Critique Irish Red Ale

[2brew559]

Hi everyone

I found some recipe ideas for this Irish Red Ale. This is the 1st time im making this one
The recipe is based off the brewery but not exact, can you guys make some suggestions and or critique... and yeast / reason for type of yeast
Thanks alot everyone!!!

RED TROLLEY ALE BY KARL STRAUSS BREWING COMPANY
Red Trolley Ale Stats:
Style: Irish Red Ale
ABV: 5.8%
Color: 30 SRM
Bitterness: 17IBU
Malt: pale 2 row, Carapils, Caramel 60, caramel 80

The recipe: (My reasons for the differences) 80% Efficiency (BIAB) in 10 gallon round cooler/ mash tun
OG: 1.054
F.G: 1.015
ABV: 5.21% (not to strong )
IBU:18.42
SRM:10.87 (red trolley does not use chocolate malt, I cant get the color range they list. Unless I bump up the crystal percentages *To me too much crystal makes a heavy thick beer? So I added some pale choco malt
Matches Style: Yes (indicated by recipe builder software)

Fermentables:
Lbs/ oz Type percentages
9.0 lbs Pale 2 row 87.8%
6.5 oz Amer. crystal 60 4.0%
6.5 oz Amer. crystal 80 4.0%
5.0 oz Amer. carapils 3.0%
2.0 oz United Kingdom pale choc. 1.2% (to get more color)

Hops: pellets
Amount: 1.0 oz Williamte AA 4.5 Time :60 min Boil
Amount: 0.25 oz Williamte AA 4.5 Time :10min Aroma

Mash thickness: 1.55qts
Temp: 152 F for 60 min mash in

Yeast: Im still researching any ideas for a clean tasting beer???? Im not into tasting a fruity beer by the way

 

[MindenMan]

Use 1084 Irish Ale and ferment at 60-62F to get the solid malty backbone and no esters.

 

[JordanKnudson]

Looks good.

When I color adjust, I don't bother with the lighter end of the roast malts. I just go straight to Carafa Special III.

And as MindenMan said, WY1084 would be a good choice, provided you ferment cool. My caveat would be that you might want to give it a diacetyl rest at the end of fermentation. It's not strictly necessary, but that yeast does produce a bit of diacetyl. Or you could just go with wlp001/wy1056. WY1450 would also be a great choice.

 

[2brew559]

Thanks guys alot for the info
I'm glad my recipe looks good
Hopefully tastes good too

I'm gonna take ur advice on the yeast and pick either one of the yeast you mentioned

I'll keep this updated as well once I brew it
Hopefully this weekend

Im on fence regarding subbing out the UK pale chocolate and instead using the carafa3 debittered. Hmm choices lol

 

[JimRausch]

Their SRM of 30 seems way too high for a red. IME, a SRM around 15 is more likely to get a nice red color. Don't be afraid to add 1-2 oz. of roast barley to help get a nice red. With that low amount you won't get any roast flavor.
And I also recommend the WY1084. Very nice yeast that ferments well, settles nicely, and yields a nice malty background. I also had good success once with WY1450.
Good Luck!

 

[2brew559]

Jim

Yes, I thought the same thing with the Red trolley listed @ SRM:30
especially with their grain bill listed on their web page.

They must not be 100% factual but.. Understandably they are brewery with profits to be made :cross:

The other red trolley recipes on here (Homebrewforums) use crystal amounts way over the 1lb mark for ea. crystal types . I think this is how those recipes were getting the 30 SRMs that the brewer list. Dang that's a lot of Crystal in a 5 to 5.5 gallon batch.... Wont that create a overly thick and chewy beer?
Anyways I kept my recipe formulation crystal amounts to a minimum...

That's why I used a small amount of pale choc.. but I switched it out for German carafa 3 dehusked in same range you list 1-2% tops for me.

whats your thought on this?

Yeast selection and fermentation:I went to our local brew shop... They didn't have the 1084 Irish Ale...

I went with Wyeast 1056 instead. I made a 1500 ml starter last night with 1 cup light DME and added the 1056 this morning to the starter wort. I'm planning on brewing this on Saturday so Ill chill the starter for a few hrs on sat. morning and decant right before I add it to my wort and the ferment the batch this Saturday.

So far as far as I can read / understand on these forums This yeast 1056 does well around 62F-65F

I have a freezer converted to a fermentation chamber with a temp controller (mine is set with a 3 degree differential (will rise 3 degrees before turning on) Id have a tighter degree ratio but dont want to burn my compressor off even with the anti over cycling feature built in)

This is my planned schedule:

Saturday July 25, 2015, day 1: add starter to wort-temp of wort 62-66F
Week 1: start fermentation @ 62F will rise to 65 tops then cool back down to 62F
Week 2 (Diacetyl rest): Raise temp to 64F, will rise 3 degrees to 67F tops - beer is 2 to 5 specific gravity points away from the target terminal gravity
Week 3: lower temp. and keep keep at 62F with 3 degree rise to 65F max
Week4: same as week 3 condition then cold crash for 2 days at 40F then Bottle and bottle condition

 

[stpug]

This is my planned schedule:

Saturday July 25, 2015, day 1: add starter to wort-temp of wort 62-66F
Week 1: start fermentation @ 62F will rise to 65 tops then cool back down to 62F
Week 2 (Diacetyl rest): Raise temp to 64F, will rise 3 degrees to 67F tops - beer is 2 to 5 specific gravity points away from the target terminal gravity
Week 3: lower temp. and keep keep at 62F with 3 degree rise to 65F max
Week4: same as week 3 condition then cold crash for 2 days at 40F then Bottle and bottle condition

1056 will not require any kind of D-rest, stick with your 62-65F range for the duration. On about day 10, crash the beer down to ~31F for 5-7 days to really encourage the 1056 to drop out. You may want to fine with gelatin or other fining agent in the fermenter to get brilliant clarity (I like a brilliant clarity on Irish Reds), but a little cloudy is perfectly fine also. Also, take whatever precautions you need to not suck back your airlock liquid into your beer when cold crashing.

I have seen some differences in color hues between different roasted malts for color adjustments to beer. For instance, roasted barley produces a very good red color while midnight wheat gives a much more brown color. I have not used carafa III for color adjustments but would suspect it's on the red side of things (guessing here). Just observations on my part.

Have fun. It sounds like you have a good plan.

 

[2brew559]

stpug,

Thank you amigo! Im excited for this Saturday!!

will Post pictures as soon as I can

 

[2brew559]

Stpug,

Thank you sir!
Your suggestions and discussion regarding color and airlock are awesome!

Im aiming for the red Hue... look pretty..LOL
will def try roasted barley next batch!

brewing this saturday! will Post updates wit images

 

[2brew559]

Stpug,

Umm..I bottled the Irish red which for me was my 1st attempt at cloning a beer; red trolley

I bottled on Friday August 21, 2015

Couldn't wait 3 wweks bottle condition time.
3 days later, I put one in freezer and cracked it open and shared it with people I had over. By the way they love red trolley..
They really liked it. One perosn said wow this is as smooth if not smoother than the original..this taste amazing..you hit this outa the paek

Others said same kinda comments

I got comments like this from a 3 day old bottled beer. So I'm pretty excited, cant wait for the full bottle condition to be done with in 3 weeks ..

Ok here's my review on A 3 day old bottle of Irish red Ale "red trolley "

Color: beautiful red hue Brown
Aroma: can't remember lol but didn't make me remember
Body: very god but maybe red trolley is a bit chewier I think maybe..maybe not
Head: 3 days old..not amazing... but has decent glass lacing at this young age
Taste: very smooth and has that red Irish Ale red trolley tatse I was going for but smoother.

I will post pictures in 3 weeks hopefully all is great by then should be !

 

[stpug]

Sounds like a very good beer and a solid base from which to keep working at dialing in your perfect Red Trolley clone. Congrats!!