What to brew with Irish Ale Yeast?

Besides the obvious, what could I make with a pkg of Irish Ale Yeast?

I bought a Go-Gurt pack of White Labs yeast to check out the new package, and thought I would want to make an Irish Ale. But I had one at a brewpub the other day and while it was not bad, I'm not sure yet if I want 5 gallons of it.

So before I brew a batch (or maybe a HALF-BATCH??) of Irish Red Ale, what else would this yeast work well in?

Stout? I know you like those.

ESB- that's what I'd make. Or an English IPA with EKG hops.

What about a mild? Those are nice for fall, and with low ABV they'd be perfect for tailgating or raking leaves.

Yooper said:

Stout? I know you like those.

ESB- that's what I'd make. Or an English IPA with EKG hops.

What about a mild? Those are nice for fall, and with low ABV they'd be perfect for tailgating or raking leaves.

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Not quite stout season, but that is a good idea. I do have to make a couple of stouts in a couple of months. I've been using a clean American yeast now and I think I really need to mix it up and use something else and see what happens. I like my stouts to be less clean. I think having them too clean leaves the stout too roasty, without anything going on.

ESB is a good idea. Or an English IPA/Pale. I've been doing the American stuff exclusively for a while. I'll check and see if I have any EKG. I think I'm out.

No, to a mild. I brewed one a while back for the low ABV and I struggled to finish the keg. I couldn't say there was anything wrong with it, I just didn't go for the small amounts of dark grain with the maltiness. Pretty much the same reason I don't think I'd care for a whole keg of the Irish Red.

I just remembered I think I have a vial of Kolsch yeast as well. I should brew that up too before it starts to get too late in the year.

Irish Red? I've become a big fan of Kilkenny lately. Brewed 2 batches of it in the last 6 months.

Maybe I could brew an Irish Red and then hop it like a Pale Ale or IPA...

I want to think I've seen it recommended for like cider, or something other than beer too.

Maybe that would be good to use with my first cider. I want to make something my wife will enjoy. She's been getting into Cider lately. Especially one or two of the Angry Orchard ciders.

A simple pale ale, especially one you've brewed a few times, would be interesting. That way you'd be able to get a feel for the sensory qualities of the yeast.

I vote for a stout. It will be stout season soon.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=92415

You could take a recipe that you like and see what the change in yeast does to it.

A stout sounds good to me also. My Russian Imperial Stout is underway so it will peak when the weather gets cold.....

Homercidal said:

Maybe I could brew an Irish Red and then hop it like a Pale Ale or IPA...

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I'm with you on not wanting 5 gal of Irish red, but a hoppy irish red could be great. Every time I drink an Irish red I think, this could be so much better with a load of hops in it.

Homercidal said:

Maybe I could brew an Irish Red and then hop it like a Pale Ale or IPA...

I want to think I've seen it recommended for like cider, or something other than beer too.

Maybe that would be good to use with my first cider. I want to make something my wife will enjoy. She's been getting into Cider lately. Especially one or two of the Angry Orchard ciders.

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I have seen Cascade used in Irish red recipes a few times...

Cider would be interesting!

Now I'm torn. But I think I want to try the cider. I have Kolsch yeast so that may be the next beer I brew. I think I have some pilsner malt too.

The Cider should be much quicker to get going. But I'll want to design and build that cider press again.

Homercidal said:

Now I'm torn. But I think I want to try the cider. I have Kolsch yeast so that may be the next beer I brew. I think I have some pilsner malt too.

The Cider should be much quicker to get going. But I'll want to design and build that cider press again.

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You could always borrow mine! And of course, that means a trip. We could have a pressing party.

I use 004 as my house yeast. If you keep it cold it can be very clean (for an ale yeast). It also ferments fast and flocs well. Typical profile is 64°x24h ramp 72° over 5 days then cold crash @ day 12 or so (depending on gravity sample). That yeast and a grain bill that mimics an irish red followed by stupid amounts of whirlpool hops makes a mean red IPA. Swap midnight wheat or carafa special III for any black malt/barley in the recipe to limit burnt/roast character if that's not your thing with american hops.

Also follow the suggestions for a stout with that yeast. It's how I fell in love with it. I wouldn't personally brew a dry stout without 004.

wait what? You wouldnt do a dry stout with it? Isnt that what the yeast like, is originally from? (Guinness?)

I use it for all my stouts and porters

edit:....yup entirely missed the negation in that sentence....carry on, nothing to see here

Make an Irish porter recipe

Hear me out...

How about a nice golden-colored, hoppy wheat beer?

I'm dying to brew. I very nearly got to make cider this weekend, but ran out of time before the weekend was over.

I should get the starter going. That will force me to brew!

Except we are camping this weekend and I have a few things that need doing before we go. Haven't used the camper in like 2 years so I'm cleaning and doing checks. I briefly considered brewing while camping, but I have a feeling my wife would do something drastic if I tried that again...

So right now it's a toss up between hard cider and an English ale of some sort. Leaning towards cider, but maybe I should order more yeast. The big reason I'm not leaning towards the English Ale is because I don't have any English malt to go with it. I want to do it right when I do it.

I got one empty keg in the fridge now. I tried bottling up a few bottles of the summer ale I made because I wanted to share with a few people and I knew it was getting low. I got not quite 3 bottles...

The other keg might be half full of Pale Ale. Probably a bit less than that now. I got to brew soon or I'm going to be down to bottles only.

Irish ale is my current favorite yeast for most english/american ales

I think it works well in IPAs, Porters, Stouts, Brown's.

I've done a few variations of a Red Rye with it.

You could do Barleywine, Imp Stout. List goes on

I've done stout, porter, English mild, and a brown with it. The stout turned out pretty good.

I'm abig fan of small batches atm and the variety it brings to the table.

I've just brewed a white stout and a porter with white labs Irish ale yeast

Go for the cider, let us know how it turns out. WLP Irish Ale yeast was going to be one of my selections for when I make my hard cider. I'm planning on doing 3-3Gal hard ciders with different yeasts.

I make an Irish Blonde with WLP004 which is an interesting beer with this yeast. It can handle decent hop levels and always brings that certain Guinness twang which is cool. Kind of like a lighter beer with some stout qualities.

Have you ever had Denny's Waldo Lake Amber? It's a hoppy red that would probably work well with the Irish ale yeast. I don't see the recipe on this forum, but NB carries it, along with the recipe.
Me, I've used the WY1098(?) Irish ale in a Porter, and a Graf, as well as Irish Red. It's never failed- leaves a malty character without a lot of estery stuff that English ale yeasts seem to leave.