Irish Red Recipe Help

[SattMephen00]

Hello, beginner brewer looking for some input on an Irish Red Ale recipe I put together.

Grain:
18lbs 2 row pale ale (90%)
1lb Melanoidin (5%)
8oz Carmel 10L (2.5%)
8ox Roasted barley (2.5%)

Hops:
2.6 oz East Kent Goldings

Yeast:
WLP004

I’ve got hardly any experience with home brewing and absolutely no experience with making a recipe, but I have looked at some recipes online as well as read Brewing Classic Styles to get a feel for ratios for this style. I plan on doing BIAB and using a single 16 gal kettle for mashing and boiling. I’d appreciate any feedback you guys have.

 

[camonick]

I’m assuming, with that much base malt, this is a 10 gallon batch?

 

[SattMephen00]

I’m assuming, with that much base malt, this is a 10 gallon batch?

Yep, 10 gallons.

 

[camonick]

Do you have a way to make a yeast starter? A 10 gallon batch is going to require a pretty healthy starter of that liquid yeast.
A couple packs of dry Nottingham would work well instead.

 

[SattMephen00]

Do you have a way to make a yeast starter? A 10 gallon batch is going to require a pretty healthy starter of that liquid yeast.
A couple packs of dry Nottingham would work well instead.

I have been looking into making a starter and plan on picking up everything for the starter when I pick up my grain. I’d need a 3000ml starter, correct? Would I be better off just using dry yeast?

 

[lumpher]

As camonick said, you'll need a LOT of liquid yeast; at least 4 vials or minimum 3 liter starter. 2 packs of Nottingham would also be my choice.

 

[SattMephen00]

As camonick said, you'll need a LOT of liquid yeast; at least 4 vials or minimum 3 liter starter. 2 packs of Nottingham would also be my choice.

Okay, thanks I appreciate the help. Anything else I should tweak? Personally I was worried about using both Melanoidin and roasted barley, but don’t have enough experience to know how much is too much. Honestly just adding the barley because I’ve read that you can’t brew a red ale without, and the Melanoidin is in there to help achieve that ruby red color.

 

[camonick]

The ruby color mostly comes from the roasted barley. In a batch that size, I would probably only use 4-6oz.
That much Melanoiden seems a little high, but I’ve seen a few recipes with up to 5% like yours. That little bit of C-10 isn’t going to do much for your flavor either. I’d use some C-60 and a little C-120. You could also substitute the pale 2-row with Marris Otter for a richer flavor.

Sorry for completely rearranging the recipe, but the one above doesn’t really strike me as an Irish red.
Others will certainly have different opinions about the grain bill too. I’ve seen tons of different Irish red recipes.

 

[SattMephen00]

The ruby color mostly comes from the roasted barley. In a batch that size, I would probably only use 4-6oz.
That much Melanoiden seems a little high, but I’ve seen a few recipes with up to 5% like yours. That little bit of C-10 isn’t going to do much for your flavor either. I’d use some C-60 and a little C-120. You could also substitute the pale 2-row with Marris Otter for a richer flavor.

Sorry for completely rearranging the recipe, but the one above doesn’t really strike me as an Irish red.
Others will certainly have different opinions about the grain bill too. I’ve seen tons of different Irish red recipes.

No need to be sorry, I’ll take all the help I can get. I probably should be brewing a style I’m more used to drinking but I don’t have the patience quite yet to brew anything crazy like an imperial stout or a wee heavy. A red seemed approachable and is relatively quick from grain to glass so I went with that. Really appreciate the input, I’ll do some rearranging and give it a go.

 

[BongoYodeler]

I wanted to see if anyone has a suggested Irish red ale recipe. I like the style but have had trouble in getting it dialed in with the style. I’ve had a tendency to end up with something closer to a dark mild that has some fruity esters. I’m going for more dry. I typically user maris otter, some 40l crystal , and roast barley. I think where I might be going wrong is on yeast. I’ve used S04 which I refuse to use further because I find it unreliable. Anyway, I’d appreciate any recipes anyone might suggest

I'm partial to this recipe and have brewed it many times.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/raging-red-irish-red-ale.239188/

 

[camonick]

No need to be sorry, I’ll take all the help I can get. I probably should be brewing a style I’m more used to drinking but I don’t have the patience quite yet to brew anything crazy like an imperial stout or a wee heavy. A red seemed approachable and is relatively quick from grain to glass so I went with that. Really appreciate the input, I’ll do some rearranging and give it a go.

Reds/ ambers are great recipes for beginners to get started with.
I consider recipe formulation a fairly advanced skill… I’ve been brewing off and on for about 20 years and I still struggle putting together original recipes. There are some good ones in this forum’s recipe section. I also like to encourage beginners to brew pre-designed kits for a while until they get proficient at the hobby. A lot of the large online suppliers offer good kits. In your case, you’d have to order 2 since most of them are designed for 5 gallon batches.
I’ve brewed the recipe @BongoYodeler linked above and it’s a solid recipe. I personally like some others instead, but everybody’s tastes are different.

 

[camonick]

I wanted to see if anyone has a suggested Irish red ale recipe. I like the style but have had trouble in getting it dialed in with the style. I’ve had a tendency to end up with something closer to a dark mild that has some fruity esters. I’m going for more dry. I typically user maris otter, some 40l crystal , and roast barley. I think where I might be going wrong is on yeast. I’ve used S04 which I refuse to use further because I find it unreliable. Anyway, I’d appreciate any recipes anyone might suggest

Give Nottingham a try… it’s really neutral and lets the malts and hops do their thing. It’s also a fairly quick yeast and it flocculates like a brick.

 

[AlexKay]

American caramel malts are a missed opportunity in this kind of beer. Consider an English light or medium crystal instead.

I personally use DRC (Simpsons double-roasted crystal) in my reds. Crystal rye works well too.

I also like chocolate rye in place of the roasted barley, though the barley is undeniably truer to style.

 

[gunhaus]

+1 on the drc. I would probably drop the melanoidin, and c10 for 1 lb of DRC, and drop the roast to about 4 oz. It would be a nice red color, and pretty smooth that way. I agree with the recommendations to switch to notty for this first run - keep your life and recipes simple! You can always tweak batch 2 thru infinity with more complicated bills and processes. Keep the first go easy and it makes it easier to adjust to your personal tastes on all the rest.

 

[Miraculix]

If you want an authentic Irish red, keep the crystal at this low amount or ditch it entirely. Drop the melanoidin, it doesn't belong in an Irish red. An Irish red is fairly clean with a hint of roast. No big maillard reaction based flavours whatsoever.

1.5 to 2.5 % of roasted barley plus pale base malt is actually all that is needed, together with a clean ale yeast. I'd happily brew this with a lager yeast too, tbh.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

If you want an authentic Irish red

From what I understand, there is no such thing. "Irish Red" was mostly an American invention that breweries in Ireland picked up.

My last Irish Red was 91% Maris Otter, 7% Crystal 40, 2% Roasted Barley 480L, 24 IBUs EKG, fermented with Darkness. The color was darker than I expected, but just about exactly the same as some of the current Irish Reds made in Ireland. OG 1.046, ABV 4.3%. The only change I might make is a tiny less Roasted Barley to lower the color a bit. I am not sure an Irish Ale yeast like Darkness is needed or really adds much.

 

[beren]

From what I understand, there is no such thing. "Irish Red" was mostly an American invention that breweries in Ireland picked up.

Yup! "Irish Red" is 80s American marketing. Good article: How one Irishman’s ginger beard helped launch an entirely bogus style of beer - Zythophile

Should maybe refer to it as "Red-Beard Irish Ale" ;-)

IIRC from what I read on Barclay Perkins, a "red" is/was an English Bitter with roast malt instead of crystal, and an Irish yeast. Wyeast supposedly has the Guinness strain, easy to keep stocked in the freezer ;-)

 

[CascadesBrewer]

IIRC from what I read on Barclay Perkins, a "red" is/was an English Bitter with roast malt instead of crystal, and an Irish yeast. Wyeast supposedly has the Guinness strain, easy to keep stocked in the freezer ;-)

The use of Crystal malt in "authentic" English/UK beers is also confusing. Looking across a few sources, it seems to have been "invented" around 1880, and not widely used unto the 1920s or 1940s. But we also don't have the same base malts or brown malt that may have historically been used, and we know a lot more behind the science of malting, mashing, fermentation and sanitization these days.

My personal preference for an Irish Red is to keep it on the lower end of the ABV range (4% to 4.5%) and use some medium crystal malt to give it a boost of flavor. Note to self: get an Irish Red on the brew calendar so it is on tap around St. Patrick's Day.

 

[beren]

Irish Red Ale - Irish Red (1st place HBT comp) is pretty tasty.

 

[jdauria]

Can't go wrong with the Mean Brews Irish Red recipe either...the mean average of 32 different medal winning Irish Reds. Recipe near end of the video. Mean Brews Irish Red