Does this recipe look right?

[BeerBudha]

This is the recipe that I got from the LHBS for a Irish Red Ale. It's supposed to be pretty close to Smithwicks. I'm kinda new to the whole thing but it has more hops in it than any of the other beers I've brewed so I'm a little worried that it'll be too hopy.


6# ldme
.5# chocolate malt
.13# brown malt
.5# 60L crystal malt
.75 perle hops
.25 hallertau hops
1 liberty hops
.75 hallertau hops

 

[shot0rum247]

I like to think that 2 oz. of hops in a 5 gallon brew is sort of on the low end. When I do a a classic german, low hoped hefe i usually put 2 oz of hops in it. You have 2.75 so I dont think this is going to come out extremely bitter or anything you need to be concerned about regarding trueness to style. However, this also depends on your hop schedule. When are you adding each sort of hop? If you know the alpha acidities that will help too, although they can be ball-parked. Also, just a point of clarification, I assume when you say 'ldme' you mean liquid extract. DME stands for dry malt extract, LME stands for liquid malt extract, not that it matters but just to avoid any future confusion. Happy brewing!

 

[BeerBudha]

no i meant light dme, my fault i'm still getting all the acronyms down. ldme made sense in my small noob brain.

 

[DrinksWellWithOthers]

That seems like a lot of Chocolate Malt for an IRA. Personally I'd go with just some Crystal Malt and a touch of Roasted Barley or Chocolate Malt for color. Irish Reds aren't particularly hoppy so you could even get a away with just a 60 min addition but since I like hops I usually add a 60 min addition and then split an ounce for two late hop additions at 15 min and flameout.

 

[BeerBudha]

i already got all the stuff, if anything i was just gonna leave out one of the bittering hops.

 

[Joos]

+1 on the chocolate malt.Your going to have an irish brown.and DON'T leave out the bittering hops!Perle are usually 5-6 AA and you need them to balance your beer.

 

[DrinksWellWithOthers]

i already got all the stuff, if anything i was just gonna leave out one of the bittering hops.

Ok I plugged your recipe into Beersmith and its about 21 SRM. That's a little dark. If you cut your Chocolate Malt in half, which I would do, you'll end up around 15 SRM which is right in the middle of the style guidelines. Not saying you wouldn't end up with a good beer if you kept it but it wouldn't be an IRA.

Depending on the AA of the Perle I would use .50 - .75oz of Perle at 60 min. Are you doing a full or partial boil? If partial, use the Late Extract Method for hop utilization purposes and only add about 1/3 of your extract at the beginning and at the remaining 2/3 with 10 to 15 minutes left in the boil.

Then I'd use .50oz Liberty at 15 min and .50oz Liberty at flameout. I've used Mt Hood, very similar to Liberty, in a couple IRA's and they've come out fantastic.

 

[sundowner]

An Irish Red should really only have a touch of roasted barley for color and a hint of roasted flavor..no choclolate malt. Use English hops...

 

[Yooper]

I was drinking Smithwick's last night- and it's not really an Irish red. It's pretty dark in color, so you're ok with the color. I think of it as "Guiness Light", like Guiness in color and body but without much roasty flavor to speak of. I think the chocolate will work just fine.