On the cover of this issue of Zymurgy, Sept/Oct 2010, there is a beautiful looking red ale, and I was wondering what grains could I use to achieve this color.
Lots of directions you could go. A small amount of roasted barley in an otherwise pale malt grist, caramel malt 40 or cara-vienne or cara-munich or a combination of two or three malts. Munich malt also gives an amber color that can be enhanced by some carafa-special. Or you could try a malt called “cara-red”. Play around with different grains in your recipe formulator software.
The cover isn’t in front of me, but in my experience if you want something red you have to use a tiny bit of something black. You can mess around with crystal malts all you want, but the color spectrum isn’t really the same: they go from gold to amber to copper to brown. All basically various shades of yellow/brown.
I’ve used an ounce of chocolate malt or darker in a 5 gallon batch to get this color. Go light, because you usually don’t want the flavor.
You can do that color adjustment any time. You don’t have to put it in the mash; you can steep it. If I was trying for a very specific hue, I think I’d put the grain in a tight mesh bag and steep it after knockout. You can see the effect instantly, and you can repeat it if necessary. Plus the pH is low enough that you don’t have to worry about tannins from the grain.
1-2oz of dehusked carafa II or III works best, IMO - less chance of getting the harsher bite than chocolate too.
I agree 100%! That said, I haven’t tried the cara-red, but it is supposed to give a red hue.
I know Denny has a recipe with 20% carared and a 1/2 lb Melanoidin malt. I’ve never seen it and no one has ever said it was red.
I have a American Red than uses 15% American crystals, 2 oz Carafa II special and a 1/2 oz roasted barley. It comes out with a nice deep red color. My last rendition only had the crystal and a 1/2 oz black patent. It turned out every bit as red but also has a very slight roasted astringency in the after taste (I like it.)
Agreed. CaraRed has never really given me the red I’m looking for. An ounce or two or Roast Barley seems to do a much better job.