india red ale any suggestions?

[haydenpwns]

Im semi new to brewing(have just brewed a few ingredient kits) and wanted to make a india red ale.
Using the hops and malts I have already. I've come up with this recipe any advice and critiques would be greatly appreciated.

Pale Ale Malt 12 lbs

Crystal 60L .5 lbs

Crystal 120L .25 lbs


All whole hops
Columbus (15% aa) 1.5 oz 60 min
Cascade (5.13% aa) 1 oz 10 min
Cascade (5.13% aa) 1 oz 5 min
Amarillo (9.3% aa) 1 oz 1 min


Amarillo 1.5 oz dry hops
Cascade .5 oz dry hops

Mash 153 for 60 min
Collect 7 gallons
Boil 90 min

 

[chickypad]

If you have any you might consider adding a couple oz of chocolate or roasted barley to bump up the color a bit if you want it red, and/or increase the dark crystal. Normally I'm not one for much crystal in a regular IPA but I do go a little higher in an amber/red (plus mash low). I also find a couple lbs of vienna is nice in these but sounds like you may be trying to use stuff on hand. Do you have the specs for it? 1.5 oz of columbus seems like a lot of bittering just wondering what BU:GU ratio you're shooting for. Otherwise I like the hop schedule.

 

[haydenpwns]

After going through more red ale recipes I think youre definitely right. I might swing by the lhbs and pick up some chocolate. I think I will reduce the crystal 60 and put some chocolate in. I think ill lower the columbus to just 1 oz. Im most worried about how cascade and Amarillo go together. All I ever see is simcoe / amarillo. Do you think id be better off picking up some citra and dry hopping 1 oz citra 1oz amarillo? or do you think cascade amarillo are a good pair? (im thinking citra because I just had wookey jack and was loving it!) im trying to capture some fruity flavors with amarillo I think they go really well with the darker red malt.

 

[Brewmex41]

I like to add a couple oz of midnight wheat malt. 3 oz is usually enough to go from Ipa to Ira range in a 5 gal batch. It's 500 Srm but has none of the harsher bitterness from other roasted barley varieties.
I did a 3 gallon batch with 4oz midnight wheat and 4oz black prinz malt and didn't get any roasted burnt flavors from it.

 

[chickypad]

If you have to make a trip the midnight wheat or other debittered malt is a great suggestion. I'm more likely to have chocolate lying around so that's what I tend to use. The cascade and amarillo will go together just fine. Citra and amarillo can sometimes get a little too fruity for me so I tend to pair those two with something else rather than together. Obviously they can work together too though, I'm a wookey jack fan as well.

 

[Brewmex41]

Did you brew this? I'm doing an Ira next weekend. I'm using some red x malt for color and I'm experimenting with adding hops at 20, 15, 10 and 5 min to go only, to see if I can really pull out hop flavors while still getting 65ibus.
I'll also steep and dry hop.

Looking forward to your results!

 

[jnacey]

Here's the grain bill I use for my hoppy red/amber:

76% Pale Malt
12% Munich Malt
7% Carastan (something like C40-C60 would be fine)
3% C120L
2% Pale Chocolate Malt

That gets you a nice amber hue. I tend to mash a little higher, but I like a beer like this a bit more full-bodied.

If you have any centennials on hand, they tend to go nicely with amarillo in my opinion. Taste that after its done fermenting and dry hop with a bit of centennial/amarillo and if you want it fruitier add some citra.