Red Ale Critique

[rhys333]

I've been inspired by an excellent locally brewed red ale to try brewing one myself. It had a deep red colour, roasted coffee flavors (from roasted grains only) and moderate sweetness for balance. A flavor bomb basically.

I put together a recipe and I'm wondering what you all think. I do want the roasted grains to come through as flavor, but I don't want the colour to get into porter and stout territory. Thanks in advance.

RED ALE. (6 gallons @ 1.050)
80% 2 Row
8% C60 (or maybe C30)
6% Victory
3% Flaked Barley
3% Roasted Barley
Warrior @ 60 to 27 IBU
US05

 

[thehaze]

Personally, I do not like roasted flavours in red/ambers. I stopped using roasted malts for red/ambers some time ago and did not look back.

Roasted Barley is a very potent malt. If you want roast and colour, I would go for something like (pale) Chocolate Malt, Chocolate Rye or Chocolate Spelt, or even Chocolate Wheat, which are roasted, but are not as astringent and roasty, and provide good flavours and colour.

I would keep the C60 and the Victory, although the Victory addition you probably get lost in there. Maybe swap for some Biscuit malt?

 

[JordanKnudson]

I'd keep the roasted barley. 3% in a 1.050 beer won't be overwhelming for a red ale, and it's THE classic roast flavor. I would, however, consider the specific roasted barley you are using, since the lovibond rating can differ wildly (compare Briess to Munton's, for example. The latter is almost double the lovibond of the former). Personally I tend to prefer British malsters for roasted barley, but again, I'd choose depending on your own tastes.

I'd say this recipe looks good as is, and you ought to brew this one before making tweaks. The only question I would have is, will this actually turn out red? It looks like it could overshoot the color a bit.

EDIT: unrelated, but just noticed that this was my 1,000th post!

 

[SoCal-Doug]

The poster appears to like the coffee/roast flavor, so I would say leave the roasted barley in. I'm not a fan of it, but everyone's tastes are different.

I get a very red and nice complex maltiness with 8% to 10% CaraAroma and 5% Melanoidin. I also prefer MO for my base malt. I've tried some different combinations of generic crystal's and they just didn't do it for me.

 

[rhys333]

Thanks for the feedback. I really do want to have a little roast in there, so I opted to go with a healthier dose of the roasted barley. I'm just not sure how much is too much considering the style. I think I will keep it at 3% as you suggest Jordan. thehaze, I actually have an amber/brown going in primary right now with 6% pale chocolate, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how that turns out. SoCal, I prefer MO for these types of brews too, but I'm out atm. I added the victory to give my domestic 2 Row a MO-style boost. I could drop it though and go with melanoidin malt... malty instead of biscuity.