The brew flows Red

[zweasel]

I'm trying to find out what grains will turn a wort red. I’m trying to make a red beer for a Halloween party and I want it to be the bloodiest red I can get it by using grain and no food coloring. I’m planning to start with 7.5 lbs six row and 2lbs corn mill for the mash. And I figured I would steep the red in to the wort. However, I do not know which grains to use to get the right color.

 

[david_42]

There really isn't any malt that will give you a bright, blood red. Crystal malts in the 60L-120L will give you deep reds. But, it's more of a red-brown, than a real red.

 

[Walker]

a teeny (VERY small... maybe 1 oz or less) bit of roasted barley will lend a dark red hue. I don't think you're going to get anything that looks like blood, though.

 

[Cheesefood]

Make a very light colored ale, like a Kolsch, and add some food coloring. You might be able to make it orange. Then you could do Black & Orange pours.

 

[Beer Snob]

Hmmm.... rather interesting thought..... wonder what would happen to a very light colored beer with some red food coloring in it...... you could test it out on store bought stuff first.

Edit...
And to be real gross you could use a lot of MD.... thicken it up a bit

 

[Walker]

And to be real gross you could use a lot of MD.... thicken it up a bit

maybe some wheat in there, too, to make it cloudy and help show the color a little more?

 

[troybinso]

BEETS.


You might even get a bump up in your alcohol from all the sugar. Maybe throw in a couple of pounds with 15 minutes left in the boil. I have never done it, but it seems like anything beets touch turn red, and they are pretty mild flavored.

 

[Walker]

it seems like anything beets touch turn red, and they are pretty mild flavored.

I'll agree with the red thing (assuming you use red beets and not yellow ones ), but I'd strongly disagree with the mild tasting comment. Beets, to me, have an overpowering 'woody' taste. If I eat something that has beets in it, the only thing I can taste is the beets, and it's like eating a bunch of sawdust.

-walker

 

[cap46]

Why not just add tomato juice like you do to make a red beer. This way you get a little food with your beer. Worked when I was poor as church mose.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Use some honey malt and use vienna for your base malt. add a bit of rye malt or flake to the mash. The three of those will give you a red beer.

Bump up the hops some what to counter the honey malt sweetness. Keep in mind that honey malt needs to be mashed so you can still comeo up with a dryier beer with a lower sach temp and still maintain a munich sweetnes level form the honey malt. The rye will also give it a crisp dry flavor.

 

[kornkob]

You could also buy those tiny chemlights (they are 1 1/2 inches long) in red and drop them in the beer.

 

[Orpheus]

I've used 1/8 lb. of roasted barley in one of my brews and it turned it a lovely red/garnet color. This was working off a light base, of course.

 

[zweasel]

I would like to thank everyone for their ideas. I will try the honey malt, vienna malt and bit of rye malt to see if how that works. The Beets I think I will pass. I did not like them as a kid and I will not eat them now. They don't even sound like they would go with beer. I will keep you posted on what works and please give me some more ideas.