What makes red's red?

I am planning on brewing this Irish Red this weekend. What makes them red and how can I make it more red?

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Red Headed Step Child
Brewer: SuperiorBrew
Style: Irish Red Ale
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
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Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.30 gal
Estimated OG: 1.048 SG
Estimated Color: 10.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 18.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
8 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 87.09 %
12.0 oz Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 7.68 %
4.0 oz Special Roast (50.0 SRM) Grain 2.56 %
2.1 oz Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 1.33 %
2.1 oz Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 1.33 %
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 16.8 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (2 min) Hops 1.6 IBU
1 Pkgs American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 9.76 lb
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Single Infusion, Medium Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 12.20 qt of water at 165.9 F 154.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 6.83 qt of water at 196.6 F 168.0 F

Dark roasted malts, like the chocolate, give color but no flavor when used for just a couple ounces. Subbing RB for the choc might give a wee bit more flavor; I'd hestitate to bump the quantity too much, though, unless you want more of the roasty character.

What you need, my friend, is the most criminally underutilized malt - melanoidin. Toss in a half-pound for color and a great, great malt backbone. Or, sub in a pound of Munich for some of the Pils (melanoidin's like a SuperMunich).

A little bit of Special B gives some color, too, but then you're getting into raison/plum/dark fruit flavors that prolly don't go with the style. I vote melanoidin.

Carafa is another good one for color without all the flavor. It's a de-husked, dark roasted malt.

The smallest amont of roasted barley, about four ounces (for a five-gallon batch). It's what they use in Ireland.

when I was recently in Denver visiting a LHBS there, one of the owners commented about adding dark grains to the sparge, rather than the mash. Basically to avoid any 'harsh' roasted flavors in more delicate beers, while pulling out plenty of color.

just thought I'd toss that out there. it sounds reasonable, especially if we're talking 0.1lbs of a grain...barely anything to mash out of that but color and a bit of flavor.

I used melanoidin and a touch of special b in an american red and had a nice red color. Also have seen clone of the lagunitas red listing special b.

I would skip the chocolate, that roast barley will give you a nice deep red color.

What makes reds red? CaraRed!