Bloody Caltrops Irish Red

[mr_pinball]

I've gotten a hankering for an Irish Red Ale but I've never brewed one before and after a bit of research I've settled on this recipe.

5 gallon Recipe

2.6kg Pale Ale Malt
2.5kg Marris Otter
0.7kg Munich
0.2kg 90L Crystal
0.2Kg 30L Crystal
0.08kg Roasted Barley
0.5kg Torrified Wheat

18g Challenger - 60mins
15g Challenger - 20mins
20g EKG - 0 mins

US05 yeast

How does it look to a more discerning
eye? I was thinking of substituting some of the Roasted Barley for a bit of chocolate malt, but I was afraid of it muddying the flavour too much.

Also should I just stick to all EKG, I saw most recipes used a combination of fuggles and EKG but I have substituted fuggles for Challenger (it's what have at hand).

Hoping to start this on Thursday, so all criticisms welcome!

[BrewDorg]

I'd go 100% MO base and I'd up the roasted malt a bit too. You could even straight swap chocolate malt for the roasted barley and up it again. I'd be looking for 2-3% roast at a minimum or you'll miss out on that character altogether. EKG the whole way through will do just fine too.

[mr_pinball]

Cheers man, I don't have enough MO left, so I'll have to stick with split MO and pale malt. But I'll look again at the Roasted Barley and up the amount. I had a feeling it was on the low side, but  I was trying to hit the right numbers on brewer's friend for colour.

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[BrewDorg]

No problem splitting the base malt in that case. Maybe it's my poor palate, but I'd be incredibly hard pushed to differentiate between 100% MO and a 50/50 pale blend. Here's my latest red ale recipe just to compare to. I'm not getting as much roast flavour from it as I'd like, so I'll probably up it in the next iteration. I think my hops might have been a bit old too, so the bitterness could also do with a bump. Yeast choice is personal preference, but I wanted to try a hybrid strain for this to see how it'd turn out.

Guest Tap Red Ale
BIAB - 70% Efficiency
Batch Size: 22L
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.010
Colour: 40 EBC
Bitterness: 19 IBU

58% Maris Otter
15% Munich Malt (15 EBC)
15% Crystal (130 EBC)
10% Flaked Barley (4 EBC)
2% Roasted Barley (1200 EBC)

30g EKG 5.00%, 60 mins
10g EKG 5.00%, 10 mins
10g EKG 5.00%, 1 min

WY2112 California Lager Yeast

Water profile (ppm)
Ca   Mg   Na   SO4   Cl   HCO3
65   3     9      57     75  25

[mr_pinball]

Having adjusted mine, I'm getting pretty similar percentages, a little more Crystal and I've Torrified Wheat in mine instead of Flaked barley. Roll on Thursday!

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[cruiscinlan]

Brewdorg are you using a lager yeast and fermenting at ale temps? 

[BrewDorg]

California lager yeast is actually a hybrid strain, so it's recommended temp range is 14-20 C but it should give lager characteristics. I fermented at 17 and ramped to 20 to finish out. I was going to use saflager 34/70 and ferment at 17-18, but since I'm planning a Cal Common at some stage, I got the Wyeast 2112 instead.

[mr_pinball]

Brew done, nearly messed it up, didn't realise I'd ran out of 30L, had to improvise a bit but got there in the end.

Nearly forgot to chill the wort too. I think it was the cold, was bloody freezing outside. My hydrometer broke but I think I managed to hit the OG, but the colours a bit darker than I would like, but it might lighten a bit when everything settles.

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[mr_pinball]

This spent nearly 4 weeks in the primary as I didn't have a chance in hell getting the time to bottle it. It'll only be in the bottle a week and a half by Christmas. Should be carbed in time.....I hope!

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[irish_goat]

Should be ok, will have conditioned a bit in the primary at least.

[mr_pinball]

That's what I was hoping for, if not, I still have about 40 bottles of stout as back up!

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[Padraich]

How did it turn out?

I'm hankering after an Irish Red too.

[mr_pinball]

It turned out really well, must have pitched the yeast too high because it had a fruity aftertaste. But i left about ten bottle for about six months and they were delicious. It sorted out the fruityness and brought out the malt, caramel and roast flavours. Is definatly one of best beers ive made. Was a bit too brown in colour than i would have liked, but sure we cant win them all!

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