Comments on: Irish Red Ale Recipe

By: Mike Engels

Mike Engels — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:35:13 +0000

Actually, if one reads Michael Jackson’s Beer Companion-red ales only really have about four grains-Pale Ale malt, Crystal Malt, Roasted Barley and Corn/corn syrup. It even has the percentages.

Special B and a lot of these other crazy grains are not really used much in large scale brewing.

By: Freefallerup

Freefallerup — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:53:22 +0000

I’ve found that crystal 80 and roasted barley did indeed impart the desired color.
10 gals.
13 lbs. maris otter
3½ lbs maize
11 oz. crystal 80
6 oz. special B
3.7 oz roasted barley
EKG 25 IBU
Irish ale yeast

Delicious!

By: deafcone

deafcone — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:20:38 +0000

I’ve read on a beer tools red ale thread a brewer uses black patent, uncrushed, just a handful during sparge to get his red color. He doesn’t uses 20 L crystal also not the darker ones.
never tried it..

By: Make Red Beer | Brew Dudes

Make Red Beer | Brew Dudes — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:41:49 +0000

[…] I was rereading Mike’s post about his Irish Ale Recipe. […]

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:40:18 +0000

I would keep the 120, drop the wheat as it doesn’t contribute to the style. Increase the 120 to 4-5 ounces; no wheat, no black patent. You may also want to drop the Roasted Barley to 2-3 ounces. Also keep either a 4-5 ounces of Crystal 20 or 40. CaraPils amazes me. lthough is greeat in contributing to some body and good at head retention, it throws the style off. Actually crystal 20 or 40 offer the same qualities, but of course increase color. Overall the recipe listed produces a good looking beer the color seems way high. I would like to see more alcohol to this beer and call it an Imperial Red instead.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:24:31 +0000

IMO, the problem with deriving color using crystal malt is an imbalance in the finished flavor. Crystal malts give you good residual sweetness with varying degrees of flavor, lighter crystal is a maltier sweetness and higher amounts startes to give you raisin dried fruit flavors. To get the the same color from a quarter once of 450 Lovibond roasted barely using an 80 Lovibond (or even 120 Lovibond) crystal would put you in a range that imparts more crystal flavor than I would want in a beer. Such low amounts of the darker kilned roasted malt keeps that flavor impact minimal, but the hint of roast gives that drier finish in the final flavor. For this style, I think that a drier, maltier flavor profile is sought after. Too much crystal would give a sweeter malt character closer to English Pale instead of the drier Irish Amber. This recipe already has a fair amount of crystal in it, using more to drive the color would start to increase the residual sweetness out of style.
Realistically, I should drop the crystal 120L and use a little more “roast” now that I think about it.

By: John

John — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:01:42 +0000

When you tried getting a red color before, did you try using 80L Crystal malt? From what I have read, it seems like that this type of malt imparts a red color.