Critique My Red Ale

[mattman91]

Putting together an Irish Red Ale for the first time. I'm looking for something around 4.5% that will be quaffable for the coming Spring weather.

Here is what I have put together so far:

Maris Otter 2.8L (68.6%)

Munich 6.2L (20.6%)

Carared 20L (8%)

Chocolate Rye 245L (2.9%)


60 minutes (20 IBU) EK Goldings

10 minutes (6 IBU) EK Goldings


Nottingham yeast.


Thoughts?

 

[mattman91]

Brewfather stats:

ABV 4.5%

OG: 1.045
FG: 1.011

26 IBU

SRM 13.5

BU/GU: .57

 

[mattman91]

My biggest concern is that the Carared and Munich may give it too much sweetness. Should I ditch the Munich?

 

[Kickass]

Here’s the recipe I kegged today. I’m very pleased with it going into the keg. These are the notes:

Aroma and taste are pretty much inline. Light, unimposing start the goes through bread crust, biscuit and unsweetened graham-cracker. I love the MO in it. Notty fermented at 60f gives the slightest complementary floral esters. Very easy drinking and distinctly UK (I know, only Northern Ireland is part of the UK).

I get low efficiency with store milled grains and BIAB so feel free to adjust as necessary.
OG, 1.045
FG, 1.009
ABV, 4.8%

10lb MO
.5lb C90
45g roasted barley (yes, mixing metric and American standard)

60 min hop addition to get 18-22 IBU

Admittedly, it’s a little closer to copper than “red” but I’m ok because I prioritized flavor. I’d hate to get red and have some carmely sweet ale that doesn’t fit the style or my preference. You can play around with the roasted barley to adjust color.

 

[Brooothru]

My biggest concern is that the Carared and Munich may give it too much sweetness. Should I ditch the Munich?

No, the Munich is fine. Unlike Cara Munich (which is a crystal malt), Munich malt is a slightly more kilned base malt that can be used 100% in a recipe. Your recipe looks solid as is. The only change I *might* make would be adding 2~4 oz of melanoidin. Otherwise, looks great.

Brooo Brother

 

[camonick]

I agree with one of @Kickass ’s ingredients... the roasted barley will help you get a nice ruby color. I have hi jacked the recipe from MoreBeer and renamed it for my house Irish Red. Their recipe uses 2 oz of 500 °L roasted barley. They also use 8 oz of CaraMunich. Here is a picture of that beer.

 

[thehaze]

It depends on what exactly you want from a " Red Ale ". Is it a dry, roasty Irish Red Ale, An American Amber with more hops, a malty, sweet one or a malty, dark fruity Ale with a bit of a hop zing? I for one, don't like Irish Reds that much due to the roasted malt character, and the dryness. I enjoy more beers in the vein of Williams Brothers Red Ale ( Scotland ) - great malt presence, dark fruit, caramel, but balanced perfectly with decent bitterness and a subtle hop character. Most recipes on the Internet, will tell you that you how to brew a dry-ish tasting beer, with little malt character, little yeast character and even less hop character.

I use Weyerman Roasted Rye and Thomas Fawcett Roasted Rye malts regularly, and although smooth, at 2.9% you will taste it, especially in the recipe you posted above. It will take a few weeks to mellow out. They work best in dark beers. Crystal 80L to 120L and everything inbetween, work great in Red Ales, and could be an option to try.

 

[Brooothru]

I agree with one of @Kickass ’s ingredients... the roasted barley will help you get a nice ruby color. I have hi jacked the recipe from MoreBeer and renamed it for my house Irish Red. Their recipe uses 2 oz of 500 °L roasted barley. They also use 8 oz of CaraMunich. Here is a picture of that beer.
View attachment 719082

Wow! Love the color. My last Irish Red used 2 oz. Chocolate 325L and 2 oz Blackprinze 450L. Instead of CaraMunich I used Dark Munich 9L and BestMalz Red X with just a pinch of CaraRed.

The beer tasted great but the color was a disappointment. I'd planned to ditch the Red X and go with straight Maris and Munich plus CaraRed, and the 4 oz of roasted malts. That's what I've done in the past and it worked out very well for taste and color.

Unfortunately "circumstances" have prevented me from brewing this year's Red early enough for St. Paddy's. Looking at yours makes me jealous. Good job!

Brooo Brother

 

[camonick]

It depends on what exactly you want from a " Red Ale ". Is it a dry, roasty Irish Red Ale, An American Amber with more hops, a malty, sweet one or a malty, dark fruity Ale with a bit of a hop zing? I for one, don't like Irish Reds that much due to the roasted malt character, and the dryness. I enjoy more beers in the vein of Williams Brothers Red Ale ( Scotland ) - great malt presence, dark fruit, caramel, but balanced perfectly with decent bitterness and a subtle hop character. Most recipes on the Internet, will tell you that you how to brew a dry-ish tasting beer, with little malt character, little yeast character and even less hop character.

I use Weyerman Roasted Rye and Thomas Fawcett Roasted Rye malts regularly, and although smooth, at 2.9% you will taste it, especially in the recipe you posted above. It will take a few weeks to mellow out. They work best in dark beers. Crystal 80L to 120L and everything inbetween, work great in Red Ales, and could be an option to try.

“Red ale” is a pretty generic term. We need more information from the OP to make better suggestions.

 

[camonick]

Wow! Love the color. My last Irish Red used 2 oz. Chocolate 325L and 2 oz Blackprinze 450L. Instead of CaraMunich I used Dark Munich 9L and BestMalz Red X with just a pinch of CaraRed.

The beer tasted great but the color was a disappointment. I'd planned to ditch the Red X and go with straight Maris and Munich plus CaraRed, and the 4 oz of roasted malts. That's what I've done in the past and it worked out very well for taste and color.

Unfortunately "circumstances" have prevented me from brewing this year's Red early enough for St. Paddy's. Looking at yours makes me jealous. Good job!

Brooo Brother

Thank you! As I said, it’s MoreBeer’s recipe and I brew it to the letter every time. There is also 2 oz of Special B in there too. It’s a great malty Irish beer. There are reviews on my Untappd page from other HBT members who like the recipe too.
Sláinte
Edit: added ingredient info

 

[Jag75]

I agree with one of @Kickass ’s ingredients... the roasted barley will help you get a nice ruby color. I have hi jacked the recipe from MoreBeer and renamed it for my house Irish Red. Their recipe uses 2 oz of 500 °L roasted barley. They also use 8 oz of CaraMunich. Here is a picture of that beer.
View attachment 719082

Man thats a great color ! I've crashed and burned on a couple Reds . They've came out black or more on the brown then red .

The best red color I got was when I brewed an American dry hopped red and used Active Red 100% of the grain bill . However that wasn't an Irish red .

I have a Red in my fv now and I'm hoping the color turns out nice as well as the flavor. I used 2 row , Munich , Rye , and 4oz of Roasted Barley.