Hopstarbursted Red Ale

[Jkenward]

My local Nano is having a halloween event and are inviting some homebrewers to come out and brew Halloween candy themed beers. I got an invite. Initially I was thinking chocolate coconut/peanut butter porter, but alas that was already a popular idea. And so I remember a flavor decription of El Dorado hops as Jolly Rancher Candy like. So I came up with this recipe which should hopefully give the impression of tropical fruit starburst or jolly rancher candy, but not quite so cloying. Feedback requested please.

So here's the recipe I came up with:

Hop Starbursted Red Ale

OG 1.064
FG 1.014
5.5 gallons
abv 6.65
68% efficiency

13lb American 2 row
1/2lb Crystal 20
1/4lb Crystal 40
6oz Honey malt
1/4lb Blackprinz (for color)

Hops:
.75 oz Magnum @ 60 min (any clean bittering hop will be fine, targeting around 35-40 ibu)
1oz Citra @ 10 mins
1oz Citra@ 1 min
1oz El Dorado@ 1min
2 oz El Dorado dry hop
1 oz Citra dry hop

Cal ale/american ale yeast
Ferment at 67 degrees F

 

[slym2none]

Melanoiden too bready? (colour)

 

[Sir-Hops-A-Lot]

I believe that 1/4 black prinz will make it darker than a red ale.
go for 1/8 of a pound (just 2 oz)
Otherwise it looks like a tasty IPA

 

[aprichman]

I would take out all the caramel and honey malts, just add enough blackprinz for color. In my opinion El Dorado mimics watermelon Jolly Ranchers, which have a pretty distinct flavor that is not reminiscent of starbursts.

Watermelon Jolly Rancher Red Ale

13 lbs 2-row
1/8 lbs blackprinz

30 IBU FWH (any clean bittering hop will work)

1oz El Dorado @ 10
1oz El Dorado @ 5
2oz El Dorado @ 170F (30 minute hopstand)
2oz El Dorado @ dryhop

A clean american yeast would work well, but something like vermont ipa yeast would also work great

 

[Jkenward]

Thanks for the feedback so far. I think I'll scale back the blackprinz. at 4oz beersmith calculates 16 srm, 3oz= 14srm and 2oz = 12 srm. BJCP puts amber ae color range between 10-17, and Irish red 9-18. Originally I was thinking on the darker end, but if I extract more and end up brown, that wouldnt be too good.

Aprichman, I sometimes skip the crystal on IPAs, but the lightly kilned ones seemed right to bring out the candiness for this beer. What would you mash at if you were going straight 2 row (and blackprinz for color) to get the character you would want in your version?

I've never heard of vermont ipa yeast, I'll look into that. I might go for 4oz El Dorado and 2oz citra. I do like citra so much.

 

[m00ps]

I would take out all the caramel and honey malts, just add enough blackprinz for color. In my opinion El Dorado mimics watermelon Jolly Ranchers, which have a pretty distinct flavor that is not reminiscent of starbursts.

Watermelon Jolly Rancher Red Ale

13 lbs 2-row
1/8 lbs blackprinz

30 IBU FWH (any clean bittering hop will work)

1oz El Dorado @ 10
1oz El Dorado @ 5
2oz El Dorado @ 170F (30 minute hopstand)
2oz El Dorado @ dryhop

A clean american yeast would work well, but something like vermont ipa yeast would also work great

I have an el dorado based Jolly Rancher IPA coming up next weekend. I plan to dissolve 20 pieces of the actual candy to add in the fermentor. Going to use watermelon and grape I think. Thoughts?

 

[aprichman]

Thanks for the feedback so far. I think I'll scale back the blackprinz. at 4oz beersmith calculates 16 srm, 3oz= 14srm and 2oz = 12 srm. BJCP puts amber ae color range between 10-17, and Irish red 9-18. Originally I was thinking on the darker end, but if I extract more and end up brown, that wouldnt be too good.

Aprichman, I sometimes skip the crystal on IPAs, but the lightly kilned ones seemed right to bring out the candiness for this beer. What would you mash at if you were going straight 2 row (and blackprinz for color) to get the character you would want in your version?

I've never heard of vermont ipa yeast, I'll look into that. I might go for 4oz El Dorado and 2oz citra. I do like citra so much.

Considering that both yeasts (especially Vermont IPA) I would mash around 153-155F if you're looking for some residual sweetness. A little bit of honey malt or crystal (10-15 IMO) would be good also if you're trying to accentuate sweetness. Keep in mind though that El Dorado hops tend to impart a sweet flavor on the beer as well, so use your crystal and honey malts sparingly.

Citra and El Dorado could be a good combination, El Dorado imparts a pretty big flavor on the beer so I think it would stand up to Citra pretty well. My last pale ale was about 1:1 Columbus & El Dorado and the El Dorado still dominated the palette.

 

[aprichman]

I have an el dorado based Jolly Rancher IPA coming up next weekend. I plan to dissolve 20 pieces of the actual candy to add in the fermentor. Going to use watermelon and grape I think. Thoughts?

I love it m00ps - that sounds like a crazy and awesome idea How are you planning on dissolving the jolly ranchers? I could see the grape playing well with the watermelon in something like a 2:1 watermelon:grape ratio.

 

[m00ps]

I was going to try putting them in a flask with warm water. Hopefully theyll dissolve over a few days, then barely bring it to a boil and try to get it into the fermentor without too much splashing

 

[Jkenward]

In researching this beer, I stumbled across this old BYO article by Chris Colby. Below is the part you may find relevant for your jolly rancher beer. He uses 4 Pounds of them!

http://byo.com/malt/item/940-jolly-rancher-apple-lambic

"Cool wort, transfer to fermenter, aerate and pitch yeast/bacteria blend. Ferment at 70 °F (21 °C). After one week, boil yeast nutrients in 1 gallon (3.8 L) of water and dissolve candies into this liquid. (It takes at least 20 minutes for the candies to fully dissolve.) Cool “candy water” to 70 °F (21 °C) and rack to secondary fermenter. Rack beer from primary into candy water, making 5 gallons (19 L). (Don’t splash or otherwise aerate wort at this stage.)"

 

[m00ps]

thanks! yeah that's probably how ill add the candies. I think im gonna try dumping it down the side of the fermentor though since I dont want to secondary an IPA. cool idea for a lambic though