my beer is RED

[erollinc]

well after being in the secondary for like 4 or 5 days i noticed the beer seemed to be getting very black.... so i decide to take a flashlight to it and see what happens and it is BRIGHT red..... this is an IPA ingredient list......... is this normal?

amber malt extract 2 cans
crystal grain 1 lb
chinook hops 1 oz
cascade hops 1 oz
magnum hops 1 oz
heavy toast oak chips half oz.

so what do you think?

is it CONTAMINATED?

 

[Cheesefood]

no, it's Amber Malt.

 

[jfrizzell]

Ever seen Carrie?

 

[erollinc]

Ever seen Carrie?

actually i dont think ive seen the original all the way through.....


its really the amber doing that? i thought it would be more.... amber looking lol

 

[Danek]

That sounds great. I was going to try an amber IPA as my second batch - let me know how it turns out.

 

[erollinc]

ill let you know for sure... i hope it comes out good... nothing like a tasty ipa

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Amber extract and oak chips are the likely culprits...neither of which belong in a style-correct IPA. If the Lovibond (SRM) rating of the crystal is dark, it's also a contributing factor.

 

[Danek]

Actually that's true - given that the "P" in IPA stands for pale, I guess it's not possible to make an amber IPA. And given that they never shipped amber ale to India, the "I" is probably wrong too. So that just leaves the ale part.

So I guess you're making an "A".

 

[Radarbrew]

Mmmmmm...Bloody Ale.......

 

[david_42]

IRA - Irish Red Ale Or whatever. Widmer did a heavily hopped Red last year. It will look a lot less red once it is in a glass. If you had used pale extract and half the crystal, you'd have been closer to an IPA.

There is a style that is creeping into the books called Cascadian Dark Ale (CDA), basically a high hop-aroma ESB.

 

[cubbies]

What Crystal did you use? Crystal 80 is known to give reddish hues.

 

[Danek]

There is a style that is creeping into the books called Cascadian Dark Ale (CDA), basically a high hop-aroma ESB.

That sounds great. I don't suppose anyone has any (extract) recipes for a beer like that?

 

[the_bird]

Amber extract and oak chips are the likely culprits...neither of which belong in a style-correct IPA. If the Lovibond (SRM) rating of the crystal is dark, it's also a contributing factor.

I'll disagree with the oak. No reason not to oak an IPA (other than the flavor might get lost); how much time at sea did the original IPAs spend, in oak barrels?

I believe it's the Brewer's Association style guidelines (not the BJCP, which tends to be more readily used) that has a category for an aggressively-hopped red ale. Can't remember what they called it. Personally, I'd call it an American Red, like an American Brown Ale is generally a hopped-up, drier version of a traditional brown ale. Both my favorite of my own homebrews as well as one of my all-time favorite commercial beers (McNeill's Ruby Ale) are both highly-hopped, malty red ales that are not too far removed from IPA territory.

 

[Brewer#19]

i may have you beat, i did a cherry ale with 8.5 lbs cherries earlier this summer and i just sampled the first one yesterday, its a red beer, as in red like fruit punch juice. tasted damn good and the cherry flavor was very subtle. color throws you though.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I'll disagree with the oak. No reason not to oak an IPA (other than the flavor might get lost); how much time at sea did the original IPAs spend, in oak barrels?

Ya know, I was thinking about that when I posted above, and ya got a point! IMHO, the modern interpretation of IPA is probably best without the wood, but I suppose you could still be "in style" with some oak.

 

[Beerthoven]

Back in the day, barrels were lined with pitch so there would have been no discernable wood flavor in the beer. Unless it was put there intentionally, by aging on beechwood chips, for example.