happy with the flavor every time.

I have updated the recipe a bit to really emphasize the red color - I expect that your brown beer looks deep red when held up to the light, but I wanted to make it redder in the glass. Updated recipe here - I can't edit the posted recipe here on HBT, unfortunately.
 
I let it sit in the keg for two more weeks and tasted it again. It's better than it was two weeks ago but still has a bit of a sour/sweet fake fruit taste. It's not terrible but not how I expected it to be. It's also cloudier than I thought it would be based on how clear it was when I siphoned it into the secondary fermenter.

I'm going to be patient with this one to see if the taste clears up after some more time. I'm sure it's not the recipe, I probably just got some off flavors during fermentation or something. I'm hoping the yeast may clean it up a bit still.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I let it sit in the keg for two more weeks and tasted it again. It's better than it was two weeks ago but still has a bit of a sour/sweet fake fruit taste. It's not terrible but not how I expected it to be. It's also cloudier than I thought it would be based on how clear it was when I siphoned it into the secondary fermenter.

I'm going to be patient with this one to see if the taste clears up after some more time. I'm sure it's not the recipe, I probably just got some off flavors during fermentation or something. I'm hoping the yeast may clean it up a bit still.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Definitely had something go funky on you; there's nothing in this beer that should be sour. I don't think that I've ever had clarity issues, myself, though I did have a guy send me some from a batch he'd done that had some pretty hardcore chill haze (not that such hurts how the beer tastes).
 
Looking for a bit _bigger_ Irish Red Ale that isn't an India Red Ale. As much as I love my hoppy beers, I'm starting to wander off the reservation a bit recently and really enjoying picking up some other styles that aren't all focused on hops. Thinking about brewing this next. Have there been any more updates to the recipe?
 
I love Irish red ales, but I often feel like they are just a bit lacking. Understand, I don't want some monster 9% Frankenbrew, but to me, it would be perfect if you had an Irish red that was a bit more substantive.

This is my very first recipe that I call my own. That being said, I want to give full credit to Malticulous - this recipe is based off of his very popular Mojave Red ale recipe (a west coast red). Also, let me give props to Revvy, who gave me advice on formulation.

The final result is everything good about an Irish red.... just a bit bigger than normal. Malty with a dry enough finish to make you want another sip. Nice grainy complexity with some subtle esters from the yeast. Just delicious beer that I can honestly say is the tastiest I have ever brewed.

As an aside, it brews a beautiful deep red color. :)


ABV: 6.7%

Grain (assumes 74% efficiency)
10 lb 8 oz Maris Otter
8 oz Crystal 40
8 oz Crystal 60
8 oz Crystal 80
3 oz Melanoiden
2 oz Carafa II
1 oz Roasted Barley

Mash @ 152 degrees F.

Hops
1 oz Challenger (7.2% alpha) @ 60 minutes
.5 oz Northdown (5.7% alpha) @ 20 minutes
.5 oz Fuggles (5% alpha) @ 10 minutes

I personally add a tablespoon of Irish moss @ 15 minutes for clarity.

Ferment @ 65 degrees F.

When I brew this, I let it primary for at least 3-4 weeks, then secondary for a week or two (yeah, I'm one of those guys). Obviously, the secondary step is not necessary.

This isn't a monster beer that needs extended aging, but I find that it does improve with some age.

Carb to 2.3 volumes of CO2.


If you brew this one, please let me know how it turns out for you. Sláinte!
So i'm pretty new to home brewing (2 extract and then upgraded and have 4 BIAB under my belt). I've been tweaking a NEIPA and to my taste have a pretty good last few batches. I want to try and mimic a brew I really enjoyed at a local brewery before they changed and then dropped the recipe. This was "Ginga Ninja" while they did not bill as a red ale base it had that coloring and the ginger flavor was speculator per my taste. Any thoughts on using this as a base and then adding a Alcohol/Ginger infusion just before kegging and let it condition that way a few weeks.

Just looking for any thoughts as again I'm pretty new but wanted to find a base to experiment a bit with a ginger addition.

Terry
 
I love Irish red ales, but I often feel like they are just a bit lacking. Understand, I don't want some monster 9% Frankenbrew, but to me, it would be perfect if you had an Irish red that was a bit more substantive.

This is my very first recipe that I call my own. That being said, I want to give full credit to Malticulous - this recipe is based off of his very popular Mojave Red ale recipe (a west coast red). Also, let me give props to Revvy, who gave me advice on formulation.

The final result is everything good about an Irish red.... just a bit bigger than normal. Malty with a dry enough finish to make you want another sip. Nice grainy complexity with some subtle esters from the yeast. Just delicious beer that I can honestly say is the tastiest I have ever brewed.

As an aside, it brews a beautiful deep red color. :)


ABV: 6.7%

Grain (assumes 74% efficiency)
10 lb 8 oz Maris Otter
8 oz Crystal 40
8 oz Crystal 60
8 oz Crystal 80
3 oz Melanoiden
2 oz Carafa II
1 oz Roasted Barley

Mash @ 152 degrees F.

Hops
1 oz Challenger (7.2% alpha) @ 60 minutes
.5 oz Northdown (5.7% alpha) @ 20 minutes
.5 oz Fuggles (5% alpha) @ 10 minutes

I personally add a tablespoon of Irish moss @ 15 minutes for clarity.

Ferment @ 65 degrees F.

When I brew this, I let it primary for at least 3-4 weeks, then secondary for a week or two (yeah, I'm one of those guys). Obviously, the secondary step is not necessary.

This isn't a monster beer that needs extended aging, but I find that it does improve with some age.

Carb to 2.3 volumes of CO2.


If you brew this one, please let me know how it turns out for you. Sláinte!
See earlier comment - I finally got around to brewing this today. I'm going to use as the base to try and recreate a "Ginja Ninja" from Black Hog Brewing in Oxford CT. I can in slightly under on OG (see pic - 1.062) but close enough (BIAB - actually did not do a hard squeeze as I had volume i wanted - if I did so I suspect I may have been pretty spot on as far as OG).

I've had my Ginger sitting in a few ounces of Vodka for about a week and a half now (just strained and refreshed with new ginger). I think I'm going to let it sit in primary for a good 3 to 4 weeks as per your original posting; at which time I'll rack it off to a keg (just ordered the Keg Land "All Rounder" for my next brew and 1st attempt at closed transfer). Anyway - my plan is to then open and quickly add my ginger extract 2 weeks from when I plan to tap the keg. I've read that ginger can dissipate over longer periods and figure 2 weeks of conditioning should impart the flavor profile I'm looking for.

Like in some of the notes I do see this rather dark and at first sight not much red (in the finished beer hope like you and with the right light I'll see the red hue similar to your results). Either way - darker brown or reddish hue - I can't wait for a month or 6 weeks to sample. I'll update on how this turns out and of course a pic of a pint ready for tasting.

Terry
 

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