Norwegian looking for advice on brewing great Irish beer

[finn]

Hi

My name is Finn Berger, and I've just joined. I'm a Norwegian, and I've been brewing all-grain for a year now - and I've been pretty busy at it; batch #40 just started bubbling happily .

I'm hopelessly in love with some of the products from O'Hara's - especially the extra Irish Stout, and the Irish Red Ale. Finding the authentic recipes for those seems impossible - the brewery is pretty tight-lipped, I think? - and there's also very little to be found about them on the net. But I do have some hope that there might be people on this forum who can help me out; pointing me in the right direction, at least, as it were. And then I might point you in the direction of some pretty nice Norwegian beer. (Norwegian craft breweries are very generous with their recipes!)

Historically there's been some exchange of impulses between our two countries. I think this might be a nice way to continue doing so.

[Will_D]

Hi Finn and welcome,

You should find some good great recipes on this site.

Only last year the Garden County Brewers hosted an "Irish Red Competition" with some success.
The idea was to push thye Irish Red beyond O'hara's excellent position.

Have a browse round/goolgle the site and if you are still needing recipes re-post!

[Vermelho]

I tried cloning the red and it turned out pretty tasty if a little dark. Probably closer to mcardles which I also love. I'll post the recipe tomorrow.

[Vermelho]

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 29.88 l
Post Boil Volume: 23.92 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 22.00 l   
Bottling Volume: 21.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.042 SG
Estimated Color: 32.3 EBC
Estimated IBU: 21.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.3 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
3.30 kg               Maris Otter (Crisp) (7.9 EBC)            Grain         1        80.5 %       
0.70 kg               Carared (Weyermann) (47.3 EBC)           Grain         2        17.1 %       
0.10 kg               Roasted Barley (Thomas Fawcett) (1199.7  Grain         3        2.4 %         
17.07 g               Mt. Hood [6.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min        Hop           4        13.2 IBUs     
12.80 g               Mt. Hood [6.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min        Hop           5        7.6 IBUs     
12.80 g               Mt. Hood [6.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min         Hop           6        0.4 IBUs     
1.0 pkg               Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml]       Yeast         7        -             


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 4.10 kg
----------------------------
Name              Description                      Step Temperature   Step Time     
Mash In           Add 11.19 l of water at 72.9 C   66.7 C             60 min       

Sparge: Fly sparge with 23.29 l water at 75.6 C

So that's my take on it. My beer ended up a bit darker for some reason, possibly because of the malt Mottly Brew has, anyway, it tasted excellent. One of my friends really liked it and he's an avid red fan.

[Vermelho]

FYI, this recipe was based off the info from this forum, it's scattered in various places and I tried to put something together.

[finn]

Thanks a lot. That looks promising. I read up a bit on the beer you're saying this one resembles, and it seems a beer I'd like to drink . (It's not available in Norway, though, as far as I know.)

Nottingham is Ok, but I think I might use wlp004. That won't make a lot of difference, I guess - unless you ferment Nottingham at the lower end to get a very clean beer?

You wouldn't have a take on O'Hara's extra Irish STout as well ? That seems to include some coffee and vanilla, I think? Or do I just imagine that?

[cruiscinlan]

You wouldn't have a take on O'Hara's extra Irish STout as well ? That seems to include some coffee and vanilla, I think? Or do I just imagine that?

Is this the leann folláin you're trying to replicate?  It's a fave of mine and I'd be very interested in a clone as well.

[finn]

The very one. Then we're two .

[Jonnycheech]

Hi Finn and welcome to the forum! Or should I say velkommen!

I can recommend the Irish Red recipe from Brewing Classic Styles, that's if you haven't tried it before! It's a very good Irish red, not exactly like O Hara's, but it's pretty tasty. I think it's a little more bready/toasty malty and a little less roasty malty than O Hara's version, but it's pretty close.

RECIPE: RUABEOIR
OG: 1.054 (13.4 °P)
FG: 1.014 (3.6 °P)
ADF: 73%
IBU: 25
Color: 17 SRM (33 EBC)
Alcohol: 5.2% ABV (4.0% ABW)
Boil: 60 minutes
Pre-Boil Volume: 7 gallons (26.5L)
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.046 (11.4 °P)

British Pale Ale Malt (3.5 °L) 5.1kg 87.8% 
Crystal (40 °L) 170g 4.1 %
Crystal (120 °L) 170g 4.1%
Roasted Barley (300 °L) 170g 4.1% (Mash @ 67C)

Kent Goldings 5% AA, 60 min. 35g 25.1 IBUs

Yeast
White Labs WLP004 Irish Ale, Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale, or Fermentis Safale US-05

Fermentation and Conditioning
Use 10 grams of properly rehydrated dry yeast, 2 liquid yeast packages, or make an appropriate starter. Ferment at 19°C. When finished, carbonate the beer from 2 to 2.5 volumes.

[cruiscinlan]

The very one. Then were two .

You'd better believe it!

Nearest I could find on the forum was this:

http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,2385.msg52864.html#msg52864

Wonder if anyone else here has made a successful clone.

[finn]

Looked nice enough, that one. I think I'd replace part of the choco malt with some coffee malt (Castle) that I've got, and probably add a vanilla bean. Maybe add some real coffee, too.

I've brewed a few of the BCS recipes, and none have failed to turn out well. I just thought that IR one might be something too much along the lines of the lighter ones, like Kilkenny or Murphy.

[cruiscinlan]

Finn, here's another thread on replicating the Leann Folláin which has some suggestions on using debittered malt that might be useful:
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,14669.0.html

[finn]

I've started using Gordon Strongs way og handling the darker malts, as I've had that problem with astringency/harsh bitterness. It's a bit early to conclude - seems like I perhaps should up the volume of the darkest a bit when I do that?

Debittered is a good idea, I think. I use it in my porter. And the milk stout association has come to me as well when drinking the Leann Follain - so maybe a little lactose should go in there?

What do you think of the vanilla bean and the coffee, by the way?