Problem Nailing Down a Red Ale

[kevreh]

I decided to brew a red ale, never have before so figured its time to look into this style. Some recipes are declared a Amber Red, some an Irish Red.

Grain bill, some use 2 row, some MO, some pilsner, some a mix.

Since this is supposed to be somewhat malty and of course red in color, additional grains have included (not all at once, depends on the recipe);

- Crystals; from 10l to 120l in varying degrees
- Carafoam and Carared
- Roasted barley
- Caramunich
- Special B
- Even mention of flaked corn
- and some others I can't remember now

Yeast: american ale, irish, english strains.

Sheesh.....hard to nail down a recipe. Recipes for this style are "all over the place".

Any guidance?


TIA

 

[ncbrewer]

I tried a recipe in the HBT files by skitamofo: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=448921
It was terrific - I highly recommend it.

 

[wardens355]

There is an American Amber Ale and then an Irish Red Ale, which are different styles. American Amber and American Red are sometimes interchanged. For American Ambers/Reds, they can range anywhere between malty to hoppy to both, and they can be crafted pretty much however you want them to be, as long as they are amber-red colored. Irish Reds are a bit more straight forward. Look up the BJCP guidelines for American Amber and Irish Red to get the styles down in a traditional sense.

 

[kevreh]

I tried a recipe in the HBT files by skitamofo: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=448921
It was terrific - I highly recommend it.

Thanks for the recipe, seems a little light with the crystal, most recipes seem to have more (or use something like MO to help with body/character).

There is an American Amber Ale and then an Irish Red Ale, which are different styles. American Amber and American Red are sometimes interchanged. For American Ambers/Reds, they can range anywhere between malty to hoppy to both, and they can be crafted pretty much however you want them to be, as long as they are amber-red colored. Irish Reds are a bit more straight forward. Look up the BJCP guidelines for American Amber and Irish Red to get the styles down in a traditional sense.

Yeah, I've researched the guidelines. They help style wise but don't add clarity to the grain bill, or hops.

 

[kevreh]

The more I research the more my head spins. I know I'll definitly use;

- Marris Otter, as my sole base malt since I have 20+ lbs sitting around.
- Roasted Barley, used to help with red color
- Probably Carared, just to make sure I get the red color

In terms of hops, don't really care, since IBUs are subdued. Will probably use an English (Nottingham works well) or Irish ale yeast.




And here's a bunch of different recipes I'm pulling from;

Irish Red

7 lbs Ultralight Malt Extract
1 lb Crystal 120L
8 oz Abbey
8 oz Caramunich
2 oz Black Roasted
2 oz Special B


1.5 oz Northern Brewer
2 oz Willamette


======

Irish Red

10lbs 2 row
8oz Crystal 40L
4oz Roasted Barley(500 SRM)
0.5oz EKG 60 mins
1oz EKG 30 mins

======

Red Ale

7 lbs Ultralight Malt Extract
1 lb Crystal 40L
2 oz Black Roasted


======

Irish Red

7.5 lbs. Rahr 2-Row Pale
0.75 lbs. Belgian Caramel Pils
0.25 lbs. Briess Special Roast
0.125 lbs. Belgian Biscuit malt
0.125 lbs. English Chocolate Malt
0.75 oz. Willamette (60 min)
0.75 oz. US Goldings (30 min)

=======

8 lbs. Malting Co. of Ireland Stout Malt (or any nice UK pale malt like Marris Otter)
12 oz UK 55L crystal malt
3 oz Roasted barley


1 oz. Palisade hop pellets
1 oz. Glacier or Palisade hop pellets


=======

Raging Red

8.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Caraaroma (130.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Carafoam (2.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM)
1.00 oz Crystal [3.50 %] (60 min) (First Wort Hop)
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (30 min)
1.00 lb Honey (1.0 SRM) (add at flame out)
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001)


======

Falconer Flight/Red Ale

4.5 # Pale Ale Malt
4.5# Munich 7
1# Cara Munich
1# C90
0.5# Honey Malt
0.5# Victory

(hop additions are 1 oz each Falconer's Flight)
60
10
Flameout
(aprox 49 IBU)

S-04


​

 

[wardens355]

If you want to make an Irish Red, it shouldn't be too hard to make a recipe. If you want to make your own unique beer that is amber/red with American hops, just make a recipe that hits the right SRM range and have fun. It's really as easy as it sounds.

 

[ryancericson11]

I just brewed my own red recipe called NW Irish Red it is posted under general techniques. Turned out really well.

 

[fantomlord]

my last Irish Red was MO, a little wheat malt, special B, and a few ounces roasted barley for color.

 

[bowman5150]

Go for it! Those recipes all look good you will have a red ale too enjoy! I made the raging red here (hbt )you can taste the hops and did one from More Beer and you can taste the roast two red ales but different taste

 

[MollyHatchet]

My red ale is,
10 lb pale malt (2 row)
2 lb crystal 40L
4 oz cara-pils
2.5 oz roasted barley (300.0 SRM)

2 oz willamette at 60 min

Safale us-05

Mash at 156 degrees

It's a popular beer here with everyone who has tried it.

 

[kevreh]

Thanks everyone, this should be an interesting style to brew since there's so many ways to do it. I'm thinking of doing a split batch (or 3 way batch!) to experiment with the various adjuncts. I'll post my recipe(s) once I settle on something.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

Here is my red ale:

11 gal batch

-18 lbs 2-row
-2 lbs Vienna
-1 lb Carapils
-12 oz Caramel 40
-12 oz Caramel 80
-6 oz Carafa Special II

-1 oz Columbus @ 60 min
-1 oz Willamette @ 10 min
-1 oz Willamette @ flameout

-Wyeast 1335 or White Labs WLP007

I absolutely love this beer!

 

[kevreh]

Here is my red ale:

I absolutely love this beer!

Well you definitly got the red part down! Some recipes just don't produce that red color that seems like a requirement with this beer.

MollyHatchet and BrewerBrad82: Question for you, what was the thinking behind which crystal/cara- and other adjunct grains you used? Guessing it was something more than "a little of this, a little of that".

 

[ryancericson11]

BrewerBrad82 that looks tasty and nice color

 

[BrewerBrad82]

Question for you, what was the thinking behind which crystal/cara- and other adjunct grains you used? Guessing it was something more than "a little of this, a little of that".

I used the Caramel 40 to get the nice caramel and toffee flavors and a little deep golden color, the Caramel 80 to get some of the more dark caramel and slight raisin character along with some red color. The Carafa Special II is just to make the red color really pop. I use the Special version of the Carafa because it has been de-husked. Without a husk, you will get very very little roast flavor or astringency - its in the recipe just for the color. The exact amounts I settled on for these grains was a bit of work - I brewed some version of this beer 5 times before I locked in the above recipe.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

that looks tasty and nice color

Thanks! It is quite delicious, it is one beer that I almost always have on tap.

 

[wailingguitar]

Thread regarding a Red Ale I did, including a pic. Too busy right now to do more than copy and paste thread, sorry. Busy because I am actually brewing yet another version of this beer on our pilot system at the brewery right now and it is almost time to mash in #2!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=296645

 

[kevreh]

Thread regarding a Red Ale I did, including a pic. Too busy right now to do more than copy and paste thread, sorry. Busy because I am actually brewing yet another version of this beer on our pilot system at the brewery right now and it is almost time to mash in #2!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=296645

Thanks for sharing, is this a personal recipe or one for the brewery your a brewmaster at? If you get a chance, how is the version your mashing now differ?

BTW, that looks like a cool brewery to have a couple pints at and chill.

 

[wailingguitar]

Thanks for sharing, is this a personal recipe or one for the brewery your a brewmaster at? If you get a chance, how is the version your mashing now differ?

BTW, that looks like a cool brewery to have a couple pints at and chill.

Thanks! If you ever get this way, come by, look me up and we'll lift a pint!

I would say it is a personal recipe that I have played around with at various breweries I have worked at. The version I am doing today actually is closer to the way I brewed it late 90's, but with a bump in the fermentables.

for 1bbl;

45# 2Row
5# Munich 10
10# Carastan 30-37
7# Crystal 70-80
5# Crastan 13-17

3.5 oz Apollo 90 min
6 oz Falconer's Flight 15 min
6 oz Falconer's Flight 10 min
6 oz Falconer's Flight WP

Target OG 1.065-1.070
Total IBU about 50

 

[kevreh]

Will do! Thanks for the updated recipe.

 

[kevreh]

I came up with a recipe, below. Will post pics when done. Never brewed a red ale so fingers crossed the color is right. Hopefully not overly sweet/caramely.

9 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 81.3 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 90L (90.0 SRM) Grain 2 8.6 %
8.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.3 %
8.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.3 %
3.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 5 1.6 %
Mash In Add 30.75 qt of water at 163.1 F 156.0 F 45 min



1.00 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 19.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 1.8 IBUs

1.0 pkg Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084) [124.21 ml] Yeast