Irish Red Ale Raging Red Irish Red Ale

[BaylessBrewer]

Brewed this this weekend minus the honey and came in at 1.050. Looked good going in the bucket. Can't wait to drink some

 

[wtaylor3]

Just went through my cache of hops and I only have a half ounce of crystal and no cascade, guess it's time to restock

 

[Rainman53]

Brewed a spinoff today. Used 4 lb marris otter and 4 lb 2 row for the base. Kept other grains the same. Used Target hops for bittering and fuggle for aroma. Also using wyeast 1084 (Irish Ale) in place of WLP001.

Had a minor set back when my propane tank ran out and my spare tank leaked as soon as I hooked it up. Had to run to the store and get a new tank which took 20 minutes. Flame went out 10 minutes into the boil and when I got back from the store the temp was still over 200 so I just brought it back to a boil and boiled for another 30 minutes. Hopefully it won't mess anything up but I did over shoot my volume thanks to not enough boil off. Oh well, color is spot on so hopefully the taste works out.

 

[ben2904]

Took a gravity sample of this one today after 2 weeks in primary (didnt use honey in the recipe).

The color was more brownish then red and the taste was very bitter and very malty.

Im not satisfied with this recipe so far but mabye its too early to judge.

Do you think in another week in primary, 1 week cold crash and then bottle conditioning will do good for my beer?
Fermentation has finished already.
(gravities was 1.048 and 1.010)

 

[Sir-Hops-A-Lot]

Hey fellas,
What are the best yeast alternatives to California Ale?
I have access to most wyeast at my LBS. I also have the usual Danstar and Safale in dry.
thanks

 

[BaylessBrewer]

How long are you guys leaving this in primary before kegging? Mine has been in primary for 14 days and i decided to start cold crashing today. Was at expected final gravity after 7 days so its done and i didnt detect any off flavors.

 

[depper]

How long are you guys leaving this in primary before kegging? Mine has been in primary for 14 days and i decided to start cold crashing today. Was at expected final gravity after 7 days so its done and i didnt detect any off flavors.

I left mine in the primary for 7 days then threw it in a secondary for 4 more days just to clear it up a little more. Then I bottled it. My philosophy is once it hits its projected FG then I take it out of the primary and either keg/bottle or use a secondary if I'm dry-hopping or needing it to clear a little more.

 

[BaylessBrewer]

I left mine in the primary for 7 days then threw it in a secondary for 4 more days just to clear it up a little more. Then I bottled it. My philosophy is once it hits its projected FG then I take it out of the primary and either keg/bottle or use a secondary if I'm dry-hopping or needing it to clear a little more.

Awesome! I'm just kind of in a hurry with this one because I just got all the parts to my draft beer system and feel like a kid wanting to play with his new toys!! Lol

 

[depper]

Awesome! I'm just kind of in a hurry with this one because I just got all the parts to my draft beer system and feel like a kid wanting to play with his new toys!! Lol

100% understand!! Lol....that's the way I feel about every brew...just remember, your last beer out of that keg will taste the best! The longer she sits, the better she gets! Enjoy!!

 

[wtaylor3]

Awesome! I'm just kind of in a hurry with this one because I just got all the parts to my draft beer system and feel like a kid wanting to play with his new toys!! Lol

This is exactly the same place in at right now

 

[jbb3]

Awesome! I'm just kind of in a hurry with this one because I just got all the parts to my draft beer system and feel like a kid wanting to play with his new toys!! Lol

LOL... I can dig it! I recently started kegging about 6 months ago and had the same excitement. So much so, I brewed almost every weekend for about 5 or 6 weeks in order to build up my supply to fill a new keezer build.

But personally, I would not go any less than 14 days in primary/secondary, then an additional 3 or 4 days cold crashing. This recipe would definitely benefit from the few additional days. And it is a good recipe. But I understand the excitement...

BTW, Congrats on the draft system! You're almost there!!

 

[BrunDog]

A few weeks ago I posted my experience with [lack of] clarity with my batch. I did mix up some gelatin and split it proportionally into my two kegs. The first keg was already half empty. Ironically, it didn't clear right away but a week and change later it was looking pretty good. When that keg was done I tapped the second one expecting the same ending clarity, but despite pulling multiple glasses off it looked no better. Now approaching the end of this keg... And it's still cloudy, as if it never got gelatin or precipitated.

Oh well, not sure what happened. It's not chill haze as it doesn't clear while it warms in the glass. I will say however, that this beer got much better over these handful of weeks. It had a bit of medicinal strength at first, but now it's a lush malt bomb. My friend who doesn't like "dark beer" carried on like a baby how much he wanted more.

-BD

 

[khannan]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1442331574.688140.jpg

Turned out great!

 

[BaylessBrewer]

Not sure what happened to mine? No body, little malt flavor and no head retention. I'm really sad about this!
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1442334358.219086.jpg

 

[Shenanigans]

Not sure what happened to mine? No body, little malt flavor and no head retention. I'm really sad about this!
View attachment 303416

Can be a lot of things.
Mild infection?
Low OG?

 

[BaylessBrewer]

Can be a lot of things.

Mild infection?

Low OG?

No signs of infection. My OG was a little low but I didn't use honey so I expected that

 

[treacheroustexan]

Anyone ever scale this down to 2.5 gallons? I wanna brew this again but have a full keg so I wanna do a smaller batch for bottling.

Planned on:
4# 2 row
4 oz carafoam
4 oz melanoidin
8 oz crystal 120
.5 crystal @ 60
.5 cascade @ 30
8 oz honey at flameout

Mash with 2 gallons or so and sparge to 3.5 gallons pre boil.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Attempted my first 2.5 gal. batch Sunday and I would say it was a success! It's chugging along nicely. I pitched us-05 and forgot the honey.

 

[Mysticmead]

Attempted my first 2.5 gal. batch Sunday and I would say it was a success! It's chugging along nicely. I pitched us-05 and forgot the honey.

looks good! if you forgot the honey, it's no bog deal. you have a couple options. leave it out... it was there to boost the ABV a little not for flavor... or add it to the carboy. The yeast will still eat it and boost the ABV a little..

 

[tramik]

So I made this two weeks ago. I just checked my gravity and it's 1.028? Weird. My OG was 1.058. It's fermented really hard in the beginning and died down quick. Current temp is around 68-70F.

I think I'm going to leave it in primary another week and then check - anyone else have a similar experience? Did I maybe do something wrong?

 

[Mysticmead]

So I made this two weeks ago. I just checked my gravity and it's 1.028? Weird. My OG was 1.058. It's fermented really hard in the beginning and died down quick. Current temp is around 68-70F.

I think I'm going to leave it in primary another week and then check - anyone else have a similar experience? Did I maybe do something wrong?

lots of things could be the cause. What was the mash temp? (when was the last time you verified your thermometer was accurate?) What yeast? Did you pitch enough yeast? try swirling the carboy to get yeast back in suspension and see if that helps.

 

[tramik]

lots of things could be the cause. What was the mash temp? (when was the last time you verified your thermometer was accurate?) What yeast? Did you pitch enough yeast? try swirling the carboy to get yeast back in suspension and see if that helps.

I used Fermentis US-05 American Dry Ale Yeast - the whole packet. I did about 152-155F mash temp. My thermometer seems good and checked my calibration on my refractometer. I'll try giving it a swirl.

I'm thinking it might be because I used different yeast, might be slower?

 

[Rdom]

Refractometers are not accurate for measuring final gravity. Use a hydrometer. I suspect you'll find you've reached final gravity.

 

[Mysticmead]

I used Fermentis US-05 American Dry Ale Yeast - the whole packet. I did about 152-155F mash temp. My thermometer seems good and checked my calibration on my refractometer. I'll try giving it a swirl.

I'm thinking it might be because I used different yeast, might be slower?

Thermometer's measure temperature... refractometers measure gravity. Test the thermometer by checking the temp of both boiling water and for ice water. both should be close to the correct temps for boiling 212F and freezing 32F (adjust boiling temp for your altitude http://www.csgnetwork.com/h2oboilcalc.html ).

As far as your mash temp. If you started at 155F and slowly dropped to 152FG over 60+ minutes, then most of the conversion was done at 155F which would be for a more full bodied beer resulting in less fermentable sugars. If your thermometer is reading low then you may have been closer to the 160F mark which would explain the higher FG.

 

[tramik]

Thermometer's measure temperature... refractometers measure gravity. Test the thermometer by checking the temp of both boiling water and for ice water. both should be close to the correct temps for boiling 212F and freezing 32F (adjust boiling temp for your altitude http://www.csgnetwork.com/h2oboilcalc.html ).

As far as your mash temp. If you started at 155F and slowly dropped to 152FG over 60+ minutes, then most of the conversion was done at 155F which would be for a more full bodied beer resulting in less fermentable sugars. If your thermometer is reading low then you may have been closer to the 160F mark which would explain the higher FG.

I'm still learning here so I'll apologize in advance for my ignorance.

If my OG after brewing was 1.058, doesn't that mean I've extracted the right amount of sugars, so my mash temp shouldn't really be a problem? Any thoughts on if that alternative yeast I used would just be slower?

I have it a stir last night and I'll take another measurement in a few days. After 3 weeks (this next Sunday) I'll be bottling it regardless.

 

[Mysticmead]

I'm still learning here so I'll apologize in advance for my ignorance.

If my OG after brewing was 1.058, doesn't that mean I've extracted the right amount of sugars, so my mash temp shouldn't really be a problem? Any thoughts on if that alternative yeast I used would just be slower?

I have it a stir last night and I'll take another measurement in a few days. After 3 weeks (this next Sunday) I'll be bottling it regardless.

learning is what this is all about.

even if the mash temp is high you will still extract the correct amount of sugars. they'll just have more that are not fermentable. Here's a perfect article on this exact issue. one mashed high...one mashed low... http://brulosophy.com/2015/10/12/the-mash-high-vs-low-temperature-exbeeriment-results/

 

[Rdom]

Tramik, Mysticmead's advice re: mash temperature is solid but I'll go back to my previous point: Refractometers will give you falsely elevated gravity values when used to measure gravity when alcohol is present. If your measurement of 1.028 was obtained with a refractometer, it is incorrect (in other words, your actual gravity is lower than that). There are some calculators out there that will correct for the presence of alcohol though some question their validity. They seem adequate for a ballpark figure. If you plug in your OG of 1.058 and recent gravity of 1.028 into the Brewer's Friend refractometer correction calculator, you get a corrected gravity value of 1.014, which is close to Mysticmead's FG on his original recipe. To eliminate any uncertainty, use a hydrometer to measure final gravity.
Here's the link to the refractometer calculator.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/refractometer-calculator/

 

[Mysticmead]

Tramik, Mysticmead's advice re: mash temperature is solid but I'll go back to my previous point: Refractometers will give you falsely elevated gravity values when used to measure gravity when alcohol is present. If your measurement of 1.028 was obtained with a refractometer, it is incorrect (in other words, your actual gravity is lower than that). There are some calculators out there that will correct for the presence of alcohol though some question their validity. They seem adequate for a ballpark figure. If you plug in your OG of 1.058 and recent gravity of 1.028 into the Brewer's Friend refractometer correction calculator, you get a corrected gravity value of 1.014, which is close to Mysticmead's FG on his original recipe. To eliminate any uncertainty, use a hydrometer to measure final gravity.
Here's the link to the refractometer calculator.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/refractometer-calculator/

yep... I use a refractometer only to check pre-boil and post boil gravity. after fermenting, hydrometer is the way to go. plus you get to drink the sample

 

[tramik]

yep... I use a refractometer only to check pre-boil and post boil gravity. after fermenting, hydrometer is the way to go. plus you get to drink the sample

To both of you, THANKS!

I used my hydrometer and it showed me 1.012... stellar. I thought I f'd up! I'm bottling it now!

Woot

 

[garynet20]

To both of you, THANKS!

I used my hydrometer and it showed me 1.012... stellar. I thought I f'd up! I'm bottling it now!

Woot

Hi tramik, I just bottled mine last saturday and got that same gravity, I was wondering how does your beer taste? Mine is a little bit sweet, I get some of the honey flavor when I took a sip. I think I screwed up cause I didn't control the mash temp, and mashed at 73 C (162)