Brewer's Best Red Ale Mod

[jonbenderr]

Hi all!

Currently wrapping up my first brew and am planning the next.

I've been looking at the recipe for Brewer's Best Red Ale:

http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/1010%202013%20Red%20Ale%20Recipe.pdf

I know a lot of new brewer's are eager to get creative, myself included, but we sometimes get a little carried away. I wanted to get some advice on some potential additions to this recipe.

I mocked up the base recipe in beersmith and started playing around with things but I know this doesn't mean the end product will be any good.

Additions:
1lb Corn Sugar (As boil starts?)
1 oz. Hallertau Hops (finishing addition?)
4 oz. Special Roast (steeped)

1lb corn sugar to the boil would just be to get a little abv increase.

1 oz. Hallertau is to bring IBUs back in line. I chose Hallertau due to seeing it included in Conway's Irish Ale clones.

4 oz. Special Roast is another selection from the Conway's Clone. I believe this is a steepable malt, correct? Still don't understand the partial mash process just yet, so am sticking to the pure extract process.

I know in the end this won't be anything close to Conway's, but I thought it would be fun to try and snag at least a flavor or two.

I have also read that the corn sugar might not be the best idea as it will dry out the beer. I'm hoping one lb. during the boil isn't too crazy though. I'm sure I may be wrong on that.

What do you guys think?

 

[CJ-3]

Welcome to the forum, this is a great placed to learn about brewing.

One pound of sugar will certainty dry out your beer a bit. Have you considered using DME instead of sugar? You may like that better. Either way, add towards the end of the boil. Late additions of sugar or extract tend to have less impact on color.

As fot the special roast, yes it can be steeped. One thing I like to ask is this;

Why are you adding this? What is it you want to gain from this addition?

If you have a solid answer then go for it, but if you don't know what the addition should do then hold off until you look into it a bit.

 

[TonyKZ1]

It's recommended on your first few batches at least, to basically follow the recipe so you know how it's supposed to be before branching off with additions/modifications.
Do as you will, but that's my opinion.

 

[jonbenderr]

Well, I was trying to be a cheapskate with the lb. of corn sugar instead of dme. According to my mock up I would need 2 lbs. of DME versus the 1 lb. of corn sugar for the same gain. I think I'll just go with DME though.

Alcohol isn't even all that important, but at the same time it would be nice to be able to "relax" with a few versus half a dozen. Stockpile lasts a lil' longer that way, right?

As far as adding the special roast, I have a hard time putting what my taste buds are telling me into words, but I just like the sound of it. My mouth actually waters a little bit at words like "toasty" and "biscuity". Especially when thinking of it in relation to a good beer. I feel like it might come out really tasty given the lower bitterness of the overall recipe.

I get the concept of sticking to the recipe as well. I don't know if it counts for much, but I have a ton of craft beers available local to me and am pretty familiar with Red Ales, so I'm kind of using those as a measuring stick.

 

[jonbenderr]

Just an update on this. Just finished brew day. Opted out of the special roast I was planning. Still added 2 lbs. DME and an oz. of Hallertau. Flavor is very interesting and I think it's going to turn out nice.

Also nailed target starting gravity (according to beersmith's calculations) with 1.06.

Pictured is the first sample after brewday was over. The small beer glass is the final color beer smith is predicting. Might be a little on the darker side, but assuming at this point it's hard to tell?

 

[RM-MN]

Just an update on this. Just finished brew day. Opted out of the special roast I was planning. Still added 2 lbs. DME and an oz. of Hallertau. Flavor is very interesting and I think it's going to turn out nice.

Also nailed target starting gravity (according to beersmith's calculations) with 1.06.

Pictured is the first sample after brewday was over. The small beer glass is the final color beer smith is predicting. Might be a little on the darker side, but assuming at this point it's hard to tell?

Just a couple points to add. First is that you don't have much choice but to hit the starting gravity unless you really screw up on measuring the water. The malt extract has a guaranteed amount of sugars in it. Most new brewers that don't hit the expected OG just didn't stir well enough and got more water than the concentrated wort in their sample. Concentrated wort doesn't mix well with the water and it takes some vigorous stirring to get it properly mixed.
The second point is that you modified the recipe with the special roast and your sample hasn't settled out completely. That can change the perceived color. The color predicted by Beersmith is based on the ingredients and it is common for extract brews to come out darker than predicted since you have wort that has been boiled twice, once when it is made, and once when you boil it.

Partial mash or all grain depend on a malted grain that has not been kilned too high which will destroy the enzymes that convert the starches to sugars. You'll be looking for something like pale malt, pilsner malt, or vienna malt to provide those enzymes. If you add those grains to water that is in the range of 145 to 160, the enzymes will do the conversion but there are two enzymes that work together for this, one of which is more acitve in the lower part of the range but can be destroyed by higher temps, and a second one that works better at the higher end but produces an unfermentable sugar. Balancing these two enzymes action produces drier or more malty beers.

You don't even need to understand the conversion process to make the beer. Just for a quick experiment, buy a pound of pale malt. Grind it up in a blender. Heat 2 quarts of water to 162F (the temperature is critical, don't miss it by more than 5 degrees) and dump in the grains. Taste it immediately (don't burn your tongue) and it should be starchy. Wait 10 minutes and taste it again. You've just completed a mash. Yup, that easy.