Irish Red Ale Raging Red Irish Red Ale

For those that have brewed this how long before the beer started going down hill? For grins I entered this beer in my first competition and it scored 19. Granted the beer is 3 months old. I also entered a Old Rasputin clone which scored 29, and my own Brown Ale which scored 38. I can definitely tell the beer has changed drastically. I bottled from the keg using a beer gun and bottled all three of these beers at the same time which leaves me to believe my Bottleing process is ok.

If anything I’d say this recipe gets better after aging two or three months (assuming it lasts that long). What do You think of it now? What did the judges gig you most on? If you entered it as an Irish red, the lack of roasted grains may have been its downfall. This is by far one of my favorite beers, but I wouldnt say it’s true to style.

I did a 2nd version partial mash, but this time used bestmaltz Red X and subbed for some late citra. My favourite version yet, going to try el dorado instead of citra for my 3rd version:

5lbs Red X
.5lbs Carapils
.5lbs caraaroma
.5lbs melanoidin
.5lbs honey malt
2.5lbs light lme

1oz crystal @60mins
1oz citra @10mins

If doing a full mash just sub red x for lme. Depending on srm might wanna remove caraaroma as well

501irishred said:

If anything I’d say this recipe gets better after aging two or three months (assuming it lasts that long). What do You think of it now? What did the judges gig you most on? If you entered it as an Irish red, the lack of roasted grains may have been its downfall. This is by far one of my favorite beers, but I wouldnt say it’s true to style.

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Judges said it had a vegetal aroma flavor which was likely from the Crystal/Cascade hops. Suggested hops were old. This beer was great the first two months but now has a harshness off flavor even in the keg. I brewed this recipe once before and never had this issue. But then again it didn’t last that long either.

ratinator said:

I did a 2nd version partial mash, but this time used bestmaltz Red X and subbed for some late citra. My favourite version yet, going to try el dorado instead of citra for my 3rd version:

5lbs Red X
.5lbs Carapils
.5lbs caraaroma
.5lbs melanoidin
.5lbs honey malt
2.5lbs light lme

1oz crystal @60mins
1oz citra @10mins

If doing a full mash just sub red x for lme. Depending on srm might wanna remove caraaroma as wellView attachment 596429

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thats a good color

I brewed this on Friday, my fifth wedding anniversary, and renamed it Anniversary Irish Red in honor of the occasion - hope you don't mind!

I do BIAB and this was my fourth brew ever. So far it's gone the smoothest. Definitely the most active fermentation I've witnessed yet (see first ~48 hours here). One thing I did differently was to add half the honey at FO and then add the rest to the carboy right before adding the wort.

Really looking forward to how this turns out. Thanks for posting it!

My first glass of this ale. Not red, but very beautiful color. 6,9 ABV. Dry in finish. I want to put somethin for aroma in the future.

Kosten said:

My first glass of this ale. Not red, but very beautiful color. 6,9 ABV. Dry in finish. I want to put somethin for aroma in the future.

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Just done brewing this again, (10 g) whilst sipping on one brewed last July. I haven't noticed any off flavours etc. pretty darn yummy still. Very clear

Really enjoying this one!

This was my first brewing attempt after taking a few years off. Also first brew in a new electric herms system. I made several very amateur mistakes due to the time off, new brewery, and being slightly intoxicated lol. My mash temp shot up to 160 and finally settled at 152 after 20 minutes or so. The boil was too rigorous which brought my volume way down. And I managed to not take a single gravity reading so I have no clue what the ABV or efficiency was. Some how it still turned out great. I have brewed 3 other beers since this one and I’m glad to be back in this hobby. Im excited to finish this keg and brew it again without all of the newbie errors

Cheers

Am going to pull the trigger on this over the weekend. Being a honey snob, did the original recipe have true honey as in Ireland or new Zealand product law, or was it corn syrup honey off the shelf at local store? If I use my honey from Ireland that 1# is going to be 35.00.
Eric

Brewed a 1-gallon version of this with my son on New Year's Eve morning. OG came in a little short but not too bad. Love the color, and it smells great.

I brewed the recipe in the second post due to a grain shortage at the new lhbs. I milled my own grain for the first time and it made a huge diff. Its OG was 1.070 and has been fermenting for 4 days now. Got good color and smell and it did not taste half bad after checking the OG.
Eric

After all the rave reviews, I'm eager to give this a try. I am just getting into brewing and have been encouraged to start with extracts. I plugged the recipe into BeerSmith and converted. How does this look?


10.9 oz Caraaroma (130.0 SRM) (Steep)
9.9 oz Carafoam (2.0 SRM) (Steep)
5.8 oz Caramel/Crystal 20L (20.0 SRM) (Steep)
8.0 lb Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM)
1.20 oz Crystal [3.50 %] (60 min) (First Wort Hop)
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (30 min)
1.00 Whirlfloc Tab (15 min)
1.00 lb Honey (1.0 SRM) (add at flame out)
1 Pkgs Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084)

Steve Kaplan said:

After all the rave reviews, I'm eager to give this a try. I am just getting into brewing and have been encouraged to start with extracts. I plugged the recipe into BeerSmith and converted. How does this look?


10.9 oz Caraaroma (130.0 SRM) (Steep)
9.9 oz Carafoam (2.0 SRM) (Steep)
5.8 oz Caramel/Crystal 20L (20.0 SRM) (Steep)
8.0 lb Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM)
1.20 oz Crystal [3.50 %] (60 min) (First Wort Hop)
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (30 min)
1.00 Whirlfloc Tab (15 min)
1.00 lb Honey (1.0 SRM) (add at flame out)
1 Pkgs Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084)

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ratinator said:

Doing an extract batch and going with the following:

1lb caraaroma
.5lb melanoiden malt
.5lb honey malt
(steeped @152F 30mins )
6.5lb DME extra light

1oz crystal @60mins
1oz cascade @30mins

No added honey

OG: 1.054
IBU: 27.4
SRM: 15.8

Safale S-05

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Here was the extract I made. You got a lot going on in your extract and for a first timer this might be a bit simpler. Theres no point in steeping carapils, and you could use lme instead of the dme I listed. I would also stick with s-05 as its clean and also easy to use

Just curious as to why you didn't use Irish Ale yeast? A cleaner profile?

Mysticmead said:

I entered this in the 2011 Peach State Brew Off taking 1st place. Thhis has a DEEEEEP red color and is big on the malt flavor. Enjoy

Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 5.72 gal
Estimated OG: 1.059 SG
Estimated Color: 15.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
————
Amount Item
8.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Caraaroma (130.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Carafoam (2.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM)
1.00 oz Crystal [3.50 %] (60 min) (First Wort Hop)
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (30 min)
1.00 lb Honey (1.0 SRM) (add at flame out)
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001)

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Many thanks! I appreciate the help.

ratinator said:

Here was the extract I made. You got a lot going on in your extract and for a first timer this might be a bit simpler. Theres no point in steeping carapils, and you could use lme instead of the dme I listed. I would also stick with s-05 as its clean and also easy to use

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Bottled today. Gravity sample tasted wonderful.

I tried searching the thread and didn’t find what I was looking for. I have some wlp013 on hand. OP used wlp001 for the neutral profile. Anyone try 013 or a more “estery” yeast with this?

Jayhawk79 said:

I tried searching the thread and didn’t find what I was looking for. I have some wlp013 on hand. OP used wlp001 for the neutral profile. Anyone try 013 or a more “estery” yeast with this?

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I used s-04 with this recipe with good results. I think most English strains will work well.

I brewed this 14 days ago. I chose to add the honey into the fermenter prior to pitching yeast. My OG was 1.055 before the honey addition. At day 14 it is still active! I am growing impatient lol
Eric

Mine's now been in the bottle for 20 days. I put one in the fridge yesterday and will try it later today or tomorrow.

Let us know what you think when you crack 1
Eric

This was my #4 attempt and did this one with my new robobrew. I wanted more of a hop punch. While I would probably consider this my own recipe at this point, I still give props to OP to get me here:

5lbs - pale malt
4lbs - red-x
.5lb - caraaroma
.5lb - melanoiden
.5lb - honey malt
.5lb - carapils

.25oz citra FW
.25oz azacca FW
.25oz citra 10mins
.25oz azacca 10mins
.5oz citra 5mins
.5oz azacca 5mins
1oz citra dry hop
1oz azacca dry hop

First bottle. It was in the fermenter for 4 weeks, then in the bottle for another 3 weeks. Tastes great, better than I expected. Hydro sample on bottling day tasted very sweet, too sweet. Three weeks later, after it's been carb'ed, the sweetness has subsided and it's now near perfect. This is one of the best, if not the best beer I have ever brewed. It was just a one gallon batch and I only have 9 more bottles, but I'm seriously thinking of brewing a 5 gallon batch and making this the first beer I ever keg. Thank you OP, this one is a definite keeper.

I am so envious! I was going to keg yesterday, but still have airlock activity. I will try again Wed.
Eric

Here’s my attempt at this recipe. Followed the recipe to the T except for the yeast... I used 2nd generation Notty. Gets better as it gets older.

Thoughts on soaking pecan wood chips in bourbon and adding to secondary. I have an extra gallon of this and I'm thinking of doing it.

Scaling this down and doing a 1 gallon BIAB batch this weekend.

treacheroustexan said:

Scaling this down and doing a 1 gallon BIAB batch this weekend.

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If you're like me you'll love it and curse the fact that you didn't brew more of it....a lot more of it. It's so damn good!!

BongoYodeler said:

If you're like me you'll love it and curse the fact that you didn't brew more of it....a lot more of it. It's so damn good!!

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I’ve brewed it once and loved it! Full pipeline though and my home brew clubs competition for next month is Irish red. Figured I’ll enter this so one gallon will have to hold me over until I have an empty keg haha

So I think I kegged a masterpiece today. Scaled up the recipe to 11 gallons into the fermenter, 2 pounds of honey into the fermenter straight from the jars. It finished at 7.22 abv and tastes amazing without any age on it. Fermentation was my longest yet at 21 days, and brewers friend says I got 91% attenuation.
I will post a picture tomorrow prior to getting my irish on!
Eric

burntchef said:

So I think I kegged a masterpiece today. Scaled up the recipe to 11 gallons into the fermenter, 2 pounds of honey into the fermenter straight from the jars. It finished at 7.22 abv and tastes amazing without any age on it. Fermentation was my longest yet at 21 days, and brewers friend says I got 91% attenuation.
I will post a picture tomorrow prior to getting my irish on!
Eric

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I've been waiting to hear about this. Sounds like you nailed it. Enjoy!!

Kegged this today. Can't wait for it to carb. OG was 1.071 FG was 1.008. I'm pleased with it, but next time I brew it I might go for a more malty profile. It was a little sweet. In fairness it was right out of the carboy. Time will tell.

Vader ipa said:

Kegged this today. Can't wait for it to carb. OG was 1.071 FG was 1.008. I'm pleased with it, but next time I brew it I might go for a more malty profile. It was a little sweet. In fairness it was right out of the carboy. Time will tell. View attachment 614455

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Mine was sweet at this point as well. Three weeks later, after carbing up it didn't seem near as sweet. In fact, just right.

Did you end up using the pecan/bourbon?

BongoYodeler said:

Mine was sweet at this point as well. Three weeks later, after carbing up it didn't seem near as sweet. In fact, just right.

Did you end up using the pecan/bourbon?

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I just added them to my one gallon jug today. It's going to be hard to wait!

I am getting my Irish on and it is tasty! Here is the pic I promised.
Eric

Brewed a few Irish Reds in the past... mostly extract kits from my LHBS which makes a killer Irish Red kit. This was my first AG attempt at an Irish Red, and only 5th AG attempt on my 15G 240v Ebiab setup. Mashing / Brewing / Racking went perfect. Preboil OG was right at 1.042, with a post boil OG is right at 1.061; and has a beautiful deep red hue. Only adjustments I made from the original recipe is I added a whirlfloc at 15 and the 16oz raw organic honey at 5. Also used the WLO001 in a 800ml Starter. Withing 4 hours, it was ripping away. Very excited to see the outcome and will post pics after kegging. Thanks for the excellent recipe!

Let us know how you get on. I am enjoying a few pops right now and to tell you the truth it is getting better every day that it ages. I anticipate the second keg to be spectacular. I am brewing this one again as a repeat.
Eric

Just brewed this today for my neighbor that loves reds. Used us-05