First Brew

First, welcome to this 'club' of homebrewers. It's a very fun thing to do, and you get a good sense of accomplishment with your results.

Second, this thread will soon get moved to the homebrewing forum. This Help forum here is for help with the BeerAdvocate website.

To answer your questions: You say that you are "pretty sure" that the Irish Red is ready to do into the secondary, but there is really no need to do that. Most homebrewers resist using a secondary (regardless of what your instructions say) because the transfer process opens your beer up to oxidation and potential contamination for some kind of a bug to cause an infection. I'd say keep the beer in the primary. You could consider adding the booze at the time of bottling too.

If you want to put Irish whiskey into your beer, that's totally up to you. I have not seen the addition of so much whiskey into a beer such as what you cite for the KBS clone, but it's a matter of personal taste, so whatever you throw into your beer is what you will have to live with. Of some concern would be that the batch size should be at least 5 gallons, otherwise a large amount of booze addition will cause the ABV level to rise and could harm your yeast if the batch size is too small. If you are going to be bottling, you'll need your yeast to be healthy.

Blow-off tubes are common when fermenting any beer that is expected to have a highly-active fermentation (usually an OG of 1.060 and higher). Most homebrewers will direct the blow-off tube into a container of sanitizing solution, but I've always used water and have never had adverse effects.

 

KBS is a pretty lofty goal for a second brew. Hope you've read how to brew. I'd check this thread for similar advice to the kinds of things you'll need to be considering since you're a noob. I'd give a long response but I'm going swimmin' at the lake with my nephews and nieces, so smell ya later, chumps!

oh and that's way too much whiskey to add to any 5 gallon brew if you ask me, KBS attempt or not

 

I'd skip adding anything to your 1st beer and taste just the beer. Figure out what you did, what you didn't do and what isn't to your liking.

Adding spirits to it will just mask anything, and honestly.. irish whiskey in a irish red sounds disgusting.

That, and your fifth of whiskey in a 5 gallon batch sounds like a terrible idea as well.

 

The more noobrewers |=uck with the recipe the more |=uck3d up the final product will likely be.
Just sayin.'

 

Best beers I've ever brewed were reinheitsgebot style without all the crazy shenanigans. If your new to brewing, you really should brew basic first. Almost all new brewers come in giddy with all their creativity in hand but neglect the importance of the basics. Not saying your doing this, I'm speaking in generalities. But throwing a bunch of additives in only masks the beer itself. When your new to brewing you need to be able to critique your beer unadulterated so you can see what you need to improve upon in your process. Quality of beer is mostly all process related.

As for the airlock question, whatever you rig up that is sanitary and keeps your fermentation area cleanest is your best bet. I've had a few fermentations hit the roof from unpredictably vigorous ferments, and let me tell you, cleaning porter off all your white walls and ceiling is no fun.

 

Brew your beer the normal way. Once it's done do a side by side with one normal and one beer with 1/2 a shot of irish whiskey added. If you like the one with whiskey better try it next time. You have plenty of time and batches ahead of you. Get the basics down first and then go from there.

 

Whoa, chill dude, they're just tryin' to help you. These guys on this forum definitely know their shit. I've learned a lot by just reading and absorbing this knowledge. It's helped me out a lot compared to some of the advice I'd been getting from my LHBS. Whatever recipe you're following, it sounds like it's got some issues.

 

It was the idea of the person who wrote the recipe, but all of the opinions in this thread that comment on that idea are very cautionary about you doing it. When I infuse bourbon into a 5 gallon batch I use about 10 ounces of bourbon, and that's plenty for me to get the nuance of the flavor. It's your beer, so do what you want, but I'd consider cutting back on the amount so that your beer does not become an out-of-whack bourbon bomb.

 

Okay, well the person who wrote that recipe, they are an asshole as well. Tricking people into putting that much spirit into a small 5 gallon batch is flat out silly.

It's your beer, do as you choose. You came here asking for help, we offered our opinions on it, and you didn't like it. Maybe go somewhere else if you want everyone to agree with you before you go to calling people names.

But here.. To dose it somewhat close.. add .5 ounces of whiskey to a measured 12 ounce beer. If you like it, go with it. Chances are, you'll just have a hot alcohol tasting mess. It simulates nothing close to barrel aging, for what it's worth.

 

The best way to make friends on a new forum is to call people who are trying to help "dicks" and "assholes." I'm guessing "works well with others" never appeared on someone's report card.

OP: I think you should use the whole fifth of Irish Whiskey in your Red Ale. It sounds delicious.

 

Welcome to the tap/barrel/club

 

@Brewstagramus

If you want to start the journey to making good beer, we are giving good advice. No frills brewing is the way to go initially.

If you want to just fuck around with creative off shoots that you don't know how they're gonna turn out, then do what you want. Our advice as experienced brewers is to start basic. It's up to you though, if basic brewing is no fun to you then go at it with the kitchen sink and just have fun, nothing wrong with that. But if you are serious, as we dickheads are, about making good beer and brewing the most technically sound beer, you would be better off taking our advice.

 

Bad move shitting on contributors who's only interest is helping you brew better beer.

 

I think he needs more, the whole fifth of Irish Whiskey is not enough, IMHO. I would double it, magic.

 

Absolutely. Actually, two fifths of Irish whiskey, a fifth of Baileys in secondary, and pour a couple of cans of Guiness in after you transfer to tertiary. Oh, be sure to really splash the beer in there when you transfer to your bottling bucket (the frothing leads to a creamy mouthfeel), and stir the shit out of it with a whisk after you dump priming sugar in so it gets good and mixed. Like a good two-minute frothy stir. Rinse bottles (green or clear) with tap water, fill, cap (I like to reuse caps...the capper recrimps them down fine, I just toss em in a big bag of on the counter whenever I open a beer). You're good to go after hot-aging them for a week or three (find a nice sunny spot on the southern-facing side of your house).

 

But surely a BA with the name Brewstagramus must have vast knowledge about all things involving brew.