I am curious how everyone thinks the malt, hops, and yeast will blend in this one. This hop combo sounds interesting to me and am I curious as to everyone’s thoughts on how the flavor and aroma will come out on this one. This is an american bastardization of an Irish Red. I brew a Porter with Perle for bittering and .5 oz Willamette at 20 and 5 that I love. I thought it might be interesting to blend cascade and perle for flame out or dry hop. Has anyone done an aroma combo with Perle and Cascade? I was going to switch to Chico yeast but thought since I already had the Irish that I might as well throw it in and see what happens. I keep getting cold feet on brewing an Irish Ale for fear of it not being bitter and hoppy enough for me to enjoy 5 gallons worth.
It’s likely to end up kinda sweet with a lb. each of carapils and crystal. I’d either cut the carapils in 1/2 or leave it out altogether. The best way I’ve found to make a red beer is with about 15-20% carared malt.
Another good way is with a couple lbs of munich and a pinch of dark crystal. I personally don’t like the roasted barley route of making a beer red. Then again, that could just be personal taste. Irish Red Ale is just about my least favorite beer style - but I love a good hoppy West Coast-style APA/AAA.
Carared works well, as Denny said. My favorite combo is 1/2 lb 60 and 1/2 lb 80 with and oz or two of 120. I would lose the Carapils, it is not necessary. IMHO Carapils is useful only in yeller beers like a Dortmunder or Bo-pils.
Okay, after some internal debate, I think I am going to brew Jamil’s West Coast Amber out of Brewing Classic Styles. I want to use 1.5 oz of hops at 15 and 1.5 oz of hops at 1 minute. I have simcoe, cascade, columbus, and amarillo. I want to use 3 of the hops, .5 oz each at 15 and 1. Which three should I use? I thought about using all four but I think I want to save the hops.
Well, I end up brewing up an Amber inspired by Jamil’s West Coast Blaster. Here is my recipe slightly tweaked for the crystal and chocolate malts I had plus the hops I wanted to use:
I pitched 2 smack paks of Wyeast1056
Fermented out in 10 days and forced carbed in 3 days
Drank 2 pints last night, 2 weeks after brew date. I don’t know why I waited 2.5 years to start kegging. This is awesome!
I finally feel like I nailed one. This is by far the cleanest fermentation I have had. The beer is bitter but smooth. The toast & maltiness from the Munich and Victory is awesome (first time I have done this combo) and there is just the right amount of sweetness to back up the maltiness and hops.