I see the range in the new guidelines is 9-14 SRM. My the recipe that I am working on is estimated for about 12 SRM but I feel that will not be dark enough. What figure is going to get me closest to ‘red’ or what you look for in an Irish red?
I have a hard time getting that nice red color and not going overboard and ending up more rusty brown. I usually shoot for about 13 SRM.
So shooting for 13 works for you or that makes it too dark?
After looking at mine, it is 12.9 with 2 oz of Crisp Roasted Barley
I shoot for about 13 because that looks about right but it doesn’t always get me what I want.
I’d agree with 13 SRMish… It’s taken me a few batches to get it dialed in and I’m not quite there. My last batch was 14 and without light behind it the glass looked pretty dark. Backlit I’d call it red/ruby. Higher than that and you’re out of the ballpark IMO.
Thanks guys. My LHBS only carries Crisp Roasted Barley 500-600L which is fine but it will get dark in a hurry. Do you use roasted barley and if so, how much per 5 gallons?
That is the hard part to answer. I have always been informed that a pinch of black malt, chocolate malt, roasted barley etc would bring you to the red hue. I think Roasted barley is the most usual choice for the style. But like I said, I haven’t had the best luck getting that RED I want. I can’t give any any help on amount to try.
Something I thought about doing for myself when I brew a Red is to mash my grain and then before I start the boil check the color. In the meantime have some roasted barley steeping seperately ready to add to the boil if I feel I need more color to hit that red. That way you can adjust on the fly. Something I also heard “Tasty McDole” do for his Janets Brown is check the color as he is recirculating the mash and add more chococolate malt to the end of the mash if he wants more color. Kind of the same idea.
I am thinking of roasted barley to keep that part of it more traditional and get just a touch of that roasted dryness. Since this will be my first attempt, I suppose I can just see where it ends up at and adjust future batches.
I have been brewing a lot of German styles lately and having a lot of success using carafa for color adjustment. My altbier which is calculated at 12 SRM has a decent reddish hue so hopefully 12-13 should keep me pretty close. I think even if it ends up too dark if it has good clarity it will look nice.
That big a variation is what makes it tough to know how much to use. 100 lovibond difference is huge. I’d use something like Blackprinz (500L) or Midnight Wheat (550L) which have a more consistent L rating. Just add it into your software until you hit 13 SRM.
Right. The variation is all over the board depending on where you look. I have actually seen ranges from below 475L to 625L Considering the small amount, the lower ends of the ranges gets me 12.8 and the higher gets me 14.1 so we’re not talking about a crazy difference.
I do want that ever so slight roast so I don’t think BP or MW will give me what I want. If I am strictly worried about color, I could just remove the roasted malt and adjust with some darker crystal.
Yeah, I didn’t think about the slight roast for Irish red, I was just thinking in terms of dialing in the color accurately. My bad.
It’s all good. I appreciate all input. I am overthinking this as usual. It seems best to just stick with what I got and see where I end up. If there are future batches, I can adjust accordingly.
I use about 2-3 oz. of the English roasted barley per five gallons in my Irish red for that dry roasty finish. Any more that that and you’ll be too dark.
I agree! In my limited experience, hitting the goal SRM is the majority of the battle, but using something like CaraRed will help keep us from leaning towards brown as opposed to a nice red.
This is my plan.
The other option is Red X which I don’t know how good will be in an Irish Red especially since I am not using Irish Ale yeast.
I usually use 2oz of Carafa II Special(dehusked) to get 14 SRM. Chocolate malt is going to give you brown - not red.
I think 2 oz. of black roasted barley is about right for 5 gallons of Irish Red–or at least that’s what I’m going to try this year. Last year I used 4.5 oz.–and I ended up with what my wife called Moxie Beer–she was impressed and thinks there might be a market for it; I think it was all just a big mistake that took me many months to drink my way out of.
Ouch, but at least she thought it was drinkable/saleable
I have roasted my own a couple times and taken it out of the oven when it smells like oatmeal cookies…but when I can get it, I prefer the 300L roasted barley malt together with some 120L Crystal and 40L Crystal in equal parts per Jamil’s recipe. To me the base malt is Maris Otter, but I know others have a favorite pale for this style.
That gets me into a nice red color in a deep copper level…but give another treatment and see what you like. This style is pretty forgiving and you can make what you like best after trying something different¡
^^^^ This. At least for the one I made last year. I wish I had taken a picture of it.