Your experience of Red-X?

[Beer666]

Has anyone been using red-x? I really like this grain, the colour is awesome and the flavour it contributes works really well in malt forward beers.
Really like the fact you don't need a ton of crystal to get a deep red colour as well.
I just bought a sack and intend to brew a red rice lager, a red ipa, a couple of red sours and a stout. Will replace the maris otter in the stout and see if I can tell the difference.
Probably going to mash really low to increase attenuation in the lager as my last one finished at 1012.

 

[hout17]

I would like to hear thoughts as well. I've heard either you like it or you don't.

BYO has a recipe for Stones Red X IPA that I'm considering but I haven't tasted this malt. I will try it eventually to see anyway.

 

[Beer666]

People are complaining about low attenuation and suggesting a step mash but in my experience I have had no issues. Was getting 1010 with pilsner malt mashing at 65c so not worried about a few extra points.
What hops are in the red ipa?

 

[Bohern]

I have brewed with it helping a friend who used it for an Irish Red, he used it @ 26% of the base paired with 52% Marris Otter. The beer turned out very good and had a nice red color.

 

[Brooothru]

Used it last year in an Irish Red ale. In an interview with the maltster at BestMalz, he said that a step mash with a protein rest was necessary to get the benefit from the malt. I went 50%-50% Red X and Maris Otter. The beer tasted great but the color was too dark for me. My screw-up. I added 4 oz BlackPrinz and 4 oz melanoidin which was overkill for 5 gallons.

I didn't find it any more finicky than any other base malt, and it performed well using a step mash. Good attenuation and hit my numbers. Used A09 Pub IIRC, and Fuggles and EKG for hops. Still have 5# sitting in the grain bin, so I've only used it once.

 

[Immocles]

I've so far only used it once, in a red ipa. I had a really simple grain bill: 67% red X and 33% 2 row. I liked the result, but when I make another red IPA with it, I'm going heavier on the hops. That grain seems to have a ton of flavor to it, and I didn't take that into enough consideration.

I like the idea of using it in a red lager though. Hmm...

 

[Brooothru]

I've so far only used it once, in a red ipa. I had a really simple grain bill: 67% red X and 33% 2 row. I liked the result, but when I make another red IPA with it, I'm going heavier on the hops. That grain seems to have a ton of flavor to it, and I didn't take that into enough consideration.

I like the idea of using it in a red lager though. Hmm...

Good observation on malt flavor vs hops. I went heavy on the EKG and Fuggles in my Irish Red yet it didn't seem like I'd added enough hops (trying to reduce and recalibrate my 'lupulin shift'). The Red was good and malty, but seemed a little out of balance. I figured it must have been the melanoidin or dark malt or maybe lower than actual AA% than I'd calculated. Could have been the Maris, but looking back it seems like it was the Red X, which also has a small portion of melanoidin.

 

[hout17]

People are complaining about low attenuation and suggesting a step mash but in my experience I have had no issues. Was getting 1010 with pilsner malt mashing at 65c so not worried about a few extra points.
What hops are in the red ipa?

I'm assuming this was directed at the OP but figured I'd throw in the hop schedule for the Red IPA I mentioned above.

Magnum first wort
Mosaic (15 min)
Cascade (15 min)
Mosaic (0 min)
Cascade (0 min)
Amarillo (0 min)

Dry hop
Mosaic, Cascade, Amarillo

 

[Beer666]

Interesting thoughts on upping the IBU's. Will definitely have to use more hops this time. I seem to remember wanting a bit more bite in the lager i brewed. I didn't use a flamout addition but i think this time i will do one and increase FWH by 25%.

I like the sound of the hop combo there Hout, will have to make an order this week. Think i will keep the grist to red-x and a little biscuit.

 

[Beer666]

This is my first IPA this year brewed with red-x. Extremely happy with this, its really just what i was craving. Its crisp and fruity, decent level of bitterness.
This reminds me a little of the Wild Bill IPA sold in UK Aldis. Only criticism i have is i would of liked better clarity but i didn't want to expose it to any more oxygen than necessary.

27l batch
OG 1046
FG 1010
ABV 4.7%

5kg red-x 12l 90.1%
300g German biscuit 20l 5.4%
250g cara red 20l 4.5%

7g mosaic 11.6%AA FWH
30g mosaic 11.6%AA flameout
15g cascade 5.8%AA flameout
15g amarillo 8.7%AA flameout

60g mosaic 11.6%AA dry hop
30g cascade 5.8%AA dry hop
30g amarillo 8.7%AA dry hop

Yeast was crossmyloof USA pale. Was a few years out of date so i used 4 packs and it went off like a rocket.

 

[Garage12brewing]

Nice thread... I will brew my first beer using Red X malt this weekend. It will be a SMASH beer using a new hop variety from British-Columbia, Canada. The Sasquatch hop 6.6%AA. This hop can compare to Cascade but I never used it. I have 8oz of that hop in stock.

A kind of IPA/APA....As you can see I really want to taste this hop :


11lbs Red X malt
1oz Sasquatch 6.6AA 60min
1oz Sasquatch 6.6AA 45min
1oz Sasquatch 6.6AA 30min
1oz Sasquatch 6.6AA 5min
2oz Sasquatch 6.6AA 0min
Nothinham dry yeast hydrated
2oz Sasquatch 6.6AA DRY HOP 7 days

 

[Beer666]

A SMASH sounds like a great idea. I might have to brew one before this batch runs out. What are you going to mash at? What is the flavour profile of sasquatch?

 

[Garage12brewing]

A SMASH sounds like a great idea. I might have to brew one before this batch runs out. What are you going to mash at? What is the flavour profile of sasquatch?

I will mash at 64C and my mash programm will be :

40C
52C 20min
65C 45min
73C 20min
78C 10min

Very easy with my Braumeister haha !

This is what I found... it will be my first SMASH beer... and first time also using these ingredients...


Aroma hop Sasquatch® is a unique dual purpose hop with orange, tea, lemon citrus notes

Dual PurposeSasquatch is Canada's first patented hop.

Typical Brewing Style:Ales, IPAs and hop forward lagers.

 

[hout17]

This is my first IPA this year brewed with red-x. Extremely happy with this, its really just what i was craving. Its crisp and fruity, decent level of bitterness.
This reminds me a little of the Wild Bill IPA sold in UK Aldis. Only criticism i have is i would of liked better clarity but i didn't want to expose it to any more oxygen than necessary.

View attachment 730359

27l batch
OG 1046
FG 1010
ABV 4.7%

5kg red-x 12l 90.1%
300g German biscuit 20l 5.4%
250g cara red 20l 4.5%

7g mosaic 11.6%AA FWH
30g mosaic 11.6%AA flameout
15g cascade 5.8%AA flameout
15g amarillo 8.7%AA flameout

60g mosaic 11.6%AA dry hop
30g cascade 5.8%AA dry hop
30g amarillo 8.7%AA dry hop

Yeast was crossmyloof USA pale. Was a few years out of date so i used 4 packs and it went off like a rocket.

That looks delicious now I'm definitely going to have to move it up the brew list.

 

[ThenFalcon]

I did a Red-X IPA last year that was 94% Red-X, 5% CaraRed and 1% CaraAroma with Amarillo, Cascade and Mosaic.

 

[Garage12brewing]

I did my SMASH last night using only Red X malt with Sasquatch hops from B.C. Canada.... the color is more deep copper than red to me but it looks good.... step mashed the grains... the picture is the wort before the boil.


40c
52c 20min
64c 45min
73c 20min
78c 10min

 

[Miraculix]

I think one of my first beers I ever brewed was a red X smash with sorachi ace. It was awesome! I think I might brew a nice red X smash next, this time with Chinook.

 

[Beer666]

I think one of my first beers I ever brewed was a red X smash with sorachi ace. It was awesome! I think I might brew a nice red X smash next, this time with Chinook.

I have some sorachi and would love to know what it really tastes like. Only used it in lagers and found it hard to notice so far so a SMASH would be a good idea.
The beer i brewed has almost gone already, demolished the majority of it over a few nights with a friend so i need to brew more asap.

 

[Miraculix]

I have some sorachi and would love to know what it really tastes like. Only used it in lagers and found it hard to notice so far so a SMASH would be a good idea.
The beer i brewed has almost gone already, demolished the majority of it over a few nights with a friend so i need to brew more asap.

Then you know what to do! Running out of beer isn't an option!

I need to order malt first and empty my fermenter, the latter is happening this weekend so maybe next weekend brewing. Or maybe I will order tonight.......

 

[Brooothru]

Then you know what to do! Running out of beer isn't an option!

I need to order malt first and empty my fermenter, the latter is happening this weekend so maybe next weekend brewing. Or maybe I will order tonight.......

Sounds like a good reason to add another fermenter!

 

[Miraculix]

Sounds like a good reason to add another fermenter!

I was waiting for this comment

And it is correct. I recently made a bigger barleywine and only hit 60% efficiency. I left a solid bitter or mild within the mash without the additional partygyle sparge. It hurt a bit to throw it into the trash..... But there was simply no second fermenter available for the bitter.

 

[Beer666]

This is my red-x lager. 20% rice finished at 1008. Still quite dry with a definite malty back bone. Tastes quite different from the Vienna lagers i have brewed. Happy with this, its an easy going summer beer.

 

[Miraculix]

I'm fermenting a lutra ara atm with redx and a dash of spelt malt, smells great through the air lock!

 

[Brooothru]

This is my red-x lager. 20% rice finished at 1008. Still quite dry with a definite malty back bone. Tastes quite different from the Vienna lagers i have brewed. Happy with this, its an easy going summer beer.
View attachment 732539View attachment 732540

So just Red-X and rice. Looks like a delicious beer, highly carbed from the looks of the rocky head and multitude of champagne-like bubbles. What were the hops?

I've got 10# of Red-X left over from last season when I was having issues (now hopefully solved) with laundering the Red-X, since my recirc system didn't play nice with the pre-crushed Red-X grain size. It looks from your pics that this would be a really nice, quick lager with the right ingredients.

 

[Beer666]

I meant to post the recipe with the photo but couldn't get on the pc. Its a really simple beer. Grain to glass in 28 days.

Red-x rice lager
27l batch
OG 1041
FG 1008
ABV 4.3%
IBU 22.3
SRM 9.94

4.25kg red-x
750g flaked rice
13g magnum 10.7%AA FWH (17.55 IBU)
40g Mittlefruh 3%AA @ 10 minutes (4.78 IBU)

Mash ph 5.26
mashed at 62c for 2 hours
mashout at 75c
water is RO with 3g of calcium chloride in the mash

Mangroves Jacks Bohemian lager yeast

Pitched at 5c and let rise to 8c overnight. Held for 10 days then ramped up to 18c and held until day 21. Cold crashed to 0c for 1 week with isinglass added half way through.

 

[Immocles]

I meant to post the recipe with the photo but couldn't get on the pc. Its a really simple beer. Grain to glass in 28 days.

Red-x rice lager
27l batch
OG 1041
FG 1008
ABV 4.3%
IBU 22.3
SRM 9.94

4.25kg red-x
750g flaked rice
13g magnum 10.7%AA FWH (17.55 IBU)
40g Mittlefruh 3%AA @ 10 minutes (4.78 IBU)

Mash ph 5.26
mashed at 62c for 2 hours
mashout at 75c
water is RO with 3g of calcium chloride in the mash

Pitched at 5c and let rise to 8c overnight. Held for 10 days then ramped up to 18c and held until day 21. Cold crashed to 0c for 1 week with isinglass added half way through.

I have no clue when I will get around to it, but I added this to my recipe log and ingredient buy. I love a malty lager and this would be right up my alley. I'll tweak it to serve my own purposes, but I can't believe I went straight to red ipa and that using it as a simple lager grain bill never occurred to me.

 

[Mutant]

I meant to post the recipe with the photo but couldn't get on the pc. Its a really simple beer. Grain to glass in 28 days.

Red-x rice lager
27l batch
OG 1041
FG 1008
ABV 4.3%
IBU 22.3
SRM 9.94

4.25kg red-x
750g flaked rice
13g magnum 10.7%AA FWH (17.55 IBU)
40g Mittlefruh 3%AA @ 10 minutes (4.78 IBU)

Mash ph 5.26
mashed at 62c for 2 hours
mashout at 75c
water is RO with 3g of calcium chloride in the mash

Pitched at 5c and let rise to 8c overnight. Held for 10 days then ramped up to 18c and held until day 21. Cold crashed to 0c for 1 week with isinglass added half way through.

What yeast?

 

[Beer666]

mistake

 

[Beer666]

What yeast?

Sorry forgot the yeast. I used Mangroves Jacks Bohemian lager Slurry from a previous batch. Lost count of what generation but way over 10.

 

[Beer666]

I have no clue when I will get around to it, but I added this to my recipe log and ingredient buy. I love a malty lager and this would be right up my alley. I'll tweak it to serve my own purposes, but I can't believe I went straight to red ipa and that using it as a simple lager grain bill never occurred to me.

I have done over a hundred lagers now and every now and again i get the urge to try something darker. I really got the idea from a Mexican Vienna lager with corn. For some reason i ended up swapping the corn for rice and had to use bohemian as i had used the Mexican slurry on the previous batch.

Thinking about doing a red-x brett IPA next. Lots of USA hops. Do you think i should add some crystal for the brett to chew on?

 

[DuncB]

I think they suggest a bit of rye in those. Been looking at doing one myself and was going to copy grain bill for this one from brewdog.
Their numbers seem wrong and hops all over the place but tempting as a first 100% brett.

 

[Beer666]

@DuncB Have you had a bottle? I saw that the other day somewhere on here. I have had a few and quite enjoyed it, not sure why they call it a sour though but its definitely drinkable. Probably do a raw version and chuck some oak in there. Have 5 or 6 strains of brett. I have done 100% brett beers before but always sour.

 

[Brooothru]

I have done over a hundred lagers now and every now and again i get the urge to try something darker. I really got the idea from a Mexican Vienna lager with corn. For some reason i ended up swapping the corn for rice and had to use bohemian as i had used the Mexican slurry on the previous batch.

Thinking about doing a red-x brett IPA next. Lots of USA hops. Do you think i should add some crystal for the brett to chew on?

A Mexican "Vienna" is exactly what Modelo Negra is: a Vienna brewed with some New World grains, and hops and yeast derived from Germany. It's a beer I revisit from time to time and is on my To Brew list for this year.

 

[DuncB]

@Beer666
Agree with you, I think it's the way it's on the DIY dog pdf.

In there book Beer for Geeks where I first saw the recipe it is not in a sour category.

I'm planning to have a crack at it, just growing up the brett now.

 

[Garage12brewing]

Here is the final product of my SMASH Red X / Sasquatch B.C. hops... it really taste between a Pale ale and a Red ale. The color isnt that red to me... maybe it depend on grains batches I dont know. Its very smooth and drinkable. The Red X malt would be a good grain to make an IPA from only this malt.


The final recipe was using 6oz of hops and not 8oz total ( I was sure I had 8oz of that hops when I created my recipe but on brew day I realized that the pack was 6oz )

11lbs Red X malt
1oz Sasquatch 6.6AA 60min
1oz Sasquatch 6.6AA 45min
1oz Sasquatch 6.6AA 30min
1oz Sasquatch 6.6AA 5min
1oz Sasquatch 6.6AA 0min
Nothinham dry yeast hydrated
1oz Sasquatch 6.6AA DRY HOP 7 days

1.055 / 1.010FG

 

[Miraculix]

Here is the final product of my SMASH Red X / Sasquatch B.C. hops... it really taste between a Pale ale and a Red ale. The color isnt that red to me... maybe it depend on grains batches I dont know. Its very smooth and drinkable. The Red X malt would be a good grain to make an IPA from only this malt.


The final recipe was using 6oz of hops and not 8oz total ( I was sure I had 8oz of that hops when I created my recipe but on brew day I realized that the pack was 6oz )

11lbs Red X malt
1oz Sasquatch 6.6AA 60min
1oz Sasquatch 6.6AA 45min
1oz Sasquatch 6.6AA 30min
1oz Sasquatch 6.6AA 5min
1oz Sasquatch 6.6AA 0min
Nothinham dry yeast hydrated
1oz Sasquatch 6.6AA DRY HOP 7 days

1.055 / 1.010FG


View attachment 733527

I think you are right regarding the IPA. I just made a pale ale with it, 30 Ibus, OG 1.052, and I could totally see it with more Ibus and higher OG in IPA territory.

It is actually one of my best, if not my best APA I ever made. Lutra Kveik, 8% spelt malt, rest Red-X plus Chinook and Simcoe. Pretty simple but goooooooood!

The Malt flavour comes out nicely, it does not need any crystal or Munich or whatever to give you some flavour, it is flavourfull on its own.

I think your sample would be nicely red, if it would be clear. As long as it is cloudy it tends to be more of a brownish colour. Also, everything that would raise the Gravity above 1.05 would need to be substituted by pilsener or other very pale malt, as the red colour is only working up until that gravity. Put more red x into it and the colour becomes brown.

 

[Garage12brewing]

I think you are right regarding the IPA. I just made a pale ale with it, 30 Ibus, OG 1.052, and I could totally see it with more Ibus and higher OG in IPA territory.

It is actually one of my best, if not my best APA I ever made. Lutra Kveik, 8% spelt malt, rest Red-X plus Chinook and Simcoe. Pretty simple but goooooooood!

The Malt flavour comes out nicely, it does not need any crystal or Munich or whatever to give you some flavour, it is flavourfull on its own.

I think your sample would be nicely red, if it would be clear. As long as it is cloudy it tends to be more of a brownish colour. Also, everything that would raise the Gravity above 1.05 would need to be substituted by pilsener or other very pale malt, as the red colour is only working up until that gravity. Put more red x into it and the colour becomes brown.

After reading your reply I might be wrong on my OG... might be closer to 1.050 ( I tryed to follow the recommandation for that malt ) I will certify that tonight. Yes my beer is still cloudy because it only have been bottle conditioning 1 week and in the fridge for one night ( only that bottle ) I was too excited to taste it but all the bottles will follow the normal procedures hahaha !

Yes the malt is very good used alone. I only feel that my APA would need more biterness even if it will please many people the way it is... thing that was hard to get from the hop I was using ( 6.6%A.A. )

I might brew with this malt again but I would go toward an IPA to get more bitterness from appropriated hops.

 

[Immocles]

I can't find a picture of my red X batches, but I agree that when it clears up some more, the red will poke through. I find that I like it at about a 70%/30% red malt/2row ratio myself. It's a fun, flavorful malt to mess around with, for sure.

 

[Beer666]

I made this before i got my new sack using up all the red-x i had left. I only had a few kilos of red left hence the grainbill but i was extremely happy with this beer. The acidity sits so well with the crystal, i was gutted when i poured the last glass. I like to drink a glass of this with a pint of lager. Made a similar beer last night, should be ready in 4 to 6 weeks.

Red Brett sour no boil
OG 1050
FG 1006

2.35 kg red-x
2.35 kg crisp wheat
150g melanoidin
250g extra dark crystal 160l

What do you all think about the grainbill for a red funk punk style beer? Red-x and a bit of wheat?

 

[Miraculix]

View attachment 734011

I made this before i got my new sack using up all the red-x i had left. I only had a few kilos of red left hence the grainbill but i was extremely happy with this beer. The acidity sits so well with the crystal, i was gutted when i poured the last glass. I like to drink a glass of this with a pint of lager. Made a similar beer last night, should be ready in 4 to 6 weeks.

Red Brett sour no boil
OG 1050
FG 1006

2.35 kg red-x
2.35 kg crisp wheat
150g melanoidin
250g extra dark crystal 160l

What do you all think about the grainbill for a red funk punk style beer? Red-x and a bit of wheat?

I would totally skip the crystal and melanoidin and lower the wheat to 10% at max. Red X is so flavourful on its own, it doesn't need any "enhancer" imo.