Conway’s Irish Ale

radagast 2020-11-29 01:15:30 UTC #1

Helping my neighborhood bud brew Conway’s Irish Ale clone that he found here:

https://brewgr.com/recipe/50644/great-lakes-conways-irish-red-ale-clone-recipe

He’s only ever tried to brew extract and when he brewed with me back in April and talked about this, he was a bit scared that he had bought AG ingredients, but I told him I’d love to help him out! I can’t say I’ve ever had this beer, but figured I’d toss it up here before we brew tomorrow for any input. Please let me know thoughts.

Also, this recipe is factored for 65% efficiency and I’m typically 80-85% on my setup so I’ll have to tweak it a bit regardless.

Rad

sneezles61 2020-11-29 14:22:12 UTC #2

it looks like there is a call for victory and biscuit
Which I think they're the same... except I see one from Belgium and a very low %...
Should be a good malty brew..
Sneezles61

dannyboy58 2020-11-29 21:19:24 UTC #3

Hallertau seems an odd choice for a Irish ale and I really dislike Fuggles but to each his own. I mostly prefer EKG. or some variety of goldings hops in english and Irish ales. Recipes for these always seem very busy to me with 1/4 pound of this and that. They tend to be malty but muddled IMHO. Maybe the reason I've drifted away from the style and focused more on lagers for the last few years.

radagast 2021-01-01 22:59:01 UTC #4

Ok, follow up on this, he gave me a bottle to sample and I popped it in fridge last night and am sampling now. I'd say it's pretty good for a first attempt, but it needs. . .something. Maybe a bit more depth of malt flavor that I would look for in the style. His ingredients had been in his basement for almost a year before we brewed so that may have something to do with it. He's got a lot to drink through but I told him I'd tinker around a bit before we try again and see what we could come up with.

Rad

dannyboy58 2021-01-02 15:16:50 UTC #5

I found c60 gives me closer to the red ale color I wanted than other darker roast c malts.

sneezles61 2021-01-02 20:48:02 UTC #6

Next time when brewing, add 1/4 teaspoon of Cacl..
Sneezles61

brew_cat 2021-01-02 21:25:15 UTC #7

Year old crushed grains will make a difference in taste and mash efficiency

radagast 2021-01-02 21:53:39 UTC #8

Digging around a bit on the interwebs, the Profile Sheet from GLBC shows Northern Brewer, Mt Hood, and Willamette for hops and 2 row and crystal 77 for grain. I did discuss with him the importance of fresh ingredients making a difference, but this is 2020 so we had to work with how things played out.

Rad

brew_cat 2021-01-02 22:09:44 UTC #9

Never heard of crystal 77