Irish Red Ale Raging Red Irish Red Ale

[Mysticmead]

just finished making this too!
OG was only 1052
i went to the store and the only honey on the shelf was a 12oz container.
im guessing the missing 4oz of honey and a ****ty sparge are my troubles. next time!
the wort smelled good and the color looked deep red.
it is well aerated and i pitched the yeast with some "yeast energizer" powdered stuff my lhbs had sitting on the shelf.
GO YEAST, GO!!!

I bet you still end up with a hell of a beer.

 

[fatboy34]

Sounds like most let this ferment about 4 weeks...do you rack to secondary, or just leave in primary and then to keg at 4 weeks? Not sure if that would affect color/clarity?

 

[Mysticmead]

Sounds like most let this ferment about 4 weeks...do you rack to secondary, or just leave in primary and then to keg at 4 weeks? Not sure if that would affect color/clarity?

I Do 4 weeks primary then straight to keg or bottle with no secondary. It's nice and clear by then.

 

[Duffman870727]

Yup 4 week primary, bottle, clear as can be. Tastes good too

 

[fatboy34]

Awesome, thanks. Really pumped to taste!

 

[m_stodd]

I put together a partial mash a few days ago, and it's fermenting along quite well.

Used this recipe from earlier in the thread. I ran out of honey, and skimped a little on the water. At the end, I had an OG of ~1.06

 

[mjap52]

Mashed in a few minutes ago on a 15 gallon batch of this for St. Patricks Day! LHBS didn't have Cascade drunk so I'm using Centennial for my 30 minute addition.

 

[Mysticmead]

Mashed in a few minutes ago on a 15 gallon batch of this for St. Patricks Day! LHBS didn't have Cascade drunk so I'm using Centennial for my 30 minute addition.

good substitution on the hops! let me know how it turns out.

 

[METALLIC4]

I brew your receipe today! I replace the 2 Row with Maris Otter! Smell really good and deep red color! I'll taste em in few months...I have a really good feeling! Thank You!

 

[Mysticmead]

great!!! keep us updated on how it turns out

 

[mjap52]

good substitution on the hops! let me know how it turns out.

Will do. Just a question about the honey: When you were making the recipe, did you really want a honey flavor to come through, or were you more going for the gravity points and to dry it out?

I just ask because I've never heard of honey in a Red. I went with the flameout addition as opposed to adding it post fermentation because I didn't want that in your face honey flavor.

 

[Mysticmead]

Will do. Just a question about the honey: When you were making the recipe, did you really want a honey flavor to come through, or were you more going for the gravity points and to dry it out?

I just ask because I've never heard of honey in a Red. I went with the flameout addition as opposed to adding it post fermentation because I didn't want that in your face honey flavor.

it's mainly for the points and to dry it out a bit.

 

[marcha14]

How much water do you use for the strike and sparge?

 

[Mysticmead]

How much water do you use for the strike and sparge?

this was done BIAB.. I used ALL the water needed during mash (7.5 gallons).. since it was BIAB there was no sparge. If you are doing a traditional 3 vessel mash/sparge then use the appropriate amount of water for mashing and sparging based on your equipment.

 

[mjap52]

I mash at 1.5 qts/lb and sparge until I get my desired preboil. For this, doing a 15 gallon batch, I mashed with 11.25 pounds, then sparged until I got to 15 gallons. I boil in a keggle, then just topped off with water after my boil to get to 16.5 in fermentors.

I'm serving this keg on the 16th, going to lager this on gelatin for the next week and rack to keg the week prior to force carb.

 

[Mofoa]

1 month in the bucket is just days away. Hoping to keg this brew this weekend...that's IF my kegs I just purchased come by then.

Oh yeah, I also dry hopped with Galena hops for last two weeks.

 

[jstuts2260]

I make a new recipe of an Irish red every year and this one has been by far my favorite! The melanoiden malt is an amazing addition. It creates a beautiful deep red, but also gives it a depth of malt character I didn't expect. I did change up the hopping schedule to 50 IBU and only used Centennial because I love that hop. Even at 50 IBU the malt character is very prevalent.

Great recipe! Pic to follow tonight.

 

[Mysticmead]

I make a new recipe of an Irish red every year and this one has been by far my favorite! The melanoiden malt is an amazing addition. It creates a beautiful deep red, but also gives it a depth of malt character I didn't expect. I did change up the hopping schedule to 50 IBU and only used Centennial because I love that hop. Even at 50 IBU the malt character is very prevalent.

Great recipe! Pic to follow tonight.

GREAT!! Glad ya like it!

 

[mjap52]

Curious, did anyone adjust their water for this? I ended up using baking soda, epsom salt, and gypsum to get it close to an Ireland water profile.

 

[Kaotica]

Couple iPhone photos, not the best quality. This was in Primary for 24 days, cold crashed for 4 days, and kegged about 2 months ago. Looks great but batch is off a bit, was my first batch with a grain mill and I overshot OG by 10 points, which caused yeast to under attenuate since I didn't have a starter. And didn't have enough hops to balance it out better.

 

[Mysticmead]

Couple iPhone photos, not the best quality. This was in Primary for 24 days, cold crashed for 4 days, and kegged about 2 months ago. Looks great but batch is off a bit, was my first batch with a grain mill and I overshot OG by 10 points, which caused yeast to under attenuate since I didn't have a starter. And didn't have enough hops to balance it out better.

that's still a fine looking beer ya got there!

 

[Bad_Horse_Brews]

What's the wait time people are seeing before they see activity in their primary airlock bubbling with this recipe??????

 

[Mysticmead]

What's the wait time people are seeing before they see activity in their primary airlock bubbling with this recipe??????

First of all.... activity in the airlock is not a good indication of fermentation.

Secondly and more importantly that answer depends on if you used a good healthy starter. The recipe itself does not determine lag time from pitching to visible fermentation signs. With a starter right off the stir plate I normally have a 4 hour lag. If racking onto the yeast cake of a previous batch, I have had fermentation start in as little as 1 hour. Pitching just a tube of yeast could result in a 24 hour lag.

 

[Bad_Horse_Brews]

I'm just not seeing any activity a day after putting the yeast in. I dropped the tube of it in without a starter, this is my first recipe with liquid yeast, normally my airlock is bubbling like mad 5 hours into the primary. I figure I'll wait until tomorrow afternoon and if there still isn't any activity I'll drop another tube of yeast in.... Thoughts???

 

[Mysticmead]

I'm just not seeing any activity a day after putting the yeast in. I dropped the tube of it in without a starter, this is my first recipe with liquid yeast, normally my airlock is bubbling like mad 5 hours into the primary. I figure I'll wait until tomorrow afternoon and if there still isn't any activity I'll drop another tube of yeast in.... Thoughts???

is this a carboy or a bucket for primary? if its a bucket check that you have a good seal. if its a carboy you should be able to see if its building a krausen. (one reason I only use carboy's now)

 

[Bad_Horse_Brews]

Yeeeaaahhh!!! It's goin'. Turns out impatience and excessive worrying don't pair well. I am really stoked about this recipe. I took out the honey and replaced it with honey malt and added brown sugar last five minutes of the boil, just under a pound each of both. I'm quite excited to taste this and the color just going into the primary was a gorgeous red. Thanks for the help OP and thanks for what seems to promise to be a great recipe.

 

[Mofoa]

Was finally able to keg this yesterday, and while it is not fully carbonated, I just could not wait any longer so I took a small sample just kill my curiosity. First impression: Very good balanced and clean beer. Good mouth feel. I could definitely see myself brewing this again, and perhaps playing around with the hops.

I do taste a bit of the dry hop--not overwhelming, but it's there in the back. I would like to add more hops to this next time, maybe switching it up too...the base recipe is good the way it is. I know it was just a small sample, I didn't taste much of the honey, that might be a good thing so it is not overwhelming.

Definitely worth brewing again.

 

[Mysticmead]

the honey was there mostly to boost the ABV a little

 

[Mofoa]

In that case, having another half pint of this right now

 

[dtfleming]

Brewed a 1gal BIAB verison last night. Def on the darker end color wise.