Review my American Red Ale

[mrkrausen]

An American Red Ale is on deck for my next brew. I really enjoyed Reprise by 4 Hands Brewing Co. It uses Centennial exclusively for hops. This is what I came up with. I split up the base malts because I think I only have about 9# of pale 2 row.

Mash Ingredients

8.0 oz Rice Hulls (Briess) (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 1 2.6 %
8 lbs Golden Promise (Simpsons) (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 41.8 %
8 lbs Pale Ale Malt 2-Row (Briess) (3.5 SRM) Grain 3 41.8 %
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4 3.9 %
12.0 oz Carared (Weyermann) (24.0 SRM) Grain 5 3.9 %
10.0 oz Roasted Barley (Briess) (300.0 SRM) Grain 6 3.3 %
8.0 oz Biscuit malt (Castle Malting) (30.5 SRM) Grain 7 2.6 %

1.00 oz Centennial [11.60 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 8 12.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [11.60 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 9 10.1 IBUs
0.55 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 10 -
1.00 oz Centennial [11.60 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 11 7.4 IBUs
2.00 oz Centennial [11.60 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 12 8.1 IBUs
2.00 oz Centennial [11.60 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 15 0.0 IBUs

2 packets of rehydrated us-05
Mash at 152 degrees

Target OG is 1.045 and target FG is 1.010

 

[saltymirv]

Looks pretty good. Are you looking for the roast flavor to come through or are you using it just for color? I've had ambers where you can really taste the roasted malt, which is fine if that's what you're going for. Otherwise I'd use Carafa special if you just want the color adjustment.

I love Centennial as a hop. What I did on my last one was I used a 30 minute addition to set my bitterness and then whirlpooled a bunch of hops at flameout, letting the temps naturally drop down. I stirred every 5 minutes or so. After 30-45 minutes of whirlpooling I ran the chiller to get the wort to pitch temp. It turned out truly fantastic, best beer I've made. Your hop schedule will work too, lots of late additions.

 

[mrkrausen]

Yeah I'm thinking mainly for color. I do have some crafa III I could use in place of the roasted barley. I didn't see carafa special at my local HBS. I think I will do that. Thank you for the advice.

 

[Yooper]

10 ounces of roasted barley is more than I use for one of my stouts, and it will be very roasty. I don't think that is something you want for an American red. 1-2 ounces, at most, is what you would need. I wouldn't use any, and instead get more color from crystal malt. One of my favorite American red recipes uses nearly 15% crystal malt, no roasted barley, no rice hulls, and is very well hopped. It's great- a bright red color with tons of hops flavor and aroma, and a great crystal malt character.

You could go with crystal 120l or 80l, and increase the carared, for great color and flavor without any roastyness to detract from the American red qualities of the beer.

 

[saltymirv]

Yeah I'm thinking mainly for color. I do have some crafa III I could use in place of the roasted barley. I didn't see carafa special at my local HBS. I think I will do that. Thank you for the advice.

Is it carafa III or carafa III special? The regular version will be similar to roasted barley in flavor, the "special" version gives the color with almost no roastiness. Midnight wheat also works if you have access to that

 

[mrkrausen]

I can get some midnight wheat from my HBS, but I think I'll take your advice you per and skip it all together and just up the crystal. I do have some 120 at home already. Would you suggest dropping the 60 if I'm using the 120? I've seen some recipes that use both. Also, I think I forgot to mention this is a 10 gallon batch.

 

[Yooper]

I can get some midnight wheat from my HBS, but I think I'll take your advice you per and skip it all together and just up the crystal. I do have some 120 at home already. Would you suggest dropping the 60 if I'm using the 120? I've seen some recipes that use both. Also, I think I forgot to mention this is a 10 gallon batch.

For a really nice American red, I like to "layer" crystal malt; that is, use some light and some medium and/or dark crystal to get complexity of flavor and then use some sinimar, blackprinz or midnight wheat to get more color if needed.

Here are a couple of grainbills I use for a hopped up American red:

20 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 79.8 %
2 lbs Borlander Munich Malt (Briess) 8.0 %
2 lbs Carared (Weyermann) (24.0 SRM) 8.0 %
1 lbs Caramel Malt - 80L 6-Row (Briess) 4.0 %
1.1 oz Blackprinz (500.0 SRM) 0.3 %


or

14 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) 71.6 %
2 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) 10.2 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) 7.7 %
1 lbs Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) 5.1 %
8.0 oz Caramel Malt - 80L 6-Row (Briess) (80.0 SRM) 2.6 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L 2.6 %
1.0 oz Midnight Wheat (550.0 SRM) 0.3%

or

16 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 79.0 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel Malt - 40L (Briess) 7.4 %
1 lbs Aromatic Malt (Abbey Malt) 4.9 %
12.0 oz Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) 3.7 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 75L (75.0 SRM) 2.5 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) 2.5%

Those are to give you an idea of the flavor combinations you could go with. Layers of crystal malt for color and flavor, with some "malty" malts like Munich or aromatic malt in there, and highly hopped in a west coast type of hopping.

I like the golden promise in there! That would be a nice, warm, bready note in there and would take the place of where I use something like Munich malt.

 

[Schmoltsbeer]

+1 To Yooper's comments, I often times use a mixture of C-60 and CaraAroma for my reddish beers without any roast malt. Try a 2 to 1 ratio of C-60 to CaraAroma (C-120 is roughly equivalent) with a total percentage of 10% or so. I tend not to push my beers past 10% Crystal because they will be too sweet for me. I have used 1-2 lbs Munich to add any needed redness with this combination with good results as well.

 

[mrkrausen]

First off, thanks for all the feedback. There were a lot of helpful suggestions offered up and I used a bit from all of you to come up with the following recipe.

8 lbs Pale Ale Malt 2-Row (Briess) (3.5 SRM) Grain 1 42.7 %
7 lbs Golden Promise (Simpsons) (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 37.3 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Carared (Weyermann) (24.0 SRM) Grain 3 8.0 %
14.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.7 %
14.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.7 %
8.0 oz Biscuit malt (Castle Malting) (30.5 SRM) Grain 6 2.7 %

1.00 oz Centennial [11.60 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 7 12.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [11.60 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 8 10.1 IBUs
0.55 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 9 -
1.00 oz Centennial [11.60 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 10 7.4 IBUs
2.00 oz Centennial [11.60 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 11 8.1 IBUs
2.00 oz Centennial [11.60 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 14 0.0 IBUs

It will come in just above 4.5% which is right what I'm looking for.