Worked an Irish Fest... thinking... what do you think?

Went to an Irish Fest in Elmira last week. Poured beer for the first 3 hours. There was 5 of us pouring and all of us were home brews . We were talking about beer we made and enjoyed and ones that failed. I have not brewed all year between moving and fixing thing around the house. After doing the fest, it just started the beer flow in the brain. I looked through my, “beer diary” and decided to make an Irish ale. I do buy the kits, but I am thinking I would go to the HBS and get the ingredient’s. I do want to change some things up a little. I am going to follow the grain bill. I do want to add an bitter hop on the low end. I am not sure. Any suggesting’s? The other thing I was thinking was to cut down the Rahr 2row pale from 7.5 lb to 5.5 and add 2 lbs of pale ale. There is no reason for changing the grain, but the hops to… add hops. The hops in receipt is; .75 Willamette 60 min, .75 us Goldings 30 min. I might look at that cluster family and find something else.

Help me understand, you want to add more bittering hops? If so why not use the same hops?
If you have the option I kind of like the switch of pale ale malt. Of course I don’t know the entire grist.

The hop issue is, I do not mind the original hops bill, just looking to tweak things a little Looking to add more flavor and taste. I am not a hop head. The rest of the bill;
.75belg caramel pils
.25breiss spec rst
.125belg bisc malt
.125 engl choc malt

Gotcha. I think replacing some of the 2row with pale ale malt would be fine and give it some more depth.
Although Irish Red Ales aren’t usually hopped late make it like you want it. I wouldn’t go citrusy/fruity with the roast flavors though. Maybe a half ounce per 5gals of Challenger at 3-5 mins remaining in the boil.

Maris Otter is anther malt to consider when you want to add solid platform to work up from… I’m not a big bittering charge fan either… Northern brewer has been a good FWH I’ve enjoyed… Flavor hops… I find I get more from the 180* and less whirlpool… Or should just say… Steeping for about 15 to 30 minutes… I believe the yeast will carry the aroma away during fermentation… In my book IF you want aroma… Wait until the ferment calms way down… Sneezles61

1 Like

I am totally way out of comfort zone. I am going to take this head on. I went to the HBS today and got my grains . I did drop the choc malt and add rst barely at the same weight. I might put the last hop in at 3-5 mins only because of comfort level. I am going to do the beta and alpha method. I am going to do 30 beta mash at 160-ish.

mash out 160-ish. I am challenging myself!

Beta amylase is at a lower temp… Alpha is the higher… Perhaps you have enough dark malt to help self correct you mash pH… I often do a split mash… The first 30 minutes at 140… Raise the temp ang give it another 30 minutes at 158… I’ll listen in to see how your brew turns out… Sneezles61

What do you mean by split mash? I know this is weird, but I do not check the ph. I am not at that stage of my brewing yet.

What @sneezles61 is talking about is a step mash. You mash at a lower temp to get simple carbohydrates, which will dry the beer out, and then ‘step’ the mash up to a higher temp to get complex carbohydrates that are unfermentable to provide body.

I too would avoid whirlpool hops on this style beer. I think you would get too much fruitiness from the hops which would be totally out of place IMO.

Keep in mind that a mash out is to set the fermentability of the wort. To do so you’ll need to get those temps closer to 168° for 10 mins.

1 Like

Thank you the advice. I did buy some ph strips for testing. It is a start. I think the plan is going to to steep the last hop 3-5 mins. I do not have challenger, but I do have cluster. The blood is flow with excitement.

1 Like