newb irish red ale question

[RebelBrew]

Hello everybody,

Brand new here and to home brewing, gonna bust my cherry tomorrow, saturday, and am going to do an all extract kit for my first time. It's the true brew red ale kit, 1 can hopped light, 1 can unhopped light, 4 ounces of Weyerman melanoidin malt to be steeped before adding extract, and 1 ounce liberty hop pellets, half at 30min and half at 5 min.

I'm looking for suggestions on what i can do to give it a more robust malt flavor? I was thinking about adding some roasted barley malt, or even maybe some chocolate. More of or a different kind of hops? I will not be doing a secondary fermentation on this batch so it needs to be up front.

Also any insights into the traditional brewing of this particular beer, any long winded stories or suggestions, i'd love to hear them! I have read that this used to be a robust and flavorful beer, but here in america we've ruined it and turned it into another mass produced piss water so anybody with some insight into traditional brewing methods or recipes please edumicate me.

Cheers

 

[mightynintendo]

Aromatic malt will give you an excellent malt flavor. Really to get that malt flavor you're looking for you probably need to do a partial mash.

 

[halite]

traditionally a red ale in Ireland was a robust beer, very much focussed on the malts and the hops played little or no part in the beer. However there are some microbrews in Ireland that are starting to make very good red ales that are nice and medium bodied but have a really good hop presence. In particular there is a microbrewery called porterhouse which has a really nice red ale.

For your beer I would suggest adding in some chocolate malt into your steeping grains, however go easy on them as they can overpower a beer, you want just a hint.

 

[RebelBrew]

Alright, brewed yesterday and everything went great. I did add two oz. of chocolate malt to the grain bag and it gave an awesome color and made my house smell like a bakery. SWEET! one thing i did run into, the wife is out of town and I was brewing by myself so i couldn't pour the wort through the hop bag. Will it hurt anything by leaving the hops in there during fermentation? My thought was to siphon through the hop bag into the bottling bucket in a couple of weeks, will this be ok?

True happiness is looking at your fermenter at the end of the day and seeing bubbles. Badass!!

 

[FreeM80s]

i couldn't pour the wort through the hop bag. Will it hurt anything by leaving the hops in there during fermentation?

nah, you're good. everything will settle into the trub.

My thought was to siphon through the hop bag into the bottling bucket in a couple of weeks, will this be ok?

2 schools of thought on this:
1. No way. it would lead to oxidation.
2. Yes way. it takes way more agitation of the beer than something like straining or pouring.

 

[mitch171]

2 schools of thought on this:
1. No way. it would lead to oxidation.
2. Yes way. it takes way more agitation of the beer than something like straining or pouring.

3. It is your first batch and it will be long drunk before oxidation will ever be noticeable.

 

[FreeM80s]

3. It is your first batch and it will be long drunk before oxidation will ever be noticeable.

QTF^ Rebel, as a new brewer you are going to hear a lot of things. boogymen stories about oxidation and fussels... the most important advice you can ever get on here is this: RDWHAHB.
well, that, and SWMBO means SWMBO

 

[mitch171]

QTF^ Rebel, as a new brewer you are going to hear a lot of things. boogymen stories about oxidation and fussels... the most important advice you can ever get on here is this: RDWHAHB.
well, that, and SWMBO means SWMBO

QTF meaning quite the truth or quite fin talking... lol

 

[RebelBrew]

I checked on my fermenter last night and this morning, and the airlock isn't bubbling anymore, which means it was only going for about a day and a half. Should I be worried? Is this what they call a stuck fermentation?

 

[halite]

Should I be worried? Is this what they call a stuck fermentation?

Not necessarily, you could have just had the perfect fermentation conditions which led to a rapid fermentation, or you could have a leak which means the bubbler isn't indicating that fermentation is happening.

The key rule is, do not trust the airlock, take a hydrometer reading, this is the only way to know exactly how fermentation is progressing.

I would leave it another day and then take a hydrometer reading.

 

[Bach7210]

I checked on my fermenter last night and this morning, and the airlock isn't bubbling anymore, which means it was only going for about a day and a half. Should I be worried? Is this what they call a stuck fermentation?

How long has it been in primary? If it hasn't been 14 days, then leave it sit. At day 14, take a hydrometer reading; same at day 15 and day 16. If all 3 match (and you are on or close to your FG) then your fermentation is finished and you can move to cold crashing or even letting it sit in primary for a bit longer.

 

[Pappers_]

I checked on my fermenter last night and this morning, and the airlock isn't bubbling anymore, which means it was only going for about a day and a half. Should I be worried? Is this what they call a stuck fermentation?

My advice is to not worry, let it sit for a couple of weeks beforeyou take a gravity reading

 

[Blackgaurd_Brewing]

traditionally a red ale in Ireland was a robust beer, very much focussed on the malts and the hops played little or no part in the beer. However there are some microbrews in Ireland that are starting to make very good red ales that are nice and medium bodied but have a really good hop presence. In particular there is a microbrewery called porterhouse which has a really nice red ale.

For your beer I would suggest adding in some chocolate malt into your steeping grains, however go easy on them as they can overpower a beer, you want just a hint.

Interestingly enough a good friend just brought back a bottle of this exact beer, ill be opening it tonight. I am really looking forward to it, i am sad though because no matter how good it is I cant get more. It does however have all the ingredients listed on the bottle so a clone is a possibility.

I agree that reds shouldnt be a boring lager, its meant to be a very flavorful, malty ale. I love a good red!

 

[halite]

Interestingly enough a good friend just brought back a bottle of this exact beer, ill be opening it tonight

Although the bottle is OK, unfortunately it does not compare to the draught version of this beer. I wrote a review of both of them on my blog recently, you can read it here:

http://riverroadbrewery.blogspot.com/2010/05/beer-review-same-beer-different-results.html

Hope you enjoy the beer

 

[RebelBrew]

Although the bottle is OK, unfortunately it does not compare to the draught version of this beer. I wrote a review of both of them on my blog recently, you can read it here:

http://riverroadbrewery.blogspot.com/2010/05/beer-review-same-beer-different-results.html

Thanks for all the help, look forward to reading your review

so....
1) don't worry about it, CHECK

2) take gravity readings in a week, CHECK

3) pop the top on Ommegang Three Philosophers Quadruple to celebrate not doing anything, DOUBLE CHECK

 

[halite]

) pop the top on Ommegang Three Philosophers Quadruple to celebrate not doing anything, DOUBLE CHECK

enjoy the beer.

 

[E-Z]

This was also the first batch I ever brewed; way back in January. It was okay, a little sweet for my taste but that leads me to my first bit of advice: Let it sit. At LEAST 4 weeks before bottling. Very hard to do, especially on the first batch...I couldn't do it but I did put some bottles back for later. This one ages well.
2nd piece of advice, and more important: brew again. Before getting this one into the bottle.

 

[althalos]

gonna bust my cherry tomorrow, saturday, and am going to do an all extract kit for my first time.

That sounds...not very hygenic, to do both at the same time but congratulations anyway.

Try adding Victory Malt or Munich Malt.

 

[Catnip_X07]

Noob here too. Is it really required to rack this beer into a secondary for a few more weeks after the 2 week primary? I don't bottle as I have a kegging system set up. If I allowed the beer to condition in the keg for a few days with CO2, will this harm anything?