Specialty IPA: Red IPA India Red Ale

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Just racked into my secondary as I only have one keg, and I just filled that with my pale ale. Gravity looks good, and tasted great. Dry hopped with .5 oz simcoe .5 amarillo, and 1 oz cascade. The recipe is a bit altered at this point, but I have a felling it will be delicious.
Although I am a bit woried it is going to taste like oranges because I ran out of star-san so I just used orange scented dawn to sanatize....
Haha you can all breath thats a joke! RDWHAHB!
:mug:
 
Oh, right, I guess I never came back with my impressions on this. So I brewed it with some Apollo, Summit, and Cascade as I mentioned in one of my previous posts, otherwise using the grain bill from the 2nd recipe with even amounts of C40 and C80, scaled down to 2.5 gallons. I like it, but it's really got a little too much sweetness for my taste and it's a bit hot. Maybe it's just too early to tell, it's been in the bottle for almost 4 weeks. I tend to dive into my beers pretty early since I mostly do IPAs. It is good, I like it, I'll probably keep this recipe and work on it for a future brew. I'll just have to give it some time to see how much I like it. :)
 
Give it another 2 weeks or month. It really is slow to come to its potential. I am usually not good at waiting, but recipe needs it. Seems like 4-6 weeks in the keg(I do not secondary) helps it all smooth out and find a sweet harmony. This recipe is sweeter than the average NW IPA for sure, so you may want to play with the grain bill to suite your tastes. I have never had this beer have that hot alcohol character, so I hope that disappears for you.

Cheers,
Tim


Oh, right, I guess I never came back with my impressions on this. So I brewed it with some Apollo, Summit, and Cascade as I mentioned in one of my previous posts, otherwise using the grain bill from the 2nd recipe with even amounts of C40 and C80, scaled down to 2.5 gallons. I like it, but it's really got a little too much sweetness for my taste and it's a bit hot. Maybe it's just too early to tell, it's been in the bottle for almost 4 weeks. I tend to dive into my beers pretty early since I mostly do IPAs. It is good, I like it, I'll probably keep this recipe and work on it for a future brew. I'll just have to give it some time to see how much I like it. :)
 
DustBow, I think if you do as mentioned; and bring the crystal down a bit you will find the hops shining through a bit more. I have also tried decreasing the munich to 3 lbs and the upping the 2 row to 8.5 lbs, and that made the hops pop a bit more too. Glad it turned out OK and you are trying another iteration.

Interestingly enough, this beer actually seemed to get hoppier the longer it was in the keg....so we drank it faster....the keg has been kicked for a while now, but forgot to follow up.

Great grain bill that is versatile and can handle just about any hop bombing you want to throw at it
 
Give it another 2 weeks or month. It really is slow to come to its potential. I am usually not good at waiting, but recipe needs it. Seems like 4-6 weeks in the keg(I do not secondary) helps it all smooth out and find a sweet harmony. This recipe is sweeter than the average NW IPA for sure, so you may want to play with the grain bill to suite your tastes. I have never had this beer have that hot alcohol character, so I hope that disappears for you.

Cheers,
Tim

I'm optimistic, I made an IRA before this one that I originally named "Red Dragon" because it's so hot, but even that one is cooling off bit by bit. I kinda wish I hadn't bottled it in bombers. :) I'm sure this one will come around, and it's drinkable as it is.
 
Brewed this iteration today with some awesome hops just harvested and dried from BC hop farms in Woodburn OR Notched the gravity down a bit to make it more sessionable. Also did more of a "hopbursting" hop schedule, getting about 1/2 the IBU in the last 5 min. Cut the crystal to just 6% of total grain bill.

OG 1.060
IBU 60
6 gallons
Color 16.7 SRM

6.5 lbs Great Western Organic 2-row
5.0 lbs Great Western Organic Munich (6L)
.5 lbs Great Western Organic C-40
.25 lbs Great Western Organic C-120
.125 lbs. Briess Organic Chocolate Malt

1 oz Magnum (14%) at 30 min
2 oz Centennial (10.1%) at 5 min
2 oz Cascade (8.2%) at 5 min

to dry hop with 2oz Falconers Flight 7 Cs pellets

Slurry of Safale 05 from wet hop IPA
Fermenting at 63f in basement.
 
I am gonna have to brew this one again soon. I thought it was really good. I might need to learn how to not drink the keg in a week to get some age on it lol
 
I am gonna have to brew this one again soon. I thought it was really good. I might need to learn how to not drink the keg in a week to get some age on it lol

;) When this beer comes out right, it really is hard to save! Glad you enjoyed it.

The "light" version I did about 10 days ago is really tasty already. The 7c's as a dryhop is very nice. There is still plenty of malt and hops, but will not kick my ass as quickly. I have a feeling this batch will see an early end!
 
This recipe is too dry, so I cut the crystal a little too much. I also like the original hop bill much more. Oh, well it is still pretty good! \

Edit: I spoke too soon, had one last night and it is getting better, more rounded. Need to heed my own advice and sit on this one for a another few weeks.



Brewed this iteration today with some awesome hops just harvested and dried from BC hop farms in Woodburn OR Notched the gravity down a bit to make it more sessionable. Also did more of a "hopbursting" hop schedule, getting about 1/2 the IBU in the last 5 min. Cut the crystal to just 6% of total grain bill.

OG 1.060
IBU 60
6 gallons
Color 16.7 SRM

6.5 lbs Great Western Organic 2-row
5.0 lbs Great Western Organic Munich (6L)
.5 lbs Great Western Organic C-40
.25 lbs Great Western Organic C-120
.125 lbs. Briess Organic Chocolate Malt

1 oz Magnum (14%) at 30 min
2 oz Centennial (10.1%) at 5 min
2 oz Cascade (8.2%) at 5 min

to dry hop with 2oz Falconers Flight 7 Cs pellets

Slurry of Safale 05 from wet hop IPA
Fermenting at 63f in basement.
 
I'm gonna give this bad boy a try, just in time to serve at Thanksgiving to the family in the keg!

Using Cascade and Amarillo (2012 crop) that I just got in the mail last week.



Thanks for the great recipe! I've been wanting to do an IRA.
 
I did something similar to this, except I used British ale yeast, 1/2 base of golden promise, some special and victory malt added, some roast barley to add a deeper redness, a lighter hopp profile, and about .25 lb of cane sugar.

so quite a bit different but quite similar :p

Currently sitting in my cool brewings cooler, and will continue to do so till the Sunday after next when I start bottling.
 
I'm gonna give this bad boy a try, just in time to serve at Thanksgiving to the family in the keg!

Using Cascade and Amarillo (2012 crop) that I just got in the mail last week.



Thanks for the great recipe! I've been wanting to do an IRA.

This is a great Fall/Winter ale, perfect for a hoppy Thanksgiving. Are you bittering with the Amarillo? That would be my choice if I were to use only those two hops.

Cheers
 
This is a great Fall/Winter ale, perfect for a hoppy Thanksgiving. Are you bittering with the Amarillo? That would be my choice if I were to use only those two hops.

Cheers

Yep, bittering with Amarillo, then the other additions are split between Amarillo and Cascade. I matched the IBUs appropriately. Probably going to dry hop just with Cascade. This Amarillo is in short supply this year, and I only got a pound.

It's gonna be great!
 
This recipe is too dry, so I cut the crystal a little too much. I also like the original hop bill much more. Oh, well it is still pretty good! \

Edit: I spoke too soon, had one last night and it is getting better, more rounded. Need to heed my own advice and sit on this one for a another few weeks.

I am very pleased with this lighter version of the IRA at this point. It still maintains the defining characteristics of this beer; complex malt and aggressive yet smooth hops. If I have mashed in the 154-155 range to get a bit more body, this beer would be outstanding. To summarize, I upped the volume of the brew to 6 gallons, decreased the total crystal malts to 6% using C-120 instead of C-80, 2oz chocolate malt(450L) instead of 1 oz black patent(550L) and changed the hops to entirely. Note: 7c's pellets have a great aroma as a dry hop.
Also, I used a slightly ligher munich malt, 6L instead of 10L. The color on this version is more classic red than the original, which is a bit darker. Finally, I have moved to the local organic malts I am fortunate to get at a great price in Portland.

Original:
OG 1.065
IBU 70-75
5.5 Gallons
SRM 17

Pale Ale Malt 6.5 lbs
Munich type 1 (10L) 5 lbs.
Crystal 40L .75 lbs
Crystal 90L .5 lbs
Black malt 1 oz

All whole hops
Simcoe(13% aa) 1 oz 60 min
Amarillo(9.3% aa)1 oz 30 min
Cascade (7% aa)1 oz 5 min

Simcoe .5 oz dry hops
Amarillo 1 oz dry hops
Cascade .5 oz dry hops

Mash 153 for 60 min
Collect 7 gallons
Boil 90 min

American Ale yeast.

"Lower Gravity/IBU version"

OG 1.060
IBU 60
6 gallons
Color 16.7 SRM

6.5 lbs Great Western Organic 2-row
5.0 lbs Great Western Organic Munich (6L)
.5 lbs Great Western Organic C-40
.25 lbs Great Western Organic C-120
.125 lbs. Briess Organic Chocolate Malt(2 oz)

1 oz Magnum (14%) at 30 min
2 oz Centennial (10.1%) at 5 min
2 oz Cascade (8.2%) at 5 min

to dry hop with 2oz Falconers Flight 7 Cs pellets

Slurry of Safale 05 from wet hop IPA
Fermenting at 63f in basement.
TimBrewz is online now Report Post
 
This is the latest, lighter version. I love the color, a classic red ale. Perfect for a Friday evening:)

IRA Light 11:09:12.jpg
 
Think the lighter color is due more to the lighter Munich or less crystal?
Both, (I use BeerTools) SRM for each malt is as follows:

Original:
2-Row 1.6
Munich 5.17
Crystal 90 4.65
Crystal 40 2.07
Black Malt 3.55
------------
17.04 SRM

Lighter Version:
2-Row 1.2
Munich 4.79
Crystal 40 1.92
Crystal 120 2.87
Choc Malt 5.69
----------
16.47 SRM

Important note regarding color, I have moved to a 60 minute boil from 90 minutes, so some of the decrease in darkness is probably due to less carmelization of the wort. You will see I am getting more color from the 2 oz of chocolate and less from the Munich and crystal malts. Also, the increased volume of the recipe brings the SRM down accordingly.
 
Great looking recipe. I love smooth, rich, hoppy amber ales . . .. and this one looks to fit the bill perfectly. I have a standby amber recipe that I have brewed for a couple years, but looking for another take on what I have been doing. Brewing this tomorrow - thanks for posting.
 
I finally brewed this up and so far so good. Smells great even so early in the game. I'm 10 days in. I just threw in the dry hops today. I did an OZ each of Simcoe, Amarillo and some homegrown Centennial instead of Cascade.
I can't wait for this one. Perfect time of year for this style too! Samples taste great!
Thanks for the recipe!!

I might have to try the lighter version too.
 
Finally got this beer in the keg. This beer is soooo good!! if you are on the fence or have it on the schedule to brew later, you have to brew it now. This is one of the beers I have brewed that I would take over almost any commercial red/IRA beer I've tried (and i live in Portland, OR, home of some good hoppy red ales). Great recipe!
 
Brandx40 said:
Finally got this beer in the keg. This beer is soooo good!! if you are on the fence or have it on the schedule to brew later, you have to brew it now. This is one of the beers I have brewed that I would take over almost any commercial red/IRA beer I've tried (and i live in Portland, OR, home of some good hoppy red ales). Great recipe!

Awesome!
 
Finally got this beer in the keg. This beer is soooo good!! if you are on the fence or have it on the schedule to brew later, you have to brew it now. This is one of the beers I have brewed that I would take over almost any commercial red/IRA beer I've tried (and i live in Portland, OR, home of some good hoppy red ales). Great recipe!

Agreed! Going to brew this for the third time soon. Swmbo requested this recipe for her birthday and ended up killing a corny in a couple of hours.
 
Planning a half batch of the Mosher recipe as my first all-grain BIAB. Wondering about Mosher's choice of hops vs the OP's Simcoe/Amarillo/Cascade combo, sans the dry hop. I want something like the original but a little extra hop kick would also be welcome. Any thoughts on how it might turn out w/o the dry hopping vs Mosher's original? Or should I just go for it? Also planning to use rewashed Wyeast 1332 (Northwest Ale) - sound OK?
 
You may the first to brew this BIAB, cool to hear how it comes out.
I just do not like Goldings very much, so I have not actually brewed the original.
I suppose you could add Cascade as the 5 minute hops instead of the Goldings, and get an extra American style hop kick.
I can't recall if the original is dryhopped? You can get decent aroma from late additions, and you may want to whirlpool the late addition hops at around 190 f for 10-20 minutes before chilling to pull out more aroma.

If you are using 1332 I would mash closer to 150f, as that yeast is not very attenuative. Also, as far as I can remember, the yeast is more malty than hoppy, so if you want a more hop-forward beer you might want to increase the hops a bit or use american ale yeast.

Cheers,

Tim
 
Thanks TimBrewz - great input to help a relative noob. I will surely give feedback on the BIAB version. Original was not dry-hopped, just 2oz Cascade @60, @30, and 2oz Goldings @5. Guess I was not sure if the higher AA Simcoe and Amarillo would have any major impact. Being a half batch, I was going to go with 3 1oz hop additions...maybe Cascade for all 3? I like the whirlpooling @190 idea - neat stuff. Thanks about the yeast also. May just use US-05. Love the thread, am determined to make this great beer!
 
Happy to help:)
Cascade for all additions would be good, 1 oz each would give you around 100 IBU (depending on the AA of your cascades-mine are 8.2% this year) so you may want to plug your hops into a brewing calculator to hit the 70 IBU range.
S-05 yeast does well in this beer. Good choice.

Best brewing!
Tim
 
Brewed 10 gallons of this yesterday, but modified the recipe to reflect the hops I had in the freezer. Man, what a fun brew, and my first 10 gallon batch! Went smoothly for the most part. I have a couple questions though:

1. I boiled for 75 minutes instead of 90, but hit my OG dead on. I assume I'll just have a less caramelly, slightly lighter final product?
2. I stirred the mash a little too long and ended up closer to 151 for my rest. How do you think this will affect the malt character of the beer? I'm hoping it still comes out with some complexity and decent mouthfeel. Not looking for sweet though.
3. I used C-120 instead of 90, at about 5.5 oz. per 5 gallons. Does this sound about right, or too much/not enough?
4. What do you think about the hop schedule and varieties? I also did a 30 minute hop stand @ 170 to pull out more flavor/aroma.

Thanks for the input (and the awesome recipe)!

Here's what I ended up with (10 gallons):

India Red Ale

Style: American Amber Ale
Type: All Grain Calories: 215
Rating: 0.0 Boil Size: 11.32 Gal
IBU's: 75.39 Batch Size: 10.25 Gal
Color: 16.8 SRM Boil Time: 75 minutes
Preboil OG: 1.063
Estimated Actual
Brew Date: - 04/02/2013
OG: 1.066 1.066
FG: 1.016 1.016
ABV: 6.55 % 6.55 %
Efficiency: 78 % 78 %
Serve Date: 04/23/2013 / /

Fermentation Steps
Name Days / Temp Estimated Actual
Primary 21 days @ 64.0°F 04/02/2013 04/02/2013

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
13.00 lbs 51.34 % Briess 2-Row Pale Ale Malt 60 mins 1.037
10.00 lbs 39.49 % Briess Munich 10L 60 mins 1.035
1.50 lbs 5.92 % Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 60 mins 1.034
0.70 lbs 2.76 % Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L 60 mins 1.033
0.12 lbs 0.47 % Black (Patent) Malt 60 mins 1.025

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
2.00 ozs 39.15 Nugget 60 mins 13.00
1.25 ozs 14.82 Nugget 20 mins 13.00
1.00 ozs 9.72 Chinook 15 mins 13.00
2.00 ozs 7.71 Columbus (Tomahawk) 8 mins 8.50
2.50 ozs 3.98 Cascade 3 mins 8.50
2.00 ozs Cascade 7 days 5.50
2.00 ozs Columbus (Tomahawk) 7 days 14.00

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
2.0 pkg Safale US-05 Fermentis US-05

Additions
Amount Name Time Stage
1.00 oz Whirlfloc Tablet 05 mins Boil
0.50 tsp Gypsum 15 mins Boil
0.50 tsp Yeast Nutrient 15 mins Boil

Mash Profile
Sacch' Rest 60 min @ 152.0°F
Add 31.65 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 169.6°F
Sparge
Sparge 28.81 qt ( 0.00 qt/lb ) of 192.0°F water over 10 mins

Carbonation
Amount Type Beer Temp CO2 Vols
10.2 psi Force Carbonation 36.0°F 2.50
 
1. Boil is fine. No worries there.
2.151 mash is also fine- standard IPA mash with some crystal malts is 150-153
3. C-120 is good in this beer. Will add a little "raisiny " character.
4. The hops are pretty heavy herbal ones, especially the Nugget and Columbus. Will be good to hear how this comes out. The Chinook should impart a bit of pine. You might want to dry hop with a bit less Columbus if the beer seems too earthy/herbal at end of primary. Maybe sub some Chinook?

Glad the brew day went well,

Keep us posted!

Cheers, Tim
 
Thanks Tim, I was thinking the same about the dry hop. Since I have 2 separate fermenters I think I'll try one with the Cascade/Columbus blend and one with Citra. Any idea about how Citra would blend with the other hops, and the ideal amount? Haven't used it yet. Thanks again!
 
Going to use this grainbill again this weekend. I want to use some of my Mosaic hop stash, not sure whether to pair it with some something different like Simcoe or go ahead with some Citra and/or Galaxy to try a "hop fruit bomb" :)
 
Citra would be very good, I think.


Thanks Tim, I was thinking the same about the dry hop. Since I have 2 separate fermenters I think I'll try one with the Cascade/Columbus blend and one with Citra. Any idea about how Citra would blend with the other hops, and the ideal amount? Haven't used it yet. Thanks again!
 
I just bought my first Mosaic hops-they smell amazing.I could pick up the Simcoe heritage in the aroma-but certainly not the same as Simcoe. I want to hear how this goes. I think either combo would be great.


Going to use this grainbill again this weekend. I want to use some of my Mosaic hop stash, not sure whether to pair it with some something different like Simcoe or go ahead with some Citra and/or Galaxy to try a "hop fruit bomb" :)
 
I just bought my first Mosaic hops-they smell amazing.I could pick up the Simcoe heritage in the aroma-but certainly not the same as Simcoe. I want to hear how this goes. I think either combo would be great.

Decided on Simcoe - thinking a 2:1 ratio of Mosaic to Simcoe, with additions at 15, 10, 5 and whirlpool/steep.

Brewing this weekend, will report back in 4-6 weeks...

"I hate waiting" - Inigo Montoya
"The waiting is the hardest part" - Tom Petty
:p
 
I use .3 gallons water per pound of grain. Since the temperature of my grain changes (I keep in garage), I use similar calculators as shown by SilverZero. So with 13 lbs grain/.3 is 3.9 gallons water. Usually I heat to 170, keep some boiling and cold water handy and then just mix in the grains checking the temp as I go and add extra hot or cold water to hit my target. I am usually very close to 152-3 without using any extra hot/cold water.
 
Just dry hopped 5 gal with Cascade/Columbus/Citra, and another 5 gal with Cascade/Columbus/Simcoe. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.
 
Damn it Tim. Just cracked my first bottle brewed on 4/8. Subed nugget for bittering cause I only had an ounce of Simcoe, and added the other half ounce at flame out. It's good. Best beer I have made. Except due to wort loss with the hops this is my only bottle, as the rest are for my groomsmen next Friday. All this tasty goodness and I can't touch it.
 
Damn it Tim. Just cracked my first bottle brewed on 4/8. Subed nugget for bittering cause I only had an ounce of Simcoe, and added the other half ounce at flame out. It's good. Best beer I have made. Except due to wort loss with the hops this is my only bottle, as the rest are for my groomsmen next Friday. All this tasty goodness and I can't touch it.

Congrats on the pending nuptials! Glad you like the beer. Did you add Nugget or Simcoe at flame out?

Cheers,
Tim
 
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