NEED a red.. QUICK!

Grains, malts, hops, yeast, water and other ingredients used to brew. Recipe reviews and suggestions.

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zeno
Pale Ale
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NEED a red.. QUICK!

Post by zeno »

Ok, so my order's been delayed, and I need a good, complex malt flavored red with a guaranteed nice red color. I like the medium mouth feel caramel flavor with a lot of complexity. Unfortunately I lost the ingredient list to the red kit from the first time I bought it.

Yes, my order was a kit... I'm lame, I know, but I have no clue how to get a red right and my bud requested just that.

If I'm going to be able to age this beer a decent amount of time, I need to get it in brew this weekend. The local shop is quite a drive, but he's got a good selection of grains and extracts. Not sure how much dry extract he carries, though. I Forget the liquid yeast brand he carries, but it's in a gold pouch. I'll just grab the irish ale one if you guys have no preference.
zeno
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Take a look?

Post by zeno »

This look like a match? Keep in mind, the color is going to be a big deal, and the complex malty tast will be big, too..

6 lbs. Liquid Light Extract
.5 lbs. American Caramel 80
zeno
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Well, this is it...

Post by zeno »

Ran into a few issues at the beer store. First off, no crystal malts. Also found that Challenger, fuggles, and goldings were the more commonly used hops in irish brews. Those and Target, which I was unable to find. Below is the way it panned out.

5 lb Extra Light Dry Extract
.5 lb English 2-row
1 lb CaraMunich II (caramel 60*)
.3 lb roasted barley

.8 oz Challenger 60min
1 oz fuggles for flavor 15 min
1 oz Goldings for aroma

I normally stick aroma hops in after the boil, and leave them in as I cool the beer with the wert chiller. I'm not sure if 15 minuts will do the flavor thing or not, but we'll find out. I go to brew in about 4 hours.. If it turns out, all add the recipie to the library. I love the suspence of home made beer recipies.
Conklin
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That is crystal

Post by Conklin »

You do realize that caramunich is crystal malt. As is caramel, carahell, carastan, carapils, caravienna, caraAmber. Seeing a pattern here? It just depends on what brand you get, and who trademarked what dumb name to describe the same exact thing. Here is a good page to compare a couple different brands and what each name is in the other brands line.

http://www.northcountrymalt.com/comparison.html
fitz
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Roasted barley

Post by fitz »

If you are going for carmelized flavor, and red color, and do not want any of the grainy roasted flavor, I would leave the roasted barley out and add more 80 L crystal to the brew. Just my 2 cents
zeno
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Definately noted

Post by zeno »

Roast was added cause that's what the old books say was used for the red color. I ended up only putting in .2lbs of black roast and it turned it dark brown. I'm sure the beer's going to taste burnt.

I also used all extralight malt extract. I feel this was a mistake in hindsight as well. I did it cause the local brew store guy said it was the easiest way to avoid burning on the bottom of the kettle, which would add another 20*L to the color easily. Even with the rolling boil, it seemed to me it didn't all disolve. The wert tasted worse than usual, also.. The syrupy sweet tast wasn't there, and sediment volume was HUGE..

Oh well, I'll take a taste of the raw beer when I rack and see what that tasts like. I forgot the irish moss, so I'll probably have a very hard time clarifying it.
fitz
Strong Ale
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One good thing

Post by fitz »

One good thing about a darker beer, it doesn't have to be crystal clear. The darkness hides the fact of chill haze.
Did you add the extract while the pot was boiling?
If you do an extract beer, remove the pot from the heat while you stir in the extract. There is less scorching and sediment that way. An extra light malt is more fermentable, so the beer should have as much "residual sweetness" I like the carmelized taste to the red beers, that's why I use the extra 80 l crystal, and leave out the roast barley.
zeno
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I learn something new every time you post :0p

Post by zeno »

Actually, yes.. I did add the extract while it was boiling. Because it was dry extract, I thought it'd stir it up better. Obviously flawed logic. With the liquid extract I normally do take it off the heat.

I honestly think I'll be staying away from dry extract in the future. It wasn't the easiest thing to get to disolve. I'm not sure if that dry extract was part of the sediment or not. I also used the cloth mesh bags, so more pellet resedue probobly got in the been than what normally gets in when I have the nylon bags handy.

One point of interest.. My OG looked about right (~1.056). Would this be an indication that I indeed did get all the extract to disolve? And are there any tricks I can use to help clarity when I forget the Irish Moss?
fitz
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I don't

Post by fitz »

I don't normally use Irish moss.
On occasion (especially when brewing a really light colored beer) I'll add Amylase enzyme. This helps convert some of the non fermentable to fermentables. Also, if your secondary is kept cold, this will help(settle) some of the non fermentables.
Don't give up on dry extract just yet. Try disolving prior to the steam starting to rise from your pot. The steam is all it takes to get the dry extract to harden. You could also mix it in a bowl with cooler water before adding it to the pot.
O.G. is just a target, depending on the ingredients used, and the manufacture, theO.G. will vary even from batch to batch if the ingredients come from another lot from the same supplier. Dry extract has 1/4 more malt in it than liguid extract too, so don't rely on LBS to O.G. unless checking them on a brewing calculator. Even then, it is just meant to get you close.
vtterror
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Couldn't resist adding my two cents...

Post by vtterror »

Hey guys! Did someone say he wanted caramel flavor AND a nice red color? Next time you brew, try a little Special B. At 120 L, it is the darkest of the caramel malts imparting a gorgeous red color
to whatever beer you're making PLUS it is the most intensely flavored of the caramel malts. If you still need a little more red coloring, adding a couple of
ounces of chocolate malt to your 5 gal. batch will add a ruby red color without a lot of dark malt character. BTW, Wyeast 1084, Irish ale yeast is a pretty good selection for this type brew, although for giggles and grins, try Wyeast 2112 (I think) California Lager Yeast (Steam Yeast). You get crystal clear beers with great malt character, and what's more, despite this being technically a lager yeast, you ferment it at ale temperatures (65 degrees F).
zeno
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Constant Temp?

Post by zeno »

How constant does the temp have to be? Most of my ales ferment closter to the 70* range cause that's as cold as I can get it without running my electric bill sky high...

Thanks for the malt advice! It's not easy to find a good source on what all the grains are good for... Thus far it's been trial and error and you guys.
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