I am very excited because I got one of my closest friends into brewing. He bought the basic brew kit from Midwest supplies and it came with than Irish Red Ale kit. Unfortunately, that’s not exactly a style he enjoys. I thought I would help him tweak the recipe a bit to come up with West Coast Style Red Ale, since he does love IPAs.
Having a little trouble thinking about what types of hops to use. Was thinking of keeping it simple and going with just a little Magnum for bitting then some Cascade/Centennial and dry hop this some Cascade and Amarillo. I’ve never been a big red fan so don’t know how well all of this would play out. Some thoughts on my recipe would be greatly appreciated.
1.061
IBU: 53.3
Color: 14.2
6 lb Golden LIght LME
2 lb DME
1lb Carared
12 oz Crystal 40L
2 oz Special b
2 oz Roasted Barley
.5 oz Magnum (60 min)
.75 oz Cascade (15 min)
.75 oz Centennial (15 min)
.75 oz Cascade (5 min)
.75 oz Centennial (5 min)
1 oz Cascade (dry hop 7 days)
1 oz Amarillo (dry hop 7 days)
Your hop schedule will probably be fine but does the Midwest kit really call for two pounds of specialty grains for a five gallon batch? That seems high.
If you’d leave out the steeping grains (they’re typically mixed in those kits right?) and just use some crystal 40 you’d have a nice IPA.
Those basic brewing kits from Midwest are really good deals when on sale, I got one for a friend at Christmas. Something like $70 for the brewing stuff, a kit (she got amber ale) and a $25 coupon for another kit.
@tomsawyer… You know I didn’t even think of that, makes a much more sense… ;D It all comes mixed but since I am adding some grain anyway might as well just use the malt extract and make an IPA. I know he would like that much better. Thanks!
I think the grist bill will produce a fairly dextrinous wort. The hop bill looks pretty good. A clean bitterness with a pretty decent hop flavor and aroma. This is like a red IPA.