Shiner Ruby Redbird Clone Recipe

[turvis]

My only complaint about this beer is I think there should be more carbonation like a saison.

 

[kickrjason]

2 oz, at most, fresh grated ginger added at the start of boil.

Id say not to boil the ginger for that long. it will loose all of its aromatic properties to evaporation during that long of a cook. id say add it at flame out or in the last 5 min.

 

[estricklin]

Ok so here is the final recipe and my brewing notes.

8 lbs Munich
4 oz Crystal 40L
1.5 lbs of corn sugar
Cascade 1 oz (60 min)
Northern 1/2 oz (15 minutes)
Citra Fresh Leaf 1 oz (2 minutes)
Ocean Spray Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice 1/2 Gallon at flameout
Ginger (about a tbsp)
SafeAle US-05
I mashed 1 hour @ 153F.
Fermentation temps were a bit higher than I wanted, in the lower to mid 70s. I taste virtually no esters though.

The ginger was added on bottling day, I graded some fresh ginger and boiled it in a cup of water for a few minutes. I used some polyclar and some biofoam though not full doses. The beer in the picture had only been in the fridge an hour maybe, head retention is WAY better than the original.

It tastes great!! As far as hops go I'd say it's right on. Ginger is about perfect also, the only real problem is I don't quite get as much grapefruit and mouthfeel/body from the beer that I would like.

I'm already ordering ingredients for another attempt. Originally I used some corn sugar because I was afraid of too much body but this beer could use a little more, also my clone has more alcohol than I would like, so I'm going with the 8 lbs Munich and I may add some maltodextrin. I will also use 3/4 gallon of the same brand of grapefruit juice. I plan to change the Crystal, maybe go to 60L or add a couple more ounces of 40L. The biggest change I'm going to make is using a hybrid yeast, maybe something like would be used in a California Common and I'm going to lager the beer.

Can anyone suggest a yeast for me? I like dry but I'm open to a liquid if need be. If the yeast isn't very tolerant for acid conditions that would be perfect because I don't mind a higher FG. I'm sure the grapefruit adds a lot of acidity.

 

[tx-brewer]

Did you end up making another batch of the revised recipe? Would like to make some soon. I love some redbird on a hot Texas day!

 

[estricklin]

I have not yet, I brewed so much I had way more beer put up than I needed. I may wait until it comes back out this summer so I can taste it again, but I still stand by what i wrote in the above post about the changes I'm going to make.

Go for it man brew some and get back to us on the results!!

 

[tx-brewer]

It's out already. Got a sixer in the fridge. I will probably try the revised recipe soon.

I'm glad to see others love it as much as my friends and I. Ruby gets so much hate online.

It is best enjoyed hanging out in the heat of a Texas summer by the water

 

[Anon]

Bump for this recipe. Great beer my wife loves it! Anyone revised their recipe closer yet?

 

[bassballboy]

bump. Have you considered putting the juice in the secondary? I feel as though that might bump up the grapefruit flavor considerably.

 

[estricklin]

Sorry I haven't gotten back to this sooner, I was spoiled to drinking it all summer from the store, and now it's gone in my area. I am ordering ingredients for version 2.0 as follows:

For a 4 gallon batch (I only have 5 gallon buckets right now so cannot do full batches)
4 lbs Munich Malt
8 oz Corn Sugar
6 oz Caramel 40L
.5 oz Northern Brewer for 90 mins
.5 oz Northern Brewer for 15 mins
.75 Gallons of Ocean Spray Ruby Red for 2 mins
1 oz Cascade leaf for 1 min
2 tbsp freshly rough graded ginger at 1 min
1 package of Saflager S-23
55F for 15 days or until little activity in airlock
2 day Diacetyl Rest at 72F
Lager for 2-4 weeks at 35F-40F (not decided yet)

I realize I left out the Citra, but I feel like the extra grapefruit juice is going to add it's own bitterness, and I didn't want to buy an ounce of Citra just to only use half of it. Beersmith calculates 35 IBUs for this recipe.

This recipe should produce slightly less alcohol, but still over 5.0 ABV with the addition of the grapefruit juice. I will be sure and record my gravity readings this go around.

Hopefully cutting back on the corn sugar and adding a tiny bit more caramel malt will add more body, but not too much.

Adding the grapefruit later in fermentation might help the flavor, but this beer is going to take quite a while anyway considering it's a lager, plus I like to reduce any chances of contamination if possible. Last time the grapefruit flavor that WAS there tasted great, but it wasn't quite strong enough.

I will use Polyclar again to help with clarity.

Will probably be brewing this beer within 7-10 days so I will keep everyone posted as I go!

Edit:

I just remembered the only reason I used the Northern Brewer was because I couldn't find any Mt. Hood, so if I can get Mt. Hood that is what I will use.

 

[buffbeeker]

Was introduced to this beer by my daughter who loves it. And, I have to admit that I find it pretty refreshing too.

Thanks a lot estricklin for posting a recipe for it! I just gave it a try about 3 wks ago using your first recipe from 11/4/12 with a few modifications based on your brewing notes. I left out the corn sugar and then the other changes are shown in bold.

1. Add 4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L, 8.0 lb Munich Malt, to the mash tun.
2. Add 3.1 gal water at 169 F to mash to bring it to 153 F. Hold for 60 min.
3. Bring the wort to a boil and hold for 90 min.
4. Put 1.0 oz Cascade into boil for 60 min.
5. Add 8.0 oz Maltodextrin for 15 min.
6. Put 0.5 oz Northern Brewer into boil for 15 min.
7. Put 1.0 oz Citra into boil for 2 min.
8. Put 3 qt Grapefruit Juice (Ocean Spray) just before flameout.
9. Stop boiling the wort.
10. Cool wort and pitch Wyeast #2112 - California Lager.
11. Let ferment at 63F until FG is 1.014.
12. Boil 1 1/2 Tbsp grated ginger in 1 cup water with 5 oz priming sugar and add to wort before bottling.

My OG ended up at 1.047 and the FG was 1.013. I fermented at 63F for 18 days and then 67F for 2 days.

It's pretty cloudy which I think is from the juice because I did add Irish Moss to the boil. I've never used Polyclar before but probably should have done so this time. Would it have helped even with the juice added so late?

I tasted the "green beer" before bottling. Really nice Grapefruit flavor but the Ginger pretty much disappeared. I'm hopeful it will show up after some conditioning and the cooling but, probably not. Oh well, it'll be just Grapefruit I suppose. I'll report back in a couple weeks.

I've only been brewing about 3 years so have many tricks to learn still. What is the trick to using Ginger and making the flavor and aroma stick?

 

[estricklin]

I'm flattered that you tried my recipe!

I wish I knew a trick for the ginger but I don't. I noted in the first recipe that the ginger was on but later, after I had drank more of the batch, I decided it really wasn't. I think I will add it at bottling time again instead of flameout. I think smaller ginger roots have more of a firey flavor?

I was also thinking I should adjust the hops a bit since I'm going for a 4 gallon batch instead of a 5.

8 oz of maltodextrin should definitely kick it up!

I really don't think polyclar would help with the clarity due to the fruit juice, but then again it might. It is most popular in wine making. It's super cheap so I add some to almost every batch I brew anyway. Rehydrate in some water and dump it in at bottling or secondary.

Do you have any of Shiner's to compare it with? I may go to a few stores tomorrow there's got to be at least one 6er left somewhere!

I've only been brewing about as long as you have, and I'm no expert at coming up with recipes, but I am pretty determined to brew something that's at least 90% as good as Shiner's version.

Oh and by the way, welcome to the forum. Where is grapevine?

 

[buffbeeker]

Oh contrare, thanks for posting your recipe! I hope you will get to your 90% goal. But, whether you do or not, it is still good beer and that's the name of the game.

In the Shiner brew, the ginger is "front and center" at first and then the grapefruit follows. Unless the ginger pops out after some maturation, mine is missing it. But, the grapefruit taste is very nice and I don't generally like fruity beers! I think your recipe would be spot on if the ginger stood out a bit more. Well done!

One thing that occurred to me is that taste is also hugely dependent on smell. In my version there is a hint of the taste but absolutely no ginger smell. I wonder if that is what is missing?

On my attempt I grated the root finely and then boiled with the priming sugar water for 5 min. Maybe the boiling is where the ginger smell got destroyed? Next time I was thinking of grating course and then using a lemon squeezer to get the juices out. Would do it at 3 min (for flavor) and then again when the water comes off the stove (for aroma). Open to suggestions here.

Thanks for the welcome to the forum. Looks really active with a lot of helpful enthusiasts out there. Should be fun and rewarding to participate.

Grapevine is immediately NW of the the Dallas - Ft Worth International airport. It's city but like small town although nothing like your small town. Makes me envious ... I'm not a fan of city life but got used to eating and having a roof over my head.

 

[buffbeeker]

A week has passed since bottling. Grapefruit flavor is nice but no trace of ginger that I can detect. Hmmm ... I wonder how Shiner manages to do it?

Next time I am going to try not boiling the ginger at all. Hopefully fresh ginger root won't be a high contamination risk.

 

[estricklin]

It's going to be a few more days before I get around to brewing but I have the ingredients already.

I managed to find another 6 pack of Shiner's, and really think you have something with the ginger. I kept thinking "ya somethin's missin", and this beer really is all about the ginger, really the grapefruit is playing rhythm. I'm thinking maybe the answer is just to add more ginger, like 3 tbsp? I know there is ginger extract out there but I've never used it.

Anyway I'll post some brewing notes in a few days on what I finally decide.

 

[buffbeeker]

The rest of the recipe including the grapefruit is spot on in my opinion. Even without the ginger it's very refreshing nice and cold.

I found some shredded and dried ginger root. Looks suitable for putting in at the end of the boil but not sure how it would work here. I was thinking of boiling up a small amount just to see how much flavor and aroma it gives.

My last effort used an entire root which ended up about 2 Tbsp after fine grating. Maybe the boiling killed the ginger flavor? If not, it might need pounds of the stuff.

Good luck with the next batch. Results eagerly awaited! Thanks again for sharing your recipe.

Darrell.

 

[estricklin]

I finally got a chance to brew this evening.

Recipe basically the same was posted before except a few minor things.

I only used half gallon of grapefruit juice, since I brewed a 4 gallon batch instead of a 5.

The Northern hops are the same, but for the Cascade I only used 1/2 ounce, and they are leaf hops where the others are pellets.

The ginger, as you can see in the photo below I used quite a bit, it weighed in at 5.5 ounces matter of fact. You can also see the left over ginger root, I used about half of that root. I ran it through my food processor twice. I'm sure grading it would have been fine but I bought this Kitchen Aid food processor and so far only the SWMBO has got to play with it, so daddy had to play with his toy! I added the ginger about 2 minutes before flameout and WOW, it REALLY came alive. It SMELT LIKE Shiner's! Now I may have added way too much, but I certainly wasn't going to settle for too little, since I weighed it instead of using volume, I think this will be more accurate when I make adjustments on the next batch.




I did have one problem unfortunately. I've been using a new burner, and I had to boil for 2 hours to get even close to my target volume, which in this case was 3.5 gallons, because I accounted from the grapefruit juice in the fermenter. When it finally got to 4 gallons I shut it off and began cooling, it was getting dark outside and the bugs were about to be in full force, did not want to take any chances of infection. 4.5 gallons went into the fermenter and the SG is 1.038.

As I'm sure you know living in the south, I was only able to get the wort temperature down to 85 with my immersion chiller, so I will pitch yeast in the AM, when it reaches 55F.

I will report back soon!

 

[buffbeeker]

Hi,

I'm getting ready to brew another batch. Did your new technique for the ginger work out. It sounded promising! And, would you adjust the amount if you were to do it again?

I have to admit, even though my first try didn't have any ginger flavor in the end, it turned out to be a refreshing brew, especially ice cold.

Thanks!

 

[estricklin]

Funny you asked today, because I'm drinking one right now!

I kegged this batch by the way, 24 hours ago.

I am already planning another batch. I would cut the ginger back by about an ounce at least. This batch has PLENTY of ginger, I mean it's so much ginger I am having trouble picking out the grapefruit. SWMBO says the grapefruit is there easy, I'm not able to pick it out as easy. I only ended using 1/2 gallon.

I really need to drink a few more to say for sure, but at this point I would say too much ginger, maybe the grapefruit is ok, hope schedule is is solid, not quite enough Crystal, and it's not as acidic as Shiner's.

This clone is proving to be somewhat difficult, but I'm going to keep doing it until I get it.

Oh and something I thought of. Would a commercial brewery use all Munich in a beer? Since they are more focused on speed and efficiency I am wondering if they didn't use a portion of Munich for base, or Munich 10L for flavor, and the rest American 2 row? Any thoughts?

I think the yeast is ok? What do you think?

 

[masteraviator]

Bump.. Any updates to this?

 

[estricklin]

Yes actually am getting ready to do another.

After finishing off that last keg, I plan to use an entire gallon of grapefruit in this next batch. I will up the crystal, and use all Munich except one pound, and maybe add some caramunich. I still stand by what I said in the above about cutting an ounce off the ginger. I will probably start this brew in 2 weeks.

 

[tx-brewer]

Yes actually am getting ready to do another.

After finishing off that last keg, I plan to use an entire gallon of grapefruit in this next batch. I will up the crystal, and use all Munich except one pound, and maybe add some caramunich. I still stand by what I said in the above about cutting an ounce off the ginger. I will probably start this brew in 2 weeks.

Estricklin, thanks for all your effort trying to clone this beer.

If you don't mind, would you post the full recipe you plan on brewing soon. I don't want to miss something piecing together the recipe from different posts.

And did anyone get any response from the brewery? I know at least one of y'all emailed them.

Thanks everyone

 

[estricklin]

I certainly will. I'm out of town tonight enjoying some college sports.

 

[masteraviator]

I certainly will. I'm out of town tonight enjoying some college sports.

Thanks brother. My little girl wants me to get some in the keg before the summer hits us full force this year. That's right. It's Texas.

 

[estricklin]

Ok, here is what I plan to brew the next go around. After that keg kicked I took some time to make some tasting notes and this is what I came up with.

For total of 4.5 gallons NOT including the grapefruit juice addition:
7 lbs Munich
2 lbs Pale Ale Malt
5.6 oz Caramel 40
4 oz of ginger at flameout
1 oz Northern Brewer 60 min
.5 oz Citra 15 min
.5 Cascade 2 min
At this point the gravity would be 1.055, higher than the real deal, BUT the grapefruit juice is going to lower that gravity quite a bit, how much I do not know, so after I brew I will report.
1 gallon of Ocean Spray Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice at flameout
1 pack S-23 Lager Yeast

I plan to mash for full body. I think with the extra base and specialty grains I can skip the maltodextrin. I realize I flipped the hops around again but hey, we'll see what happens.

Hopefully it will be for sale again soon here in AR. Yes summer is coming!

 

[sbrbrad]

Just had this years batch. I think it's even better than last year's. It is a bit more balanced (I thought last year's was heavy on the ginger.)

 

[millie]

I wanna brew this bad. Does anyone have an extact recipe?

 

[BigTex69]

I too want to say thanks for all the work you have put in to this recipe. I am planning on making it as my next batch this weekend. It is hard to find at our local grocery stores because people know what day the delivery is and buy all they put on the shelf in just a couple hours. But just to hold me over, my local liquor store owner called me this morning to let me know they had gotten a half keg of Ruby Redbird in. I am picking it up tomorrow! 🍻


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[estricklin]

I wanna brew this bad. Does anyone have an extact recipe?

I will work on a conversion for you, I'm not a very good extract brewer but will see what I can do.

I have not gotten around to brewing this recipe again yet or making any modifications, my grandfather passed away and my father has been very ill as well. The good news is I should be brewing full speed again in 1-2 weeks.

If you guys have any input, please, I'm merely stabbing in the dark, hmmm I think I'll go reduce the 6er of Ruby that I just picked up to about 4, for some "inspiration".

 

[estricklin]

Ok for extract try something like this:

6 lbs of Munich Malt liquid extract
1.5 lbs of DME
5.6 oz Caramel 40 (steep)
4 oz of graded ginger at flameout
1 oz Northern Brewer 60 min
.5 oz Citra 15 min
.5 Cascade 2 min
At this point the gravity would be 1.057, higher than the real deal, BUT the grapefruit juice is going to lower that gravity quite a bit, how much I do not know, so after I brew I will report.
1 gallon of Ocean Spray Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice at flameout
1 pack S-23 Lager Yeast

 

[theWilly]

Any thoughts/notes/propsed revisions from this season's batch? I've been looking around for a good recipe and think estricklin here is on the right track. I plan to brew something up this weekend to hopefully have some ready for those long and hot late august in texas days.

I plan to go AG and lager

 

[jcandre]

Hello all. I have been following this thread for a while. I am a true ruby redbird fan (no criticism necessary) and have been wanting to make a go at putting a batch together. I am happy to report a successful clone that came out fantastic. My recipe is pretty much a combination of the common ingredients found here along with a couple of my own tweaks. A little honey malt and raw honey added to the fermentables. (I was hoping this would balance out the ginger). Overall the final product is great. Light taste with a medium mouth-feel, balanced ginger and grapefruit taste, crisp and refreshing. A little bit higher alcohol content (5.4%) than Shiners original but that was intended..

The full recipe and brew notes are posted here

FERMENTABLES:
6 lb – Liquid Malt Extract – Pilsen (63.2%)
1 lb – Dry Malt Extract – Wheat (10.5%)
1 lb – Honey (10.5%)

STEEPING GRAINS:
0.5 lb – American – Carapils (Dextrine Malt) (5.3%)
0.5 lb – American – Caramel / Crystal 20L (5.3%)
0.5 lb – Canadian – Honey Malt (5.3%)

HOPS:
1 oz – Mount Hood, Type:
0.5 oz – Cascade,
0.5 oz – Citra,

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
1.5 oz – Fresh Grated Ginger Root, Time: 3 min
2 qt – Organic Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice

 

[Shawn_P]

I realize this is a somewhat oldish thread so please excuse this noob...my daughter and I just started home brewing! Extracts only at this time! She loves the Ruby Red bird...honestly I have not tried it! So this looks doable but I am not sure about the fermentation...what is the recommended temp for primary fermentation? And is a secondary cycle recommended? If so, what temp for the secondary?
Thanks! I really appreciate the info gathered from this string!

Ok for extract try something like this:

6 lbs of Munich Malt liquid extract
1.5 lbs of DME
5.6 oz Caramel 40 (steep)
4 oz of graded ginger at flameout
1 oz Northern Brewer 60 min
.5 oz Citra 15 min
.5 Cascade 2 min
At this point the gravity would be 1.057, higher than the real deal, BUT the grapefruit juice is going to lower that gravity quite a bit, how much I do not know, so after I brew I will report.
1 gallon of Ocean Spray Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice at flameout
1 pack S-23 Lager Yeast

 

[estricklin]

I realize this is a somewhat oldish thread so please excuse this noob...my daughter and I just started home brewing! Extracts only at this time! She loves the Ruby Red bird...honestly I have not tried it! So this looks doable but I am not sure about the fermentation...what is the recommended temp for primary fermentation? And is a secondary cycle recommended? If so, what temp for the secondary?
Thanks! I really appreciate the info gathered from this string!

You won't need to do a secondary.

For the S-23 lager yeast I would say 52F is good, but if you can even hold it at 67F or so you should still get good results. Feel free to try any yeast you want with this recipe, I still haven't been able to nail it down, but am going to brew it again soon.

It just hit the shelves for this year so I've had a 6er of it already! Playing with the idea of using fresh grapefruit at flameout instead of juice.

 

[Shawn_P]

Thanks to estricklin have 2 gals in primaries! OG was a low so sadly the ABV will be low but hopefully it will taste good! Will let you know in a month![emoji12]View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1429063147.019898.jpg

 

[estricklin]

Thanks to estricklin have 2 gals in primaries! OG was a low so sadly the ABV will be low but hopefully it will taste good! Will let you know in a month![emoji12]View attachment 271129

Oh man better save the thanks til tasting time, wouldn't want ya to have to go back on it! Haha. Very nice. I am wanting to brew a batch soon myself, just had a nice 12x24 "brew shed" built so kinda getting everything moved around at the moment.

Oh and by the way, just found out that Ruby Redbird will no longer be a seasonal, but a year round offering!

Cheers!

 

[dobie99]

Been following this thread for a few summers now, and even bought grain to brew it last year but then had a kitchen issue and had to pause my brewing for a few months (don't worry, back in full swing for a while now!) and just never got around to it.
Just picked up a case of this year's version from Shiner, and newly inspired to brew this clone.

Super excited, and posting here for a little accountability -- now that it's in writing I'm sure to actually do it!

Will follow up with the recipe I plan to use/tasting notes from the 2015 commercial version...

 

[estricklin]

Been following this thread for a few summers now, and even bought grain to brew it last year but then had a kitchen issue and had to pause my brewing for a few months (don't worry, back in full swing for a while now!) and just never got around to it.
Just picked up a case of this year's version from Shiner, and newly inspired to brew this clone.

Super excited, and posting here for a little accountability -- now that it's in writing I'm sure to actually do it!

Will follow up with the recipe I plan to use/tasting notes from the 2015 commercial version...

Looking forward to hearing your ideas!

 

[Caboose]

Thanks estricklin for all your work on this thread and pulling the recipe together. This is one of my wife's favorite beers, so I know she will be excited when I brew some!

 

[Texconsinite]

I recently made a Lime Rye Saison where I dumped a bottle of Simply Limeaide into the secondary a few wks before bottling, and really liked how the Lime flavor came through. If I were trying to clone Ruby Redbird, I would do the same thing: Put 2Qts or so of Grapefruit juice in secondary and give a little time before bottling. If the WY3711 (92% attenuation) i used in my recipe didnt ferment out the lime flavor in secondary, whatever neutral ale yeast youre using should leave EVEN more goodness behind.

I made a Lemon Ginger Wheat kit from LHBS that turned out very well. Zest 3 lemons and throw that plus dried ginger in last 15 min of boil, so fresh ginger and using actual juice should come through even more. In my case, the ginger flavor came through better after a couple months in the bottle.

My issue with some of the other addition times
Primary- Flavor will ferment out
At Bottling- isnt 2 QT grapfruit juice > usual priming sugar? Id be concerned about bottle bombs if using instead of or in addition to usual priming amt

 

[Shawn_P]

Bottled today...definitely good news bad news in this case! Good news...The green beer smells great, tastes a little sweet but a nice finish with the ginger...bad news the ABV is way low!
So since the OG was so low, I am guessing the sugars in the extract did not break down properly? Not a vigorous enough boil? BTW used a White Labs WLP 001 since I had it on hand...was still within the "freshness" period and we did have very active visible fermentation.
Hopefully can give you a taste update in a couple of weeks after bottle conditioning.
Any feed back thoughts about the low OG and low ABV would be greatly appreciated.