New Brew
Here's the recipe we just brewed up on Saturday:
Recipe
7.25lb Pale LME
1.25lb Munich malt
0.50lb Victory malt
0.50lb Crystal 120L
0.25lb Pale Chocolate malt
2.0 oz Roasted barley
0.5 oz Cascade hops @ 20 min.
0.5 oz Willamette hops @ 20 min.
1.0 oz Cascade hops @ 10 min.
1.0 oz Willamette hops @ 10 min.
0.5 oz Cascade hops @ flame out
0.5 oz Willamette hops @ flame out
WLP Irish Ale yeast
Partial mash at 154F for 30min.
Batch sparge with 170F water
90 min. boil
This should give us a hoppy red ale - it was based on a couple of recipes that were supposed to be quite good, although I made a few modifications to fit my brewhouse needs, and the availability of hops at the LHBS. The extra-long boil is supposed to make the red color even stronger. The hopping schedule looks weird, because I was experimenting with late-hopping, a technique that involves...exactly what it sounds like. Adding more hops later in the boil should give the same amount of bitterness with much more flavor and aroma...we'll see how that works out.
So far, it smells deliciously hoppy - stinks up the entire house when anyone opens the cupboard :). The red color wasn't as strong as I had hoped coming out of the boil, but it was kinda cloudy, so hopefully the color will improve after everything settles out a bit. Also, the LME had a kind of vegetabley flavor...not sure if there was something wrong with it or if it's just a different type than I'm used to, but I don't remember it tasting quite like that before...hopefully that won't keep the beer from turning out drinkable.
The only mistakes that I'm sure I made so far are as follows: forgot to add Irish Moss (that shouldn't be too big of a deal, as it's mostly there to clarify the beer, which doesn't matter if we're drinking it all at home), and forgot to fill the airlock with water after getting it all in the bucket (only a problem if one of those fruitflies got in. Then it could ruin the whole beer...or turn it into a Belgian red instead... :)
There may also have been some oxidation issues early on, since I don't have any of the right equipment for doing a partial mash. Oh well, it'll be a good experiment, even if it doesn't end up being a great beer.
Recipe
7.25lb Pale LME
1.25lb Munich malt
0.50lb Victory malt
0.50lb Crystal 120L
0.25lb Pale Chocolate malt
2.0 oz Roasted barley
0.5 oz Cascade hops @ 20 min.
0.5 oz Willamette hops @ 20 min.
1.0 oz Cascade hops @ 10 min.
1.0 oz Willamette hops @ 10 min.
0.5 oz Cascade hops @ flame out
0.5 oz Willamette hops @ flame out
WLP Irish Ale yeast
Partial mash at 154F for 30min.
Batch sparge with 170F water
90 min. boil
This should give us a hoppy red ale - it was based on a couple of recipes that were supposed to be quite good, although I made a few modifications to fit my brewhouse needs, and the availability of hops at the LHBS. The extra-long boil is supposed to make the red color even stronger. The hopping schedule looks weird, because I was experimenting with late-hopping, a technique that involves...exactly what it sounds like. Adding more hops later in the boil should give the same amount of bitterness with much more flavor and aroma...we'll see how that works out.
So far, it smells deliciously hoppy - stinks up the entire house when anyone opens the cupboard :). The red color wasn't as strong as I had hoped coming out of the boil, but it was kinda cloudy, so hopefully the color will improve after everything settles out a bit. Also, the LME had a kind of vegetabley flavor...not sure if there was something wrong with it or if it's just a different type than I'm used to, but I don't remember it tasting quite like that before...hopefully that won't keep the beer from turning out drinkable.
The only mistakes that I'm sure I made so far are as follows: forgot to add Irish Moss (that shouldn't be too big of a deal, as it's mostly there to clarify the beer, which doesn't matter if we're drinking it all at home), and forgot to fill the airlock with water after getting it all in the bucket (only a problem if one of those fruitflies got in. Then it could ruin the whole beer...or turn it into a Belgian red instead... :)
There may also have been some oxidation issues early on, since I don't have any of the right equipment for doing a partial mash. Oh well, it'll be a good experiment, even if it doesn't end up being a great beer.