Hi all,
Hoping to brew a Red Ale and Irish Stout for after my wedding this winter. Anyone had any success with any good recipes for these. Have a few ideas but worried I am making the recipes too complicated.
Thanks for any help
The classic Irish stout is
- 70% pale malt
- 20% flaked barley (unmalted)
- 10% roasted barley
But there are people out there that find a way to get 10% brown malt into the grist to add character and complexity.
A red ale for me when done well should emphasise malt character without impacting session ability. Graininess from eg flaked barley is welcome, low attenuation due to high crystal content less so.
If I was to do a red ale, I would use
75% high character pale ale malt, like dingemans pale, a heritage variety or even Vienna
20% flaked barley
5% or less of high ebc malt to hit your desired colour
The hops don't matter much in a stout, but it's a wide playing field in an Irish red
I've been tinkering with Irish Red Ales for a while now, it's a style that gets a lot of flak due to some of the underwhelming examples but if done properly I think Irish Red Ale can be a smashing beer. I'd echo everything that TheSumOfAllBeers said, and add that yeast selection can effect the flavour profile. I brewed my latest attempt using Wyeast Irish Ale, the fermentation temperature went to the higher end of the temperature scale for a few days (20°C - 22°C), so I've ended up with a beer with has a bit more fruitiness than I wanted. It's still a decent beer, but closer in flavour to a Wychwood Hobgoblin than an Irish Red.
ETA: My next planned brew is an Irish Stout as it happens, I'm planning on going with the classic grain bill for the style and Wyeast Irish Ale fermented at around 21°C, the fruitiness I ended up with in the Irish Red might fit quite well with a stout.
Check out the Best Recipes (https://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/best-recipes/) section.
Shanna's 2018 Gold medal Irish stout : https://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/best-recipes/2018-category-15b-irish-stout-gold-medal/
John_C's GCB 2014 Gold medal Irish Red: https://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/best-recipes/gcb-red-ale-gold-medal/
Many more stout and red recipes in there :)
Cheers everyone. Thinking of leaving the red ale until later in the year now. Going with an Irish Stout, Oatmeal Stout and a Chocolate Milk Stout next weekend.
My version of an Irish red has a high amount of low ebc crystal and some chocolate malt for the colour. Makes it a sweeter, maltier less harsh red.
Doesn't do well in comps as it does not tick all the style box's but is an enjoyable drink.
Been perfecting a clone of galway bays buried at sea too. Got a silver for it this year in the nationals.
If your still looking for recipes for them I can fire them up.
Yea that would be great. Made the Irish Stout it turned out pretty good. The chocolate milk stout was great though will 100% make it again. I like the sound of your Irish Red!