AG Irish Red Ale

[Theo24]

Hi again.
After my first AG beer (in fact i never made any kit or extract beer) that was an American Pale Ale, i am about to make my second beer in a few days. An Irish Red. I will show you my recipe and you could give me some recommendations or suggestions if i have planned anything wrong.

5 gallon batch

Grains
1) Pale malt Maris Otter (4.5 EBC) ---> 3.7kg (79.4%)
2) Caraamber (70 EBC) ---> 0.5kg (10.7%)
3) Biscuit (50EBC) ---> 0.4kg (8.6%)
4) Roasted Barley (1200EBC) ---> 0.06kg (1.3%)

Hops
1) Fuggles (4.50%) 20gr 60min
2) East Kent Goldings (5.5%) 35gr 10min

Yeast
WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast
It produces a slight hint of diacetyl, balanced by a light fruitiness and slight dry crispness.
Great for Irish ales, stouts, porters, browns, reds and a very interesting pale ale.

Estimated OG: 1.056
Bitterness: 19 IBU
Color: 29.2 EBC
5.4% ABV

I plan to add more Goldings (35gr final Goldings and only 20gr Fuggles at the start of the boil) as the final hops, just to give more Goldings aroma to the beer and to avoid any bittering harshness.
What do you guys and girls think?

 

[bierhaus15]

A few suggestions...

CaraAmber malt is good stuff, but its not a crystal malt in the traditional sense. It is essentially a caramelized version of aromatic malt, which will add more malty-biscuity flavors than what you'd get with a similar crystal malt. I would recommend you switch to a British crystal malt, preferably one in the 40-75L range and at a lower %; 5-8% is about ideal.

Also, since you are using Maris Otter, adding biscuit malt is not necessary and would be overkill in that amount. I would drop it altogether, especially if you are using CaraAmber. That said, some recipes do benefit from a small 3-5% addition, if you want the extra malt character.

Lastly, I'd aim for around 20-25 IBU, Fuggles at your current amount shouldn't be overly bitter. Adding more Goldings is fine, but the style isn't really known for a strong hop character. Also, when using Wlp004, be sure you pitch enough yeast and keep your ferment temps down. 64-68F is fine, don't go higher than that.

Hope that helped.