Need AG Recipe for Daughter's Wedding

[kwilson16]

Hey Guys,

My daughter asked me to brew a beer for her wedding. The intent is to put the beer in 375ml Belgian Bottles with caged corks and colored shrink wrap sleeves. The bottles would be color coded for table assignments and have each attendee's name on a tag.

I am a fairly experienced AG brewer with a Kal Electric Brewery, but I don't make a lot of beers with "general" appeal.

I need a highly reliable recipe with general appeal for most attendees...still needs to have a little character.

Lil Help?
Thanks!

 

[jcav]

I have brewed an English Brown Ale for a wedding a while ago, and Gordon Strong's Export Irish Red for a wedding recently. Both came out stellar but I kegged both of these and did not bottle them. You really can't go wrong with a nice toasty, malty, and slight carmel of a well brewed Irish Red for mass appeal to a crowd of people with different tastes. I also have a electric brewery based on Kal's setup and that is what I used to brew both beers.

John

 

[kwilson16]

Yeah...I was looking at the Raging Red Irish Red Ale recipe on here....

 

[jcav]

How many gallons do you want to brew and how long before the wedding?

John

 

[papz]

Brew anything by Beirmuncher.....
Think he has one called "creme of three crops" which does really well with the BMC crowd.

 

[kwilson16]

The wedding is not until Oct 2018 and I need to fill 120x 375ml bottles.

However, I can scale the recipe with BeerSmith if required.

 

[jcav]

If you want I can give you the recipe with grain percentages so you can scale it to any size batch you want in BeerSmith?

John

 

[MaxStout]

Peruse the HBT recipe section and look at threads that have a lot of activity. These tend to be perennial faves of many brewers and are tried-and-true. For a wedding, you don't want to experiment too much--keep it simple. Best to shoot for the broadest base in tastes, something that BMC drinkers will find approachable, but "crafty" enough to satisfy the beer geeks. A cream ale, blonde ale, English ale, or APA might be possibilities. For 120 x 375ml, that's around 12 gallons by my math.


Mods: there's a duplicate thread that could be merged into this one.

 

[kwilson16]

Do you think transporting the cream ale in a car where the temps might be above 70degF would affect taste?

Thanks! I can scale the recipe with BeerSmith!

 

[jcav]

Ok this is for an 11 gallon batch to get 10 gallons of finished product. I collect 13.5 gallons of wort and I boil it down for one hour and fill my conical with 11 gallons of this great wort. Gordon Strong wrote in his book that this Irish Red is what most US judges think a classic Irish Red should be, so it does well in competitions. I agree with him and everyone loves this beer every time I make it. Will not scare off the BMC crowd. Very approachable and balanced.

Irish Red
O.G. 1.052
F.G. 1.014
ABV 5%
IBU's 14.7
SRM 12.5
Brew House Efficiency 80%

10 lbs 3.6 ounces Briess Ashburne Mild Malt (SRM 5.3) 52.1%
4 lbs 6.2 ounces Weyermann Vienna Malt (SRM 3.0) 22.3%
1 lbs 11 ounces Briess Caramel 40 (SRM 40) 8.6%
1 lbs 7.4 ounces Briess Carapils (SRM 1.5) 7.4%
1 lbs 7.4 ounces Flaked Maize (corn) (SRM 1.3) 7.4%
6.7 ounces Briess Roasted Barley (SRM 300) 2.1%
Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale Yeast (I use 2 smack packs and make a 2 liter starter)
1.07 ounces British Kent Goldings Hops (4.80% AA) 60 minutes
0.71 ounces British Kent Goldings Hops (4.80% AA) 30 minutes
0.71 ounces British Kent Goldings Hops (4.80% AA) 10 minutes
1 teaspoon Wyeast Yeast Nutrient 10 minutes
1 Whirlfloc Tablet 15 minutes
I use R/O water so I also add 8.40 grams of Calcium Chloride to the mash and some lactic acid to get my mash ph down in the proper range.
Mash at 150 degrees for one hour and mash out at 168 degrees for 15 minutes
Boil for one hour and chill ferment at 68 degrees
Beautiful copper red color!

If you make it you won't be disappointed!

John

 

[kwilson16]

John,
That red recipe looks fantastic! I think that’s what I will do!
Thanks,
KW

 

[jcav]

Your welcome! It is very good indeed! If you do decide to brew it and have any questions along the way let me know, I have brewed this many times as people request this one, and I make it for St Patty's Day every year along with a Stout.

John

 

[ajbosley2015]

Ok this is for an 11 gallon batch to get 10 gallons of finished product. I collect 13.5 gallons of wort and I boil it down for one hour and fill my conical with 11 gallons of this great wort. Gordon Strong wrote in his book that this Irish Red is what most US judges think a classic Irish Red should be, so it does well in competitions. I agree with him and everyone loves this beer every time I make it. Will not scare off the BMC crowd. Very approachable and balanced.

Irish Red
O.G. 1.052
F.G. 1.014
ABV 5%
IBU's 14.7
SRM 12.5
Brew House Efficiency 80%

10 lbs 3.6 ounces Briess Ashburne Mild Malt (SRM 5.3) 52.1%
4 lbs 6.2 ounces Weyermann Vienna Malt (SRM 3.0) 22.3%
1 lbs 11 ounces Briess Caramel 40 (SRM 40) 8.6%
1 lbs 7.4 ounces Briess Carapils (SRM 1.5) 7.4%
1 lbs 7.4 ounces Flaked Maize (corn) (SRM 1.3) 7.4%
6.7 ounces Briess Roasted Barley (SRM 300) 2.1%
Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale Yeast (I use 2 smack packs and make a 2 liter starter)
1.07 ounces British Kent Goldings Hops (4.80% AA) 60 minutes
0.71 ounces British Kent Goldings Hops (4.80% AA) 30 minutes
0.71 ounces British Kent Goldings Hops (4.80% AA) 10 minutes
1 teaspoon Wyeast Yeast Nutrient 10 minutes
1 Whirlfloc Tablet 15 minutes
I use R/O water so I also add 8.40 grams of Calcium Chloride to the mash and some lactic acid to get my mash ph down in the proper range.
Mash at 150 degrees for one hour and mash out at 168 degrees for 15 minutes
Boil for one hour and chill ferment at 68 degrees
Beautiful copper red color!

If you make it you won't be disappointed!

John

I am super interested in brewing this but in an extract equivalent...any recommendations?

 

[kevin58]

I made a cream ale for my daughters wedding last weekend and it was a hit. Very simple recipe...

80% 2 row pale malt. You can use a pilsner malt if you wish. I had some locally grown and malted 2 row on hand and use that for the wedding brew. The other 20% of the grist is either all flaked maize or combination of flaked maize with flaked rice. When I combine them I use twice as much maize as rice. Target an OG of around 1050.

Use your choice of hops. I've used Fuggles and Goldings because it's what I've had on hand in the past and for the wedding I bought and used lemondrop. Use enough to keep the IBU at around 20. You don't want this to be hop forward or bitter. Use just enough to balance the malt. I've used several different yeast but I've settled on 1056 and now it's all I use in cream ales.

I will ferment out in 7 days or less. When I bottle, it's carbed and ready to drink about 2 weeks. If you keg it can be ready as quickly as you can carb it up.

 

[ProblemChild]

Oddly, it is not often a matter of how good the beer is - it is how offensive it isn't. I second a cream ale (cream of three crops being mentioned above). Simple, tasty, beer drinkers will like it and the mass appeal folks will at least appreciate it. My 2 cents anyway

 

[jcav]

I am super interested in brewing this but in an extract equivalent...any recommendations?

I put this recipe in BeerSmith and converted it to extract for you, for a 6.5 gallon boil volume so you will have a full 5 gallons of finished beer after fermentation. Here is what BeerSmith came up with:

9 lbs 1.3 ounces of Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) 80.2%
13.7 ounces Carapils (Briess 1.5 SRM) 7.6%
10.9 ounces Caramel Malt 40L (Briess 40 SRM) 6.0%
8.5 ounces Table Sugar (Sucrose 1 SRM) 4.7%
2.7 ounces Roasted Barley (Briess 300 SRM) 1.5%
1 pack Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale
.80 ounce British Kent Goldings Hops 4.8% Boil 60 min
.53 ounce British Kent Goldings Hops 4.8% Boil 30 min
.53 ounce British Kent Goldings Hops 4.8% Boil 10 min

Steep the Caripils, Caramel Malt and Roasted Barley. Boil 60 minutes, add hops at the correct times and ferment at 68 degrees. Original Gravity 1.051 ABV 5.1% SRM 12.4 IBU 14.7%

Make sure you use the lower kilned 300 SRM Roasted Barley as many brands are kilned to 500 or more. You want there to be a hint of dryness and roast but not over powering for this particular recipe, as you want the caramel and malt to come through as well.

Hope this helps. Not sure how it will turn out since I only brew the all grain version but this seems fairly close to me. If you brew it let me know how it is.....


John

 

[ajbosley2015]

I put this recipe in BeerSmith and converted it to extract for you, for a 6.5 gallon boil volume so you will have a full 5 gallons of finished beer after fermentation. Here is what BeerSmith came up with:

9 lbs 1.3 ounces of Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) 80.2%
13.7 ounces Carapils (Briess 1.5 SRM) 7.6%
10.9 ounces Caramel Malt 40L (Briess 40 SRM) 6.0%
8.5 ounces Table Sugar (Sucrose 1 SRM) 4.7%
2.7 ounces Roasted Barley (Briess 300 SRM) 1.5%
1 pack Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale
.80 ounce British Kent Goldings Hops 4.8% Boil 60 min
.53 ounce British Kent Goldings Hops 4.8% Boil 30 min
.53 ounce British Kent Goldings Hops 4.8% Boil 10 min

Steep the Caripils, Caramel Malt and Roasted Barley. Boil 60 minutes, add hops at the correct times and ferment at 68 degrees. Original Gravity 1.051 ABV 5.1% SRM 12.4 IBU 14.7%

Make sure you use the lower kilned 300 SRM Roasted Barley as many brands are kilned to 500 or more. You want there to be a hint of dryness and roast but not over powering for this particular recipe, as you want the caramel and malt to come through as well.

Hope this helps. Not sure how it will turn out since I only brew the all grain version but this seems fairly close to me. If you brew it let me know how it is.....


John

Awesome! Thanks!!!

 

[Scotty_g]

It's a little more work, but I brought a keg of Czech pilsner to one cousin's wedding and a keg of dunkelweizen to another cousin's wedding...neither one survived the night and the DW kicked before any of the commercial brews.

+1 to the notion of Biermuncher's creations...I haven't made the Cream of Three Crops, but I've made about 80 gallons of the Centennial Blonde for parties etc...and always brought home an empty keg. To satisfy the craft beer crowd I have messed with the hop bill by adding 0 min and 7-day dry hop additions of Cascades for a bit more aroma. It doesn't hurt that I'm swimming in homegrown Cascades.

 

[kwilson16]

John,
Thanks so much for this recipe. I brewed the Irish Red and it is perfect for the occasion (taste, color etc). The guests will have their choice between your Irish Red and a Double Rye IPA recipe that my daughter and I developed and brewed for the more adventurous. Yes, she likes big beers and she made the label with the quote "Something old, something new, two hearts met and something brewed!"

I owe you a beer if you are ever in the Northeastern section of Maryland!
Kevin

I

 

[jcav]

Kevin, that is awesome! I knew you would like this recipe! Congrats on the upcoming wedding and I wish you and your family all the best! The guests will love that Irish Red. For some reason the pics didn't show on my end. If I am ever in your neck of the woods I'll give you a shout and we can meet for that beer!

John