Imperial Red(?)

[Brews-Lee]

So the plan was to brew an imperial red today...though it's looking to be a strong reddish-amber, lol. (It probably doesn't help that I had to substitute a couple of things...or that I had 8 or 9 people want to partake in some Hot Scotchies from my first runnings...)

Anyway, here's the recipe:

GRAIN
11.5lbs Pale 2-row
2.5lbs Red-X
1.5lbs Crystal (20L)
8oz Crystal (120L)

HOPS
1oz Columbus (60min)
.5oz Centennial (30min)
.5oz Chinook (30min)
.35oz Columbus (30min)
1oz Centennial (1min)
1oz Chinook (1min)
1oz Columbus (1min)

MISC
1lb Brown Sugar (5min)

YEAST
White Labs #005 (3.75L starter)

Mashed w/ 5gal @149F for an hour (161F strike water)
Sparged w/ 4.5gal @169F (prior to adding) for 15min
90min boil
1.071OG (17.25 BRIX)

No pics this time around, alas.

-------------------
UPDATES:
4/3 - 1.007 (8 BRIX)

 

[Bosh]

Would be careful with brown sugar it can taste really harsh until it ages for a couple months.

 

[Brews-Lee]

Would be careful with brown sugar it can taste really harsh until it ages for a couple months.

Good to know, thanks for the heads-up.

 

[Bosh]

Good to know, thanks for the heads-up.

If you want to use darker sugar using some darker candi sugar or caramelizing it at home until its darker won't give you the same bite as brown sugar. Ended up with great beer with a pound of brown sugar eventually but the stuff took a full six months to age until it was good

Other ideas:
-This'll be fairly sweet because you're using a lot of grain the more grain the more residual sweetness and quite a bit of crystal malt. If you want that fine, if you don't cut back the crystal a bit.
-30 minute additions are pretty out of fashion with most people doing 60 minutes and then everything else very late/flameout/dry hop.
-How are you cooling down the wort? That'll make a difference with the 1 min additions.
-Don't listen to me too much about hops, I seem to be awesome at the malt side of things but really struggle to get my hops to do what I want.

 

[Brews-Lee]

I was trying something a little different with the hops this time around.

As for cooling the wort, I am using a simple copper chiller:

 

[Brews-Lee]

^The above pic was from a previous brew day...this most recent one I had the same chiller coil, but hooked up to a cooler filled with ice-water to speed things up, since it's warming up out there.

 

[Malty_Dog]

Thread title caught my eye. Love a red ale, Irish, Northwest, Imperial or otherwise. I'd be interested in your final result - I'm doing an imperial red tomorrow, sort of my own recipe, but attempting to mimic the ingredients and measurables of Lavery's Imperial Red Ale. Not to style, its like an Irish red gone rogue, a buddy and I love it. The hop schedule is challenging my brain though. Good luck!

 

[Brews-Lee]

I'd be interested in yours as well - be sure to post a link here once you do!

 

[Brews-Lee]

UPDATE: After two weeks in primary (today) I just took a sample and the beer is looking to be about 1.007 (8 BRIX). We'll see if that's where she's going to settle.

 

[Brews-Lee]

I finally got around to bottling tonight - ended up with 56 bottles.

 

[samdiaz]

How did it turn out?

 

[gunhaus]

How did it turn out?

This post is like 4 years old, and I don't think the op has been around in about the same amount of time.

The thing that struck me most about this thread was that 30 minute additions were out of fashion!!!! Why was I not contacted by the brew police about this? Here I been doing it all wrong and enjoying then results!!!! I could lose my brew card!!!!

 

[gunhaus]

OOOHHHH< in the interest of being politically correct, and totally supportive: I am POSITIVE this brew came out perfection - Sort of a cross between unicorn tears and the breath of baby Jesus.