Red ale kit recommendations

[Kevin O'Roundwood]

Any recommendations for (Irish) red ale kits? Did the St. Peters one before Christmas, twas lovely and wouldn't mind giving another red ale a go. Can't seem to find any others from the main Irish home brew shops though...

Would an English Bitter be close to a red ale??

[LordEoin]

1.7kg Australian Pale Ale
500g Coopers Light Dry Malt
100g Crystal Malt
50g Roasted Barley
Yeast under the lid or an ale yeast of your choice

to 20L

from http://www.coopers.com.au/#/diy-beer/beer-recipes/ale/detail/irish-red-ale/

[Kevin O'Roundwood]

Ah good man MisterEoin!

2 questions - (a) Is Coopers Light Dry Malt the same as their Brew Enhancer? and (2) have you tried it yourself?

Further question - (iii) Is this still a kit hack or are we flirting with extract brewing here??

[Kevin O'Roundwood]

OK, did a bit of searching and far as I can see light dry malt is pale malt. Am I right? So can I buy this on it's own for less than the brew enhancer?

[LordEoin]

yeah, it's just Light Dry Malt Extract aka spraymalt, get any brand.
I'd go for DME over enhancer. Enhancers are overpriced.
There's really very little difference between extract and kit apart from kits have the hops already in the goop so there's no need for hop boils (apart from getting extra flavor/aroma if you want)

[Bubbles]

+1 for Eoin's recipe. That kit makes a very nice base for a red ale.

[Kevin O'Roundwood]

Brilliant - nice one lads!

I kinda agreed to brew a few batches of red ale and stout for a buddy's wedding. Depending on how it turns out of course and just exactly how crippling the stomach cramps will be (there's a sliding scale) so if this turns out better that the St. Peters it could be a goer.

Any similar recommendations for stout while we're at it? Have the Craft Range stout conditioning at the mo but it's still a bit early to tell yet...

[LordEoin]

my default stout kit is coopers again, the Irish Stout kit can

[Kevin O'Roundwood]

And do you add some steeped grains/hops etc.? Or brew it straight?

There's really very little difference between extract and kit apart from kits have the hops already in the goop so there's no need for hop boils (apart from getting extra flavor/aroma if you want)

So we're still in kit hacking territory but winking across the room at eachother...

[LordEoin]

Technically it's all extract brewing. Kits are just hopped up malt extract.
But the accepted understanding of extract brewing would be using unhopped malt extract and getting your bittering, flavor and aroma from the hops, speciality grains, etc.

[Kevin O'Roundwood]

Two (more) questions on this recipe

When you're steeping the grains is it just the grains + hot water, or is it grains + hot water + contents of can?

Also in the link to the coopers site they say to ferment between 18 and 20 degrees. But then they say in the next bit that the closer to 21 degrees you can get it the better... So should I just aim for 21 degrees so? (Using the yeast under the lid)

Cheers

[LordEoin]

steep - just water. guide here
temperature - 18C. i presume 'the closer the brew is to 21C' is for Australians aiming to keep the temp down rather than us trying to keep the temp up.

[Kevin O'Roundwood]

Of course - sure the goop in the cans is basically malt extract that has been mashed already... makes sence

Thanks for constantly repeating yourself to eejits like myself!

[johnrm]

Sure its eejits like you that keep us in jobs.

No, wait...

[Kevin O'Roundwood]

No, wait...

heh heh