Help With Hoppy Red Ale Clone

[stylus1274]

So I was in a restaurant and they were serving local beer. I ordered a red ale from Motorworks.

I was a great beer however, it was not a traditional red ale. In fact it was so hoppy and fresh I thought the waitress made a mistake. But she didn't.

I went to the brewer's website and below is what they say:


Rollcage Red Ale continues by deftly balancing Maris Otter malt, 60L Caramel and a hint of chocolate malt with Chinook, and other wonderful citrusy and herbal hops along with a drying finish.

IBU is 50 with ABV in the 6.5% range.

I would love to bang out a batch similar in style. I don't have to nail a copy of this but any help getting close would be awesome.

Obviously you guys can't taste the beer. But here is my best guess at what they are making.

My default efficiency is 70%. These numbers are based on Beersmith. I'm having an issue with SRM so I'm sure that needs an adjustment.

172oz Maris Otter
160z crystal 60
2oz chocolate
2oz melanoiden
2oz roasted barley
1oz chinook @60 min
1oz citra @5 min
1oz cascade @5 min
1oz ahtanum @0min
Safale 04

This gives me 6.5 abv with 50.7 IBUs and 15 SRM

 

[mmahu]

Hey there.

I would drop the Chocolate malt and keep roasted barley to adjust color.

I however used chocolate rye and chocolate spelt to adjust color when needed for red, brown and black IPAs.

For red ales/IPAs, I would use a chocolate spelt combination with some dark crystal/special B and maybe some Melanoidin malt or caraamber/carared.

Chocolate rye and spelt are lightly roasted, will add color without the astringent roastiness.

I second the choice of yeast, but I believe the beer would benefit from a little more attenuation, when using a fairly large amount of crystals. ( as you would in a red/amber ale )

Maybe Safale US-05 would work or any other higher attenuating yeast.

 

[derekcw83]

I made an attempt at this a couple months back, having had the beer a few times, and visiting the brewery as well. My clone was off but still decent. I went with about 11% cry60 and that was too high in my opinion. Looks like you're around 10 or under, if I did it again I'd shoot for similar percentage as yours and let the chocolate do the rest for color. I'd recommend just sticking with the malts they list, tasted pretty damn close. As far as hops, I ended up using some columbus for flavor and dry hopping but it got way too herbal on me but I'd still consider using columbus somewhere in the schedule. I like your placement of citra too. Seems like a simple grain bill to nail, but hops may be tougher.

 

[derekcw83]

Oh and I used o4 as well, but didn't care for the results, as the other poster said, try a clean yeast. But in my opinion average attenuation is preferred, the crystal malt pairs well with the hops in this.

 

[stylus1274]

I made an attempt at this a couple months back, having had the beer a few times, and visiting the brewery as well. My clone was off but still decent. I went with about 11% cry60 and that was too high in my opinion. Looks like you're around 10 or under, if I did it again I'd shoot for similar percentage as yours and let the chocolate do the rest for color. I'd recommend just sticking with the malts they list, tasted pretty damn close. As far as hops, I ended up using some columbus for flavor and dry hopping but it got way too herbal on me but I'd still consider using columbus somewhere in the schedule. I like your placement of citra too. Seems like a simple grain bill to nail, but hops may be tougher.

Do you live around them? Or were you just visiting?

Agreed on the hop issue. Not real sure what to go with. Guess I'll brew it up and see. At worst I get a beer right?

 

[derekcw83]

Yep I'm in Tampa and travel to sarasota often for work.

I'm not sure what to go with on the hops on my next attempt but I bet if they mention Chinook there's gotta be a lot in it. And what I got from the aroma was a somewhat tangerine smell whenever I've had one. So I may throw some Mandarina in the whirlpool or dry hop next time.

Like you said, either way it'll be beer and it's definitely a nice style, very malty, very hoppy

 

[stylus1274]

Yep I'm in Tampa and travel to sarasota often for work.

I'm not sure what to go with on the hops on my next attempt but I bet if they mention Chinook there's gotta be a lot in it. And what I got from the aroma was a somewhat tangerine smell whenever I've had one. So I may throw some Mandarina in the whirlpool or dry hop next time.

Like you said, either way it'll be beer and it's definitely a nice style, very malty, very hoppy

I'm just outside of Tampa in Riverview

It was real citrusy for a red ale so I instantly thought Citra. Probably wrong but what the heck.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

hears mine, its good

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/413945/ozarks-hoppin-red-ale