So I tried for the first time an AG Irish Red recipe - I picked one of the simpler ones on the forum here ( https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=326549 ), I used 3 oz of roasted barley, and the color came out great.
I mashed at 154, my OG was 1.056 and I finshed at 1.020 which I thought was a little high, but maybe due to the higher mash temps? The original poster didn't record a proper final gravity so I didn't know what he finished at, but my ABV came out to 4.3% which maybe is a tad low but certainly appropriate for the style.
It looked great, but was too malty & thick on the tongue for my taste. I made a mental note to mash at a lower temp next time to hopefully get better attenuation.
As an experiment, though, I decided to add some vodka to bump up the ABV to 5.5%. I weighed my keg, figured out how much beer I still had left in it, and did the math to bump my ABV up a percentage point.
WOW - made a big difference! It doesn't taste "stronger" or anything, but the slightly higher ABV offsets the maltiness NICELY. It literally turned this from a beer that I thought was just OK, to a beer I really like.
Really highlights the importance of balance in a beer. I don't offhand know if 5.5% is too high for style guidelines for an Irish Ale, but it tastes great & I will definitely be serving it to my friends for St Paddy's day (if the keg lasts that long <g>)
I mashed at 154, my OG was 1.056 and I finshed at 1.020 which I thought was a little high, but maybe due to the higher mash temps? The original poster didn't record a proper final gravity so I didn't know what he finished at, but my ABV came out to 4.3% which maybe is a tad low but certainly appropriate for the style.
It looked great, but was too malty & thick on the tongue for my taste. I made a mental note to mash at a lower temp next time to hopefully get better attenuation.
As an experiment, though, I decided to add some vodka to bump up the ABV to 5.5%. I weighed my keg, figured out how much beer I still had left in it, and did the math to bump my ABV up a percentage point.
WOW - made a big difference! It doesn't taste "stronger" or anything, but the slightly higher ABV offsets the maltiness NICELY. It literally turned this from a beer that I thought was just OK, to a beer I really like.
Really highlights the importance of balance in a beer. I don't offhand know if 5.5% is too high for style guidelines for an Irish Ale, but it tastes great & I will definitely be serving it to my friends for St Paddy's day (if the keg lasts that long <g>)
