Irish Red Ale (first time with CaraAmber/Munich)

[mtemple]

Working on a red ale and haven't use CaraAmber before. What do y'all think about the below? About a 5gal ferment
3lb CaraAmber
2lb CaraMunich
3lb Maris Otter Pale
2lb Pale 2row

1oz Cascade 15m
1oz Centennial 15m
90m boil (trying to achieve aroma moreso here)

 

[Miraculix]

Working on a red ale and haven't use CaraAmber before. What do y'all think about the below? About a 5gal ferment
3lb CaraAmber
2lb CaraMunich
3lb Maris Otter Pale
2lb Pale 2row

1oz Cascade 15m
1oz Centennial 15m
90m boil (trying to achieve aroma moreso here)

Everything Cara is a crystal malt.

You are looking at a 50% crystal malt beer, that is too much.

An Irish red is defined by a few things and you are actually hitting none of them here, except maybe the colour.

Irish red gets its colour from roasted barley. Something between 2-4% usually hits the spot, but check that for yourself.

The next thing is that an Irish red is brewed with noble hops and has no to very little late additions. This results in not much to zero hop aroma.

Also there's not much of yeast expression, something clean should do, like for example Nottingham.

You can make a perfect Irish red with base malt and roasted barley only. If you want to add crystal malt, which I personally wouldn't, don't go overboard with it. 5% is more than enough.

 

[mtemple]

Okay, thank you for all of that! And that's why I'm here. So I'll take a look at the grain bill and adjust my hops to probably Hallertau/Saaz and see where I end up!

 

[Miraculix]

Okay, thank you for all of that! And that's why I'm here. So I'll take a look at the grain bill and adjust my hops to probably Hallertau/Saaz and see where I end up!

Or you switch to American red ale. I'd prefer that over an Irish red, but that's obviously just my personal taste.

American red is basically what you got there already, with way too much crystal of course, but still ticks all the boxes. Reduce the crystal to ten to twenty percent (I wouldn't go above ten percent but others do), use us05 and your are good!

 

[mtemple]

Oh, thank you. I was playing around in Brewfather and had it set to *American Irish Red*, so I guess that's where the disconnect was in my calculations. How about the BU:GU on this profile? I tend for it to be maltier, but I still want it firm.

 

[jdauria]

Agree with Miraculix, way to much crystal malts, crystal/caramel malts should not be more than 5-10% at max, otherwise you will get a cloyingly sweet beer. I disagree on the hops though, IMO an Irish Red should use British hops, something like East Kent Golding, Fuggles etc...but definitely should not be strong in the flavor or aroma.

 

[Miraculix]

Agree with Miraculix, way to much crystal malts, crystal/caramel malts should not be more than 5-10% at max, otherwise you will get a cloyingly sweet beer. I disagree on the hops though, IMO an Irish Red should use British hops, something like East Kent Golding, Fuggles etc...but definitely should not be strong in the flavor or aroma.

That's basically what I said regarding hops.

UK and European mainland hops can and have been historically used interchangeably in UK style beers. They are pretty close anyway. I like a nice bitter brewed with Mittelfrüh!

 

[Miraculix]

Oh, thank you. I was playing around in Brewfather and had it set to *American Irish Red*, so I guess that's where the disconnect was in my calculations. How about the BU:GU on this profile? I tend for it to be maltier, but I still want it firm.

I personally never really looked at the BU/GU relation. For me it does not work this way, but that might be just me.

It depends a bit on how sweet you like your beers. Maltier means often also a bit sweeter. But it could also mean less hop focused flavour-wise. Or maybe both?

I like my beers balanced and I find them well balanced mostly around 30 IBUs, but I brew mainly British styles, which big parts of the world would considder "small" beer as they are mostly around 4,2% abv. You could go 5 IBUs lower to accentuate the malt more, but for me 30 IBUs is mostly the sweet spot for a well balanced beer in this abv range. For an Irish red, 25 Ibus and about 4.5% abv would be my idea. For an American one, everything goes. 25 to 45 Ibus, 4% to 6% abv, hoppy or super hoppy. Atually, you could also do it more malt forward, with lower Ibus and less flame out and maybe even skip the dry hop.

 

[Oleson M.D.]

Here is a great recipe that we will share with you, and everyone here:

10 gallons
8# Ireks Pale Ale
4# Ireks Vienna
4# Ireks Munich
1# Weyermann Carared
1# Weyermann Carafoam
4 oz Briess Roast Barley 300 degree

If you want more roast flavor, add more roast barley.

The grain bill will get you that nice reddish color.

Brewed this recipe two times now. Best Irish Red!

 

[dwightr8]

Working on a red ale and haven't use CaraAmber before. What do y'all think about the below? About a 5gal ferment
3lb CaraAmber
2lb CaraMunich
3lb Maris Otter Pale
2lb Pale 2row

1oz Cascade 15m
1oz Centennial 15m
90m boil (trying to achieve aroma moreso here)

You might want to check out this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/raging-red-irish-red-ale.239188/