Irish Red

[Nic0]

Our next creation is going to be an Irish Red. THis is our first attempt at making up a recipe rather than following someone else's. We still used some guidelines as to what types of ingredients typically go in this style.

I personaly had never had an Irish Red. So a couple of nights ago I went out to BWW and tried a Killian's. It was good, but very very little bitterness. However I'm under the impression that this style is supposed to be very low on bitterness anyway.

Anybody have some input on Irish Reds?

Thanks!

Nic

 

[BendBrewer]

Yeah Irish Reds are low on the bittering. Maybe you should look at more of an American Red Ale.

 

[gr8shandini]

Killian's is a pretty poor representation of an Irish red. In fact, it's not even an ale, but a lager:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killian's

If you can get your hands on a Harpoon Celtic ale or even a Sam Adams Irish red, you'll get a lot better idea of what to shoot for. I believe Highland Brewing makes one as well, but I haven't tried it.

For me, the yeast is paramount. If you try to use Nottingham or S-04/5, you'll end up with a red ale, but it won't be an Irish red. I use WLP004 without a starter (the horror!) since I like the funkyness. For hops, stick with a clean bittering hop and finish with EKG or Fuggles.

 

[Golddiggie]

I have an Irish red ale still in primary (coming up on three weeks)... For hops I stuck with those from the UK, going with Target for bittering, and Fuggles for flavor/aroma. Very little hops too, since that's to style (just over 17 IBU). I also went with Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale yeast (washed)...

I'm looking forward to pulling a sample for hydrometer readings and tasting in a little bit (tonight)... Need to see if it's about ready for bottles, or if it will need to go longer.

 

[HSB]

I use 6 oz of melanoidan malt (feel like I spelled that wrong...). Great for a nice red color, and I like the maltiness of it.

I use all EKG to get around 22 ibus at 60 minutes and a small (.25 oz) flavor addition. Ibu's should be in line with your OG, though. I shoot for a .4 ratio.

This may get me in trouble with a previous poster, but I've made mine with the irish ale yeast...and I prefer it with S-05 fermented at 59*

 

[BendBrewer]

I tried to make an Irish Red for a competition and I upped the hops because well, I like hops. It wasn't 'HOPPY' it just had some more hops than style called for.

It hosed me. "Great taste. Out of Style."

 

[Golddiggie]

I use 6 oz of melanoidan malt (feel like I spelled that wrong...). Great for a nice red color, and I like the maltiness of it.

I use all EKG to get around 22 ibus at 60 minutes and a small (.25 oz) flavor addition. Ibu's should be in line with your OG, though. I shoot for a .4 ratio.

This may get me in trouble with a previous poster, but I've made mine with the irish ale yeast...and I prefer it with S-05 fermented at 59*

You've done it NOW boyo!!

I used 12oz BCMII (65 SRM) and 4oz more toasted for about 15-20 minutes to make it a bit darker in mine. That was with 5# MO and 5# UK 2-Row base malts...

I used Wyeast 1084 for a couple of reasons... 1. I had it on hand (washed). 2. I like the characteristics listed on Wyeast's info page on it... Especially since the room I ferment in is typically in the mid to lower 60's right now.

 

[rjwhite41]

I used a little melanoidin in mine as well in the 4-5% range. I also use a little amber and a little crystal 120 with a marris otter base. I believe you will get the color better with a little bit of roasted barley, which is traditional to the style. Low bitterness levels, I use kent goldings and fuggles both at 60 min. The yeast really isn't that big a deal, I used Whitbread 1099 last time but as long as it ferments clean and clear you are good. Unlike what someone else said, there shouldn't be any funkiness to an Irish Red. You can make it with lager yeast, there are several major breweries, such as Killians, that do just that. I cold condition my for about a month after fermentation as well. Your goal is a crisp, clean, red beer with a little bit of caramel and maybe some biscuit or toffee notes and a medium body.

Happy Brewing.

 

[Golddiggie]

I tried to make an Irish Red for a competition and I upped the hops because well, I like hops. It wasn't 'HOPPY' it just had some more hops than style called for.

It hosed me. "Great taste. Out of Style."

From what I've heard, judges are sticklers for brews being submitted in a category/style actually fitting WITHIN those style parameters... Go figure...

I'm not nearly ready to submit brews for judging. Especially since I do tend to make mine with more kick than they call for. Especially for brews that have a low ABV range. Such as my Irish red, with an OG of 1.064, and an estimated ABV of 6.19%. Aye, she'll put hair on ye nuts... Hell, we're going to brew a Boddington's Pub Ale clone this weekend. According to the original brew, it's a Standard/Ordinary Bitter... My version/clone is more along the lines of a stoked Special Bitter with the kick of an ESB (but light on IBU's for that)...

If/when I'm ready to submit something for judging, I'll be sure to be within the style (I select) parameters. Otherwise, you're going to have to submit for a different style in order for the brew to match a style. I know, it kind of sucks that they push that on us, but I kind of understand it...

 

[KYB]

Great Lakes Conways Irish Ale is very nice. Smithwicks is pretty decent. Killians sucks IMO, as does Murphys Red. It's funny 3 Floyds Brian Boru is the first example from BJCP. If I recall, it was fairly hoppy for a red (I really enjoy the beer, but doesn't seem to style last I had it).

In mine I use some crystal malt, a little roasted barley (300srm), and a little victory malt. I also use London Ale yeast rather than Irish. Haven't entered it in a comp, but I'm very pleased with this version. Just brewed it again. My co-worker who is very picky about Irish Reds loved mine (homebrewer as well).

 

[GreatWetNorth]

I don't know what the availability is like around the states, but McNally's Extra from Big Rock out of Calgary, AB is a pretty good example. They might call it just an Irish Ale rather than an Irish Red, but I figure that's close enough.

Michael Jackson described it as 'the most characterful Irish-style ale I have tasted.' I'm usually not one for critics, but I happen to agree on this one. The book was published in 1993, for what it's worth, it says the malts 'are Canadian Pale and British Crystal and Black, and the key hop is Eroica.' It clocks in a 7% ABV, by the way.

 

[Scooby_Brew]

I have researched ingredients for Smithwick's once, and it looks like all it is a base pale malt and a touch of roasted barley. For hops they use all Kent Golding's, ABV 3.8% or 4.5% (domestic and export versions).

 

[gr8shandini]

By the way, I've been listening to the Jamil show on the Brewing Network for the last few weeks. He has some good stuff on there about how different beer styles should taste and a basic approach that you can start to modify.

Unfortunately, the episode on Irish reds is a little annoying as it routinely falls into him just shooting the breeze with his buddies about unrelated crap. But there is some interesting info in there about how he feels that the BJCP guidelines can be misleading on this one with a lot of judges putting undue emphasis on the caramel notes and cleanness that's mentioned in the guidelines. It's worth a listen if you fast forward through the filler:

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show/Irish-Red-Ale-The-Jamil-Show-05-05-08

 

[Nic0]

Cool, and thanks. I'll check it out after work.

If anyone is still reading this thread, I have a pretty important question. Would this typically be an hour boil if I'm doing partial extract brewing? It seems like I read that in one of the books but it's been a few weeks and I've been pretty busy with other things so it may have slipped my mind, or I could have it confused with something else.

 

[Nic0]

Your goal is a crisp, clean, red beer with a little bit of caramel and maybe some biscuit or toffee notes and a medium body.

Happy Brewing.

My goal is to make a beer that isn't contaminated and that I'm willing to drink more than once.

So far, I've managed to do that every time. BUT... thanks for the info, I'll certainly take that into account

 

[gr8shandini]

By "partial extract," do you mean steeping some grains or doing a mini-mash? I don't have any experience with mini-mashes, but if you're just steeping grains, the boil is pretty much just to sanitize the wort and for extracting the desired hop compounds. You could probably get away with a larger bittering addition and boil for 45 minutes. But, of course, 15 minutes isn't that big of a time savings compared to the whole brew day, so I'd say stick with the traditional 60 minute addition to make recipe conversion easier should you ever want to go all-grain.

 

[tcory77]

I brewed this one from High Gravity last year:

http://www.highgravitybrew.com/productcart/pc/Kilkenny-s-Penny-Red-213p3426.htm

All I can say is YUMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!! It was fantastic. Check it out. You can view the recipe by clicking the link on that page. Again, good stuff.


Oh.....and I like to use Irish Ale yeast for my stouts and Irish Red brews. It is one kick butt yeast.

 

[Nic0]

By "partial extract," do you mean steeping some grains or doing a mini-mash? I don't have any experience with mini-mashes, but if you're just steeping grains, the boil is pretty much just to sanitize the wort and for extracting the desired hop compounds. You could probably get away with a larger bittering addition and boil for 45 minutes. But, of course, 15 minutes isn't that big of a time savings compared to the whole brew day, so I'd say stick with the traditional 60 minute addition to make recipe conversion easier should you ever want to go all-grain.

By Partial extract I mean I'm using mostly extract, but still steeping some grains in addition. I don't have the recipe in front of me so I forget what the exact amounts are... but probably 80% or more of the total fermentable sugars are coming from the extract.

I brewed this one from High Gravity last year:

http://www.highgravitybrew.com/productcart/pc/Kilkenny-s-Penny-Red-213p3426.htm

All I can say is YUMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!! It was fantastic. Check it out. You can view the recipe by clicking the link on that page. Again, good stuff.


Oh.....and I like to use Irish Ale yeast for my stouts and Irish Red brews. It is one kick butt yeast.

I forget what yeast we have for this... I'll give that a try some time.

 

[JWClep]

I brewed AHS' Irish Red this weekend. It was a pretty simple recipe that used Crystal 120 & Caramunich for color. I guess I shouldn't really tell any more than that, but it came out at a nice dark amber and using their hop schedule it was at the top end of BJCP guidelines.

 

[jlpred55]

Great Lakes Conways Irish Ale is very nice. Smithwicks is pretty decent. Killians sucks IMO, as does Murphys Red. It's funny 3 Floyds Brian Boru is the first example from BJCP. If I recall, it was fairly hoppy for a red (I really enjoy the beer, but doesn't seem to style last I had it).

In mine I use some crystal malt, a little roasted barley (300srm), and a little victory malt. I also use London Ale yeast rather than Irish. Haven't entered it in a comp, but I'm very pleased with this version. Just brewed it again. My co-worker who is very picky about Irish Reds loved mine (homebrewer as well).

#1 to this- the London Ale yeast works wonders in Irish Reds. I use it in mine and it is kick ass (WY1028). The recipe is very simple- MO base, 1lb 50-60L Crystal, 2 oz roasted barley to 1.055 or so. Northdown to about 20 ibus. Mash high 155-156. Comes out fantastic every time.