Doing a lager run of pale, red, then black. How does this look for something red? Going for something very drinkable with some light hop flavor and aroma.
100% Red X
9 g Magnum 60 min
14 g Palisade 20 min
14 g Palisade 5 min
14 g Hersbrucker 5 min
1.050
~25 IBU
13 SRM
Amber balanced water profile. Mash pH 5.4
W-34/70 slurry from currently fermenting pale lager.
I have some Ahtanum hops that I have never used. I may swap those for the Palisade.
Looks good to me. Ahtanum are nice hops, too, BTW.
Citrusy? Cascade-ish?
They are “cascade-ish”
Yep
I’ve done something very similar recently. You might want to bump your late hops a bit if you want some hop flavor and aroma. Between the maltiness of the Red X and the time spent lagering, you’re going to find less late hop character in the finished beer. Or at least that was my experience.
That was the one thing I was concerned about. I have only used Red X once and it was not at 100% so am not too familiar with it. I will plan on more late hops. Thanks for the heads up!
Eric shared this beer with me in Swaptoberfest. It was a dandy.
Ditto, I’ve been expirementing a lot with Red X and have found the same.
Any recommendations on late hop amounts?
I am thinking of bumping up the Hersbrucker and leaving the rest. I can always add more hops to the keg if I want more punch.
looking forward to how this one turns out. i’ve got my red ale pretty well dialed in, next i’ll be looking to develop a red lager that is nothing like the ale. and this recipe looks pretty in line with that goal.
Brewing this tomorrow and need a little help. I have decided to simplify and brew my first SMASH with Red X, Palisade Hops, and W34/70.
Shooting for an OG between 1.050 and 1.053. I want the hops to be noticeable but by no means a hoppy lager. With my lack of experience with lagers and Red X, I am not quite sure how to attack this.
Here is what I have
9 g Palisade FWH
9 g Palisade 60 min
22 g Palisade 20 min
22 g Palisade 5 min
~31 IBUs
Is this enough hops to cut through the Red X? I originally had 25 IBUs and decided to bump it up but am still worried this is not enough. My current pale lager ate up the sterling and crystal hops and even the dry hop addition is not perceptible to me.
what do you mean by cut through the red x? the IPA I make with red x vs. pale malt didn’t present any challenges for me regarding hop taste, aroma.
I thought 100% Red X would be pretty malty and may cover up some hop character. I would think that 100% munich vs 100% pils would change the hop character considerably. Maybe I am mistaken.
yeah understand you now. so i didn’t find it to be a malt bomb. I used 200ppm sulfate and 55ibu, and dry hops also. didn’t deviate hop schedule at all as done when i use pale ale malt base. definitely doesn’t taste like you’re drinking a rich munich malt beer.
edit: i like a hoppy lager in the 40ibu range, dry crisp. you could go 100ppm sulfate and 40ish IBU and probably be pretty happy for first run.
Cool. Thanks for the advice. Still not so sure. I probably should bump up the sulfate for sure. I think I have it set to amber balanced with 75 ppm.
30IBU would be my minimum for a 1.050 red x lager if I wanted it balanced. 30-40. I have a red x conditioning that was 30IBU magnum at 60 then 2 oz mandarina at 170/30 and another 2oz at 120/15. Quick carbed it seemed like an APA married to a Märzen.
based upon what I think you’re looking for-lower emphasis on malt and little more hop forward, you may be happier with lower chloride and higher sulfate levels…100pm sulfate, 50ppm chloride for example.
curious-what yeast and what sulfate to chloride ratio did you end up with on this one?
Thanks guys. Seems that I have some more tinkering to do. Definitely gonna bump up the good a tad and adjust the water closer to 2:1 so4 to cl