Irish Red Ale Irish Curragh Ale

IRISH CURRAGH ALE

Hi, my name is gboat and I built gboat breweries in my basement. For some reason, all of my beers have a nautical/boat reference. Don’t know why… I’m not even that fond of boats to be honest.

History: A currach (Irish: curach, Irish pronunciation: [ˈkʊɾˠax]) is a type of Irish boat with a wooden frame, over which animal skins or hides were once stretched, though now canvas is more usual. It is sometimes anglicised as "Curragh".

Adapted from recipes found on homebrew talk….

Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.70 gal
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65% (recipe was adjusted to fit my efficiency, I like to batch sparge)
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain List (weight, name, SRM, percent):
9 lbs 0.2 oz, Pale Malt (2 Row) CAN, (2.0 SRM), 81.5 %
15.7 oz, Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L, (120.0 SRM), 8.9 %
9.0 oz, Carafoam, (2.0 SRM), 5.1 %
7.9 oz, Melanoiden Malt, (20.0 SRM), 4.5 %

Hops/Miscellaneous List (weight, name, alpha, time of addition):
10g, Northern Brewer, 8.5% (60min)
16g, Cascade, 5.5% (30min)
2g, Irish Moss (10min)
2.5g, Yeast Nutrient (10min)
10g, Norhtern Brewer, 8.5% (10min)

Mash Information:
Mash In - 4 gal @ 163.7 F (steep 152 F) for 60min
Drain mash tun
Batch sparge 2 gal @ 168 F for 20min
Drain mash tun
Batch sparge 2 gal @ 168 F for 10min

Fermentation:
Original Gravity = 1.060
Primary = 13 days @ 65 F in a plastic brew bucket
Gravity After Primary = 1.005 (measured 1.026, converted to brix 6.6, refractometer adjustment 1.005)
Secondary = 18 days @ 65 F in a glass carboy
Cold crash for 3 days at 39.2 F
Final Gravity = 0.987 (measured 1.014, converted to brix 3.6, refractometer adjustment 0.987)

Note: Both fermentation stages were completed in my below grade basement (I live in Ontario, Canada), on a concrete floor. Cold crashing was done in my keezer.

Carbonation:
Transferred into corny keg, chilled for 24 hours.
Force carb at 25 PSI for about 4min (rocking and rolling the keg in my lap).

FINAL ABV = 9.6%

This picture was taken about one hour after force carbonation.

So, how does it taste? And how many IBUs?

slymaster said:

So, how does it taste? And how many IBUs?

Click to expand...

When viewing this recipe from a mobile device, it removes the header information... not sure why. That is where the tasting info and IBU are posted.

IBU = 27.2

Taste = I found to be more on the bitter side, even though less IBU than some previous beers I have made. Considering the very strong ABV% its actually quite smooth and tasty. Sorry I dont have a better description than that, still new to beer brewing & tasting.

Your beer is infected or your FG is way way off

Looks like an interesting beer, but I think your gravity readings might have gotten a little skewed. Not sure what these refractometer adjustments are after your fermentation started. But I would be more likely to believe your final gravity was 1.014 with that much caramel 120. This would leave your beer more like 6%. While Safale-05 is very good, attenuating down that low with so much specialty is unlikely.

I have been using the tool provided in BeerSmith for my refractometer adjustments... never thought to use another tool so see if any difference.

I found another tool online (Brewers Friend)
http://www.brewersfriend.com/refractometer-calculator/

This tool puts my ABV at 8.15%



Does that look more aligned? I am confident the final gravity reading with my refractometer is 1.014

It looks like you're using the calculator correctly, assuming you actually have a wort correction factor of 1. The reason I was thinking something is off, is that when entered into brewersfriend to get that OG would have been and FG using safale 05, it would have to be over 100% attenuation. The estimated FG with standard attenuation would have left you at 1.014. That's obviously an estimate.

I can't say for certain your measurements aren't correct, but something still seems off.

Either way, if it tastes good, drink it.

Confirm FG with hydrometer, if its still off chances are its infected or you mashed way lower than you thought and your thermometer is broken, or you cant read and pitched wine yeast.

So I entered my grain bill into the OG, FG, ABV calculator found on brewers friend. With medium attenution (US-05), I get almost the identical OG and FG I referenced in my recipe.

Calculator Estimate OG = 1.059
Measured OG = 1.060

Calculator Estimate FG = 1.017
Measured FG = 1.014



The beer taste really good in my opinion. Would infected beer not have a funky taste?

1.014 sounds fine, 0.987 does not. 6% abv sounds correct, 9.6 does not, see where we are coming from here?

The Curragh is not actually a boat reference, the Curragh is a sandy outwash plain in the centre of Kildare Ireland, made famous by St Brigit,

your recipe looks good I have to say.