Hoppy Red Ale

Hi Everyone,

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)

WL 001 Cal Ale

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.

Thats your idea of simple?

Sounds good though.

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.