Irish Red Ale Raging Red Irish Red Ale

Brew day came and went..... I had to make 2 substitutions... The only one that scares me is Simpsons DRC double roasted crystal for Caraaroma. The wort tasted and smelled really good ... More brown than red.... We shall see how it turns out.

 

I had to substitute Special B for Cararoma and mine still turned out a pretty good shade of red. You should be fine.

 

I guess I made something completely different lol.

Followed everything exactly BUT used Maris otter. It looks amazing. Pitching in about 20 minutes.

 

I'm panning on doing an all grain brew in the near future (sooner if I can reduce a recipe to stove top size). I want to do a red. Can someone clarify one point for me. I know the boil time is 60 mins. So when someone says 1.00 oz Crystal [3.50 %] (60 min) are they adding this at the start of the boil or are they adding it at 60 mins in.

 

At start of the boil

 

Did you ever finish?

 

I brewed this last Saturday... did a no sparge to save some time and ended up doing a 30 minute boil adjusting the hop additions to get the correct IBUs.
What was interesting was my LHBS didn't have cararoma, so I had to sub crystal 120L.
I also had a yeast cake of wlp001 that I was going to wash, but when I kegged I stupidly forgot and dumped it out...doh!
After brewing this I just pitched some S-05.
I feel bad making so many subs/changes, but I bet it'll still taste great!

 

Just brewed my 3rd batch of this recipe. This time I only had about 4oz of honey on hand so I used that and threw in 8oz of brown sugar. I don't expect a big taste difference but we'll see...

 

Is there a substitute for caraaroma? I was going to try crystal 150

 

I ended up going with Special B although others recommended a darker crystal such as 150.

 

This was my 4th batch I've done. It's by far my best beer yet. I had friends over Saturday who stick to bud light and they all had a couple pints. Great recipe thanks.

 

I'll split the difference, half crystal 150, half special B

 

awesome.. make converts out of those bud light drinkers!

 

Any thoughts on adding 1% roasted barley (300SRM) to ramp up the red a bit?
I don't want to add more roasted flavor.

 

lol... if you follow the original recipe, it'll be more than red enough..

 

Good to know. I'll skip the modification.
Thanks!

 

Brewing this tonight. My LHBS didn't have Caraaroma, meloiden, or carafoam. I think they subbed 120L, CaraPils, and something else I can't quite remember, I think Munich. I'm hoping it will still turn out okay!

 

120 is close to Caraaroma.. not quite as red. carafoam and carapils are the same thing.. there isn't really a sub for melanoiden/melanoidin malt... there isn't really a substitute for that. you'll make a decent beer but it'll be lacking in some of the red coloring. Munich might get some of the color back IF it was a darker munich.. but it could change the flavor. plus melanoiden adds to head stability

 

So you don't think 120 will be too much for this beer? I know I couldn't really get a good sub for the melanoiden but sadly my LHBS was lacking a lot of stuff ):

 

120 is fine... Caraaroma is closer to 130L... the listed subs are crystal 120 and Belgian Special B

 

No doubt. Plenty of red in this beer!

If anything, it has a tendency to go a little dark so it can be hard to see some of that beautiful red. I tried to lighten up my last batch a bit with some minute adjustments - 2-row + .6%, Melanoiden + .2%, Caraaroma - .5%.

The goal was to make the red more visible without much change in the taste. These tiny adjustments may not be noticeable but I guess I'll find out later today. It's kegging day!

 

You think this recipe would work aging in a bourbon barrel? Looking to do something other than a porter with it. I would probably bump up the early boil hops a little bit to compliment the sweetness in the bourbon. Would love to hear your thoughts.

 

I just brewed sine of this yesterday, mused my OG by .007. I didn't calculate for my effeciency when I converted the recipe to 3 gallons, and I had worse effeciency than usual. Oh well it still looks awesome and smells awesome. I'm sure it's going to be great beer.

 

I brewed this using Maris Otter. It turned out awesome.
Couple things though...

it was a 10 gallon batch and the plan was to pitch 2 different yeasts 1 5 gallon batch with wyeast1084(irish ale)and 1 5 gallon batch with wyeast1056(American ale)

Ended up accidently pitching both into the same fermentor(yes you can laugh)
Went with my backup plan and pitched dry sf-05 into the remaining 5 gallons.

Long story short. The double pitched batch tastes way better than the sf-05 batch?
both finished around 1012 after starting at 1063.

Can I harvest the double pitched yeast and expect the same results?

Thanks

 

Thanks for sharing this recipe!

OG 1.061
FG 1.010

Tastes great!

 

funny how accidents can turn out awesome. as far as harvesting the yeast and expecting the same results. possibly but there is no way to ensure you have an even mix of the 2 strains. Its always worth a shot though!

 

Thinking of brewing this again to break in my new grainfather on saturday. This was originally my first AG batch a while back and I effed it up and it turned sour. Interesting to see how it would taste if I brewed it again since I fixed my process.

 

Just had my first glass. Great recipe! This was my first all grain brew, my OG was 1.060. I left it in the primary for 28 days at 65* then racked it to a keg. Final gravity was high at 1.020. Not sure why. I followed the recipe, but used Safale-05. I did not rehydrate the yeast. Could this be the reason for the high FG?

 

Brewing this beer tomorrow, no modifications other than using US-05 for the yeast. My LHBS had all the grains the recipe calls for. Excited to try this, if I keep in in the fermentor for 2 weeks, and bottle for 3 weeks, it will be ready in time for St. Patrick's Day.

 

2nd day in the keezer. A couple more days it should be carbed up!

 

I figured out the reason for the high FG, bad thermometer. I mashed in at a higher temp than i thought. Best I can tell, I mashed in at 160*. Still a great beer, just low ABV. I am going to try it again in a few days. Thanks again Mystic for the awesome recipe! :beer:

 

I am giving this a try Sunday night. Making starter now.

 

Its 4 degrees but its brewing. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1455506475.396135.jpg

 

It's only been in the bottle for a few days, but I had to taste it and see how it looked. It tastes really good even this young. It's still a little cloudy, but I think it will clear up as it ages in the bottle. It's definitely red in the light.

View attachment 1455667484793.jpg

 

While drinking some homebrews with my neighbors, we decided to have a st. paddy's day party on march 19th... That gives me 4 weeks to brew a stout and an irish red. I am concerned about timing and getting away with the brewing hardware i already have...

I currently have a sculpin clone in one of my two carboys, and will secondary it in a corney keg sometime between this tuesday (7 days after brew) and next weekend. I am planning on brewing a milk stout Tuesday and fermenting that in my other carboy.

If I were to brew this next weekend, would 3 weeks really be enough time to brew this, leave it in primary for 19ish days and then keg and serve it on the 21st day?

 

Might be a bit young. You could always convert it to an American red by hopping it up a bit so that it will be ready

 

I wonder how many gallons of this have been made over the years... I plan on adding 2.5 to the total soon, whatever it is!

 

I'm drinking 5 gallons "young" now and every day that passes it gets better.

I expect the second conditioned 5 gallons to be worthy to serve guests. Why rush a beer not meant for immediate turn around? Pick a different recipe., just my 2cents....

 

Yup... this is the right plan. I will brew this at some point, but i don't want to serve it if it isn't ready. I brewed my milk stout yesterday, and that will be ready. I will have to look for another recipe that I can brew this Friday and will be ready to drink 22 days later.

 

Just wanted to follow up on this and confirm that it turned out awesome. The carafa added more color and flavor than I thought it would and it turn out almost porter/stout like. I also replaced the honey with brown sugar at the last minute. So, thank you MysticMead for your recipe. I will try again to brew it the way you intended, but I'm also stoked that my bastardization of it was such a crowd pleaser. Here's to happy accidents.