First AG in 2 Weeks - Irish Red Ale

[sp1365]

Next weekend I will be starting to go to AG brewing using DeathBrewer's Stovetop All-Grain Brewing. I plan on doing an Irish Red Ale which is a variation on an extract recipe I have already done.

Daywalker Irish Red Ale
Irish Red Ale

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 2.50 gal
Boil Size: 3.5 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.50 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 63.64 %
0.75 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 13.64 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 9.09 %
0.50 lb Carared (20.0 SRM) Grain 9.09 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 4.55 %
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 16.1 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (10 min) Hops 5.8 IBU
1 Pkgs British Ale (White Labs #WLP005) Yeast-Ale


Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.052 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.85 %
Bitterness: 22.0 IBU Calories: 198 cal/pint
Est Color: 16.4 SRM

Mash Profile

Mash - 7qt of water at 154F
Batch Sparge - 11 qts of water at 170F

My questions are as follows:
1) Volumes I am planning on: Mash 1.75 Gallons of water and lose 1 gallon to the grain. Batch sparge with 2.75 gallons of water to give me a boil volume of 3.5 gallons. Assume with boil off get 3 gallons to primary, and 2.5 gallons to secondary. This reasonable?

2)My LHBS has a very small selection of yeast. What are some good alternatives to the White Labs British yeast?

3) I have my "planned" efficiency at 65%. Is that a reasonable number?

Sorry for all of the questions and thanks.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

As long as you have a good crush, and your temps are right... 65% is about right. I only got to 58% on my first AG batch though.

Wyeast London Ale would be a good replacement, but why aren't you using Irish Ale yeast for a Red?

As for as everything else...looks good. I wouldn't worry so much about water loss on your first batch. Just try to get things as close as possible, then go back and see where you lost it. You'll lose water in a lot more areas than just evap and grains. Once you get used to your system, you'll know exactly how much water you should add to your calculations to account for this.

 

[sp1365]

The only reason I am not using Irish Ale yeast is due to shipping. Im concerned about the yeast overheating during shipping and arrival(sitting on my porch). My LHBS carries very few strains of yeast (maybe 6 types of White Labs, and a couple dry strains) so I want to see what my options are buying local. If they dont have anything good here then I will probably go online with Irish Ale yeast.

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

I recently brewed my first AG batch, and achieved an 81% brewhouse efficiency with a no mash out double batch sparge. I would set your numbers at about 75%, however, you really just have to brew once to see what your efficeincy is. In Beersmith I had my efficiency set at the default 75% and like I said it ended up being 81% which, of course, changed, the OG calcualtion, I think by 1.001 IIRC.

At any rate, I wouldn't necessarily assume your efficiency is going to be lower than 70-75%, thats what most LHBS set their crush to achieve, as long as your strike temp is accurate and you don't lose too mush heat during your mash you should be okay.

 

[Gremlyn]

You're missing the roasted barley, that's what makes an Irish Red an Irish Red:

Generally has a bit of roasted barley to provide reddish color and dry roasted finish.

Don't let 'Carared' fool you, it's just a medium colour caramel/crystal malt with a fancy name (think it is 30-40L).

 

[sp1365]

Ill have to plug it into BeerSmith, but replace carred and caramel 120 with .25 of Light Roasted 275L?

 

[Gremlyn]

I wouldn't go much over 0.25 lbs of roasted barley for the first batch, it gives quite the nice roastyness and colour. You may need to keep the 120L in there for colour, check what BeerSmith says.