I brewed a recipe below a few months ago for an imperial red ale. The taste was fantastic but I was disappointed with the color of the beer. I was hoping for a much deeper " ruby red" color. When I picked up the ingredients, the shop substituted one ingredient and said it shouldn't affect the color but I am going to brew it again and want to make sure I get the the right color. Open to suggestions for how to make it more "red"...
original brew "Red Tail Hawk IRA": (was going for something similar to Lagunitas Imperial Red)
7lbs Pale DME (Briess Golden Light DME)
steeping grains:
1lb Munich Malt (see substitution below)
.5lb Briess Victory
.5lb Crystal Malt 120l
1lb Crystal Malt 45l
hops:
3oz Amarillo pellets
3oz Centennial pellets
White Labs Calif. Ale yeast WLP001 (made starter)
The shop was out of the Munich Malt (srm9?) and subbed .25lb munich malt 30l and .75 Vienna instead.
I did a 90 minute boil with 4 gallons after steeping grains for 30 minutes
4lbs DME @ 90 min
3lbs DME @ 20min remaining
.5 centennial and amarillo @ 20 min left
1oz centennial and amarillo at 10 left
1.5oz of centennial and amarillo at flameout
1.064 OG. after about 2 weeks I transferred to secondary and put in 1oz of centennial for dry hop. FG after 4 weeks was 1.014 for ABV of 6.6%. Taste was great, and it looked good but wasn't as red as I had hoped to achieve. SRM 15 according to brewsmith. Photo below but the sun made it look more red than it looked in person. it was close just not quite there IMHO.
Any ideas of what I can do to get more red this time around?
use Cara Red? would I substitute this for something or just add it?
i read where some were getting red color from 20l and 120l?
or a bit of roasted barley I've read is used in most Irish red ales.
original brew "Red Tail Hawk IRA": (was going for something similar to Lagunitas Imperial Red)
7lbs Pale DME (Briess Golden Light DME)
steeping grains:
1lb Munich Malt (see substitution below)
.5lb Briess Victory
.5lb Crystal Malt 120l
1lb Crystal Malt 45l
hops:
3oz Amarillo pellets
3oz Centennial pellets
White Labs Calif. Ale yeast WLP001 (made starter)
The shop was out of the Munich Malt (srm9?) and subbed .25lb munich malt 30l and .75 Vienna instead.
I did a 90 minute boil with 4 gallons after steeping grains for 30 minutes
4lbs DME @ 90 min
3lbs DME @ 20min remaining
.5 centennial and amarillo @ 20 min left
1oz centennial and amarillo at 10 left
1.5oz of centennial and amarillo at flameout
1.064 OG. after about 2 weeks I transferred to secondary and put in 1oz of centennial for dry hop. FG after 4 weeks was 1.014 for ABV of 6.6%. Taste was great, and it looked good but wasn't as red as I had hoped to achieve. SRM 15 according to brewsmith. Photo below but the sun made it look more red than it looked in person. it was close just not quite there IMHO.
Any ideas of what I can do to get more red this time around?
use Cara Red? would I substitute this for something or just add it?
i read where some were getting red color from 20l and 120l?
or a bit of roasted barley I've read is used in most Irish red ales.
