Foolproof Irish Red recipe for St. Patrick's Day 2015

I personally have never brewed an Irish Red but this kit is rated 4 1/2 stars with 150 reviews:http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/irish-red-ale-extract-kit.html

Cheers!

 

Haven't made the extract version (I've done the AG twice) but I have had great response from this tasty red from Midwest:
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/fulton-s-libertine-imperial-red-ale-kit.html

 

I've brewed the one in Brewing Classic Styles multiple times. Mine come out more like a brown ale. I ended up thinning the recipe out by about 10%. Keep the hops. It's excellent.

FWIW, I've been scouring the net for a decent red ale recipe too. It looks like it's an MO for base malt, a smattering of crystal malt and chocolate/RB for color and a little flavor. I wouldn't use much RB, and I'd go easy on the chocolate, or you end up with something more of a brown ale.

Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale Yeast is essential and a house yeast for me.

 

No recipe; however ... allow me to suggest whatever you choose ... brew it no later than the first few days of JAN so it reaches peak flavor eight weeks later when 17-MAR rolls around.

 

Irish Red is effectively just a bitter so a search of bitter recipes which use a touch of crystal or chocolate malt would be helpful.
Here's an article from Beoir , the Irish beer craft beer website;
http://www.beoir.org/index.php/articles-mainmenu-36/beoir-meets/175-the-irish-red-paradox
Their conclusion was
The second proven thesis from the evening's tippling is that Irish Red is not a real beer style. On the night, nobody was confident about which was Smithwick's and which was Bass, even though one is supposedly an Irish "red ale" and the other a British "keg bitter".

 

They proved this thesis by comparing one example of each. Just wow. I'm not saying the "thesis" is wrong, but the science was awful. Would have been more palatable without proven thesis in the words I think.

 

That's true enough , I've argued the same when people think they can tell the difference between porter and stout but Irish Red really stems from mainstream UK brewers who set up in Ireland.It is more of a geographical term than a style. My post was to open up sources of recipes which , although giving similar end products , are listed as a different style.

 

My contribution :

http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/147654/irish-red-ale-tebuken

Edit : The salts additions is due I used RO water

Tebuken

 

And after the ninth beer of the night, nobody knew which one was the Bass and which was an Irish Red. Surprise!

 

not trying to be cantankerous here, but opinionated none the less.

"Positive feedback" and "awesome" are two terms that do not get used often to describe the Irish Red beer. I believe it is a brand in need of a style. for marketing purposes.

I would go with the making a bitter route, and use 1084 Irish yeast. some chocolate, maybe 3%, for color. and for heavens sake be sure to keep the OG below 1050 and the IBUs as non offensive as possible. 30.
so, ok, a little cantankerous. it's my least favorite style after all.
Cheers.

 

To the OP, if you haven't settled on anything yet, I brewed the morebeer.com kit using sa-05 (not entirely irish) and it turned out really well. I still have friends asking when I will brew that one again (not to surprising it was free beer). I will second making it sooner rather than later, it was really good around 8 weeks after bottling.

 

As the thread's (d)evolution so clearly demonstrates ... there is no Foolproof Irish Red recipe for St. Patrick's Day 2015.

 

Enough of the bs.....here is a great Irish red I did for st pats last year.

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: paddy reillys red
Brew Method: Extract
Style Name: Irish Red Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 5.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.040
Efficiency: 35% (steeping grains only)
STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity: 1.012
ABV (standard): 4.19%
IBU (tinseth): 30.71
SRM (morey): 9.51
FERMENTABLES:
5 lb - Dry Malt Extract - Extra Light (83.3%)
STEEPING GRAINS:
4 oz - German - Carapils (4.2%)
4 oz - American - Special Roast (4.2%)
2 oz - Belgian - Biscuit (2.1%)
2 oz - American - Chocolate (2.1%)
4 oz - American - Caramel / Crystal 10L (4.2%)
HOPS:
1 oz - East Kent Goldings, Type: Pellet, AA: 7.2, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 29.85
1 oz - willamette, Type: Pellet, AA: 4.8, Use: Aroma for 1 min, IBU: 0.86
OTHER INGREDIENTS:
4 oz - maltodexrine, Time: 10 min, Type: Other, Use: Boil
YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04
Starter: No
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 72%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Temp: 59 - 75 F
Fermentation Temp: 60 F
Generated by Brewer's Friend - http://www.brewersfriend.com/
Date: 2014-12-03 04:42 UTC
Recipe Last Updated: 2014-01-26 13:37 UTC

 

Bummer. I always thought that American Ambers and Irish Reds were like table wine. They're hard to screw up and they're the first beer that I'd brew for a wedding. You're more of a Shilling man?

 

Irish Red seems to have sprung from nowhere but frankly they are no different in any way from very many bitters we find on the bar in this country.From the top of my head ,Orkney Brewery have a Red MacGregor , Adnam's have Broadside and Gunhill all of which are distinctly red , they aren't offered as Scottish or English Red ales.Not a separate style at all.