Pimp my Irish red recipe

[teucer]

I'm thinking about making an Irish red ale, because it's in one of the few BJCP categories I've never brewed, but I'm not all that familiar with the style and could use help coming up with a recipe.

Here's my first pass, which I'm sure to revise between now and brew day:

10lb Maris Otter
1/4lb Carared
1/4lb Caraaroma
1/4lb roasted barley

1.5oz Fuggles 60'

WLP007 (Dry English Ale), fermented at the cold end of its range.

I'm not at all sure how appropriate the Caraaroma is for the style, but it can help get a fairly vivid red color which seems like a good fit.

 

[rhamilton]

Looks pretty good to me -- except the color is probably a hair too dark due to the roasted barley.

I'd take the roasted barley to 2oz to show off more red instead of brown, do a mash rest @ 135°F for 20-30 minutes for the chill haze which MO can have, and you should have a very tasty, pretty red.

 

[teucer]

Looks pretty good to me -- except the color is probably a hair too dark due to the roasted barley.

Maybe so. The standard conversion from malt color units to SRM puts it only a touch darker than the middle of the range for an Irish red, but it also sometimes underestimates the power of a little of something very dark as opposed to a lot of something less so.

I'd take the roasted barley to 2oz to show off more red instead of brown, do a mash rest @ 135°F for 20-30 minutes for the chill haze which MO can have, and you should have a very tasty, pretty red.

Yeah, I'm definitely looking for clarity (that and a quaffably clean flavor are why I plan to ferment cold), so that rest makes sense. I'll also probably use Irish moss.

And I definitely want to emphasize the red color as much as possible.

 

[KYB]

I use 2oz Black Barley in mine, and 8oz of crystal malts. Beersmith says 13.4srm and it's a nice deep red. Looks pretty solid to me, although I've never actually used those cara-malts. I vary my yeast, but it's always an English yeast. I won a gold in a big comp with mine with Wyeast London, but I rebrewed with Wyeast British and I think it's even better. It has deeper malt flavor I think, granted it's been a little while since I've had the one with London Ale yeast. I'll have to find my scoresheets, but I think that was one of things some mentioned - could be a little maltier. We'll see how this one does whenever I get around to it. I've been meaning to try the WLP007 Dry English. I use that in a lot of my Stouts.

 

[teucer]

I use 2oz Black Barley in mine, and 8oz of crystal malts. Beersmith says 13.4srm and it's a nice deep red. Looks pretty solid to me, although I've never actually used those cara-malts.

Carared is a redder-looking C20, and Caraaroma is a very red C130 that sometimes gets used as a Special B substitute.

I vary my yeast, but it's always an English yeast. I won a gold in a big comp with mine with Wyeast London, but I rebrewed with Wyeast British and I think it's even better. It has deeper malt flavor I think, granted it's been a little while since I've had the one with London Ale yeast. I'll have to find my scoresheets, but I think that was one of things some mentioned - could be a little maltier. We'll see how this one does whenever I get around to it. I've been meaning to try the WLP007 Dry English. I use that in a lot of my Stouts.

Cool, good to get pointers from somebody who is used to brewing the style.

What's your hop schedule look like?

 

[KYB]

1.00oz EK Goldings 60min
0.50oz EKG 30min (not really necessary at 30min but I do it anyway)

I also use a pound of biscuit, or anything for a subtle toasted malt character. I like that in my Irish Reds (think Great Lakes Conway Irish Ale). Looking into it further, I'd drop the caraaroma to 2oz. I think it will be a little too dark, and maybe even a little too malty, although I obviously can't say for certain as far as it's flavor is concerned. However, if that's how you want it, then 4oz would be perfect. I used C20/C60 in mine, so much lighter.

 

[teucer]

So I'm now looking at revising this recipe a bit in the O'Daniel direction, as follows:

10lb Maris Otter
4oz Carared
2oz Caraaroma
2oz roasted barley
8oz biscuit malt

1oz EKG 60'
.5oz EKG 30'

WLP004

specs per this online calculator: OG 1.052 (dead center for the style), 10 SRM (lighter end of appropriate), FG 1.015 (slightly over style guidelines, but this calculator seems to underestimate attenuation rates compared to what I actually observe when I brew), 21 IBU (Tinseth), BU:GU 0.40.

I'm considering pushing the IBUs up a little by going back to the original post's hop bill (only use 1.5oz of something English, around 5%AA, all at 60'; 23 IBU, BU:GU 0.44). I think the biscuit will definitely be a welcome contribution to the flavor. I'm also thinking of trying to boost the color a tad, either with a full 4oz of Caraaroma or a touch more roasted barley. Doubling the former adds one degree SRM, the latter three, and both four. I definitely intend to use a bit of Irish moss and a low-temperature fermentation to try to get a brilliantly clear beer, which I want to have enough color to it that it still looks red even with all the sediment falling out, so it should clearly not be the palest the style allows.

Feedback? I'll probably brew this in a week or so.