Attempting to clone SN Imperial Red Ale

[b-boy]

I'm not trying to replicate a thread, but I originally posted in General Beer Discussion and it kinda turned into a recipe. I moved the recipe portion of the thread here.

I'm going to take a shot at Sierra Nevada Imperial Red Ale. I'm brewing it this weekend. Any help would be appreciated since I'm fairly new to creating something from scratch.

Here is my first pass at a recipe.

Any comments?

Imperial Red - Version 1
American IPA
Type: All Grain Date: 9/24/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.98 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Equipment: My Setup (10 Gal Cooler/15 Gal Pot) - All Grain
End of Boil Volume 5.98 gal
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 4.60 gal
Est Mash Efficiency 82.8 %
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
13 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 86.3 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 2 6.6 %
1 lbs Patagonia Medium Crystal Malt (60.0 SRM) Grain 3 6.6 %
1.1 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4 0.5 %
1.00 oz Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 40.5 IBUs
0.50 oz Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 6 15.6 IBUs
0.50 oz HBC 342 [12.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 8.6 IBUs
0.25 oz HBC 342 [12.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 1.7 IBUs
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz HBC 342 [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Magnum [14.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) (2-liter starter)

Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.078 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.017 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 8.1 %
Bitterness: 66.4 IBUs Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 14.0 SRM

Here's some information I found online regarding the origin and a basic description from SN's website.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...e5ef62c-0450-11e2-8102-ebee9c66e190_blog.html

From Sierra Nevada’s website:

Red-Oric:
ABV: 8.5%
OG: 18.0 Plato
FG: 2.8 Plato
Bitterness: 65 IBU
Color : Red
Bittering Hops: Magnum, Experimental
Dry Hops: Magnum, Chinook, Experimental
Malt: Pale 2-row, Patagonia, Caramel (45L), Chocolate
Yeast : Ale
Description: This imperial Red Ale takes the bold hop profile found in a traditional IPA and turns up the malt. It has big aromatic hop notes of grapefruit, peach, and melon balanced by very smooth and surprisingly robust malt body. Hops take the lead on this beer, but the malt tames the bitterness and adds unique drinkability.

 

[jtejedor]

Have not had the beer yet but not sure if that is the experimental hop they used. I can tell you that HBC 342 is quite flowery with a very subtle hint of the melon referred to in the description of the hop. So if that beer has a rather flowery hop profile then yes that should get you close.

 

[smagee]

Your recipe itself looks pretty solid for an IRA, so you should be good with that. Are you actually looking to clone the beer, or just to create a tasty recipe of your own? I've had good experiences simply contacting SN directly to obtain their recipes in the past, so you could try that if you're interested.

 

[b-boy]

I was looking for a clone. I got the basic ingredients from their website, but the recipe is an approximation. I'll see how this turns out, then try to contact them. I'm kind of excited about seeing how close I can get.

 

[b-boy]

This finally made it into my keg rotation. It's been conditioning for several months. I just tapped the keg tonight.

It came out fantastic. Even better than I was hoping. The flavour is really nice. It's very malty, but nice and bitter. I was hoping for more hop aroma, but I did let it condition for almost 3 months so that could account for some of the hop aroma loss. Even though I only dry-hopped with chinook, it really shines through. If I had to describe this I'd say a cross between Nosferatu and Arrogant Bastard.

I'd love it if someone else would take a shot at this. If I do it again I might move the experimental hop additions up a little.

 

[b-boy]

Well - my keg is done. I liked this beer a lot. Maybe a tad sweeter than I wanted.

Going to tweak this for my next brew session.

Going to mash a little lower. Maybe around 151.
I'll knock back the Patagonia and crystal just a little - probably about 1 ounce each.
I'm going to add an additional .5oz hop addition of Magum at 45min.
Going to move the 5 minute addition of HBC 342 to flameout.
I'm also thinking of bumping the chocolate malt just a bit. I noticed it is very detectable in the SN IRA I based this on but it kinda got lost in my version.
I'm also going to ramp up the dry hop addition. I'm going to add another 1 oz of the HBC 342.