Tonight I bottled Peter’s Irish Red Ale, with a yield of nine 16 oz. bottles, nine 22 oz. bottles, and 15 12 oz. bottles. The beer had been in the secondary fermenter for about a month, and fermented down to a final gravity of 1.012. From a starting gravity of 1.037, this works out to 3.3% abv.
Category Archives: Irish red ale
Peter’s Irish Red Ale Transferred
It has been 7 days since I brewed up Peter’s Irish Red Ale, so it was time to transfer to the secondary fermenter. Gravity, adjusted to 60°, is 1.019. With a starting gravity of 1.034, this registers at about 2.1% abv. Hopefully we’ll get a little more to ferment out over the next few weeks. The gravity right now is on the high side for what I expected…I usually get down to around 1.012 or 1.014 on other batches (and the Windsor yeast can surely do that!). Hopefully the transfer will kick-start the yeast back into action (if that’s what they needed). I am somewhat regretting not putting Irish moss in, as the beer is exceptionally hazy right now; this is going to need a good few weeks to finish up, I think! In any case, the flavor is pretty good, so I think it will turn out OK in the end.
Peter’s Irish Red Ale
My buddy Peter got me an Irish red ale kit from a brew shop up in San Francisco, and today we brewed it up. I modified it a little from the directions that came with the kit (primarily in the steeping volumes and top-off volume), to hit a slightly higher gravity than BeerSmith calculated for a 5 gallon batch. This is the first time in my memory that I’ve brewed with aromatic or Carafa malts, so I’ll be curious to see how the flavor profile ends up. I also didn’t do Irish moss on this recipe, so I expect it will have a little more chill haze than my usual batches (and the wort seems to foreshadow this).
Peter’s Irish Red Ale
- 1 lb. 8 oz. Maris Otter malt
- 8 oz. 30°L crystal malt
- 8 oz. barley flakes
- 8 oz. aromatic malt
- 8 oz. Carafa malt
- 4 lbs. pilsen light dry malt extract
- 0.5 oz. Kent Golding hops, 5.61% alpha acid (first addition, 60 minutes total)
- 0.5 oz. Kent Golding hops, 5.61% alpha acid (second addition, 30 minutes total)
- 1 oz. Kent Golding hops, 5.61% alpha acid (aroma, steep ~20 minutes)
- 1 package Windsor dry yeast
Directions
- Steep grains in 6 quarts water at ~155°, sparge with 2 quarts of water
- Top up to 4 gallons, heat to boiling. Turn off heat, add dry malt extract.
- Bring back to boiling, add hops. Boil for 30 minutes, add second addition and boil for another 30 minutes (60 minutes total).
- Turn off heat, add aroma hops, cool with cooling coil.
- Proof yeast in 2 cups of warm water.
- Transfer wort to primary fermenter and top up to 4.67 gallons, add yeast.
- The original gravity was 1.034 at 74°, which works out to 1.037 at 60°.
- The beer is a touch outside of the style guide for Irish red ale, with a slightly darker color and slightly lower original gravity than in the “ideal”. Nonetheless, this should be a tasty brew!
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