Another irish red

So i’m making an irish red ale for my brother in law and need some feedback.  I’ve done a lot of reading and research and think I have a good idea for a recipe, but I don’t want to go overboard on specialty malts.  The recipe is a partial mash with a 3gal boil.

2 lb UK Pale Malt (Maybe marris otter)
8 oz Cara Pils/Dextrine
8 oz Crystal 40
2.1 oz Roasted barley
2.1 oz Chocolate Malt
3.3 lb Pale LME

0.80 oz Kent Goldings @ 60min
1 lb light DME (30 min addition)

1.0 oz Willamette @ 15min
0.50 oz Kent Goldings @ 15min

I will probably mash at 1.5qt/lb @154 for 60min.  This recipe gives me about 25 IBU, 15 SRM and an OG of 1049.

Thoughts, suggestions?  Thanks!

What yeast are you planning to use?

Irish Ale Yeast from East Coast Yeast.  ECY26 Dublin Ale.

You say you are using “LME” and “DME.”  I would, of course, recommend that you get british extract.  Personally, I use 100% DME, but if you like trying to scrape the cans of LME out, that’s pretty much user preference, as long as the LME is fresh.

I would consider Pale chocolate, instead of chocolate.  This is pretty close to what I remember the BCS version of Irish red is, and while that’s a great beer, it’s very dark.  And it uses pale chocolate (200L), not the full-up 400-500L stuff.  Be prepared for a dark beer.

Also, I would consider swapping in some British crystal.  I have recently used some simpsons crystal, and it’s great stuff.  The downside is they are all a range of degL, but that really shouldn’t batter too much.  The Medium is 60-70L, which should fit well.

I don’t have the style guidelines in front of me, but I believe this is supposed to be a hop-restrained beer (I might be wrong, so check!).  Your flavor/aroma hop additions may drown out some of the malty character that is what I, personally, really love about this style.

Thanks.  Yea, the LME was a carryover from another recipe.  I had some extra Munich LME which I was planning on using, but I’m afraid that would be too much malty base with the Crystal, Chocolate and roasted barley.  I can use DME, and actually I typically do.  I cut the crystal down to 6oz (I will see if I can get some british), and I cut out the 15 min EKG addition and just made it Willamette.

I think you’ll like the British Crystal, if you can get it.  Beyond that, do what you like… you asked for thoughts, so I put some out there.

Remember: It’s just beer.  Whatever you brew will be better than most store-bought stuff.  Even if it’s “out of style” it can be delicious.  Don’t over-analyze.

Thanks for the support and feedback.  I appreciate it, in fact all the feedback I’ve recieved on this forum has been very useful.  Unfortunately I constantly over analyze my beers and the process that goes into making them.  I guess it comes from being a real scientist, but some of it comes from wanting to know I’m giving my friends and relatives a quality beer, that I did the best possible job brewing it.

You think over-analyzing is an issue as a scientist?  I’m an engineer.  Trust me, at /LEAST/ as bad.  Probably worse.

Enjoy.

So I took my first gravity reading last night, and I have to say this one came out awesome.  The yeast has some cleaning up to do, but the flavor I get from the malts seems to be exactly what I would expect from an irish red ale.  I ended up using the Birtish Crystal