Irish Red Ale: Yeast Questions

[Roz762]

Hi Everyone,

Getting back in to brewing after a long, long hiatus. I'm going to ease back in with a crowd-pleasing, easy-to-brew IRA. Here's the recipe for a 5 gal. batch (lifted from Midwest):

9 lbs. Pale Malt (2 row)
12 oz. Caramel 40
4 oz. Roasted Barley
4 oz. Special B
1 oz. East Kent Goldings - 60 min. boil

Mash in at 152 deg. for 60 min. Batch sparge.

My question is about yeast choices. I'm looking for a very clean profile on this one that will let the malt and roasted notes come out and also lend itself to knocking several back at a time without getting worn out on too much flavor. I'd say as lager-like as possible while still giving a nod to the style. Again, I picture a yeast that would be balaced between malt and hops, but maybe favor the malt a little more than the hops. I also would like to get drinking in a reasonable amount of time. I do keg, so that helps as well.

Most of the recipes I see are split between two types of yeast, (1) Irish Ale yeast like WLP004, or (2) American ale yeast like WLP060. Now, in looking at White Lab's listing of strains, I'm wondering if even WLP810 San Francisco Lager yeast fermented at around 60-65 deg. would get the job done as like a quasi-lager, but I'm very unfamiliar with this strain. Maybe even WLP011 European Ale or WLP007 Dry English Ale? Maybe the original two are the best options? Not sure. So...

I'll submit my case to the experts here for opinions.

Also, feel free to chime in on other aspects of the recipe as well (grain, hops, etc.).

Thanks everyone,

- Roz

 

[giraffe]

Depends how dry you want the beer to be. Here are some clean-ish strains that are malt forward, without too much esters.

A little residual sweetness is fine: Irish ale (prone to producing diacetyl, and is a little fruity), 810 Anchor steam, would work fine, wlp011 has a earthy note, and alt strain can work too as in wlp036. The scottish strain wlp028 (can give a faint smoke flavor)

Dry but still malty: wyeast 1335, wlp007, wlp051.

 

[Roz762]

I'm liking the idea of using WLP810 San Francisco. It's takes a little digging to find out what kind of characteristics it will lend to the beer, mainly because it's a little difficult to discern what the yeast is like when brewed in something other than a steam.

So if I go with 810, I could ferment at, say 60-62 deg, the result would be pretty clean and lager like? Could I treat it just like an ale procedure (i.e. Set the temp and let it cruise for like 3 weeks then keg)?

- Roz

 

[ericbw]

That's very close to my Irish Red recipe. I think mine has some Crystal 10. And I use 2-row base and Maris otter (half and half).

If you like malty, WLP 004 is the way to go. It gives it a creamy feel, so it's definitely an ale.

I ferment 3-4 weeks at 64ish, then cold condition for 2-4 weeks. It's always much better at 4. I think that yeast needs to rest a little.

And it is better as the glass warms up some.