After almost a year lurking I decided to get an account here and try to contribute. It’s amazing what you can find with the search feature. Anyways, so my buddy went on vacation to Boston and brought me back a beer. I forgot to write the name down and have not found anything close since. I have been brewing all grain for about a year now and think I am ready to attempt a clone recipe but want some input on it. It was a dull red color with little lacing and not much head. The malt profile was a subtle roastiness and an even slighter with lingering dark caramel notes but was not there for long as the hop aroma and flavor took over. Not in a bad way but it was more like a refreshing cleanse of your pallet with strong full bodied citrus aroma that permeated into the nose. It was not overly bitter but had lots of hop flavor predominately grapefruit skins with some slight pine hints and heavy on the nose. Not much head and medium mouth feel it tasted like a very very clean ale yeast. Honestly it was amazing I have been kicking myself in rear to this day for not writing the name down. This is what I have come up with so far. I don’t have beer smith so bear with me for a moment. I also only have a 3.5 gallon pot so my batches are 3 gallons which is about the perfect size cause I am not a heavy drinker and love variety.
Boil 3.5 gallons
Batch 3 gallons
Efficiency 75%
OG 1.051
Est FG 1.012
ABV 5.1%
IBU 38.5
Color SRM 12.5
Single Infusion Mash 152 F
Batch Sparge 165F
5.25 Lb 2 row pale malt 93.9%
.25 Lb crystal 60 4.5%
.094 Lb roasted Barley 1.7%
.50 Oz Centennial 9.0 % 26.3 IBU 60 Min
.25 Oz Cascade 6.5% 3.9IBU 10 Min
.25 Oz Centennial 9.0% 4.8 IBU 10 Min
.50 Oz Cascade 6.5% 3.9 IBU 5 Min
.25 Oz Cascade 6.5% dry hop secondary
.25 Oz Centennial 9.0% dry hop secondary
I have Wyeast british ale 2( washed), Wyeast esb (Washed), Nottingham, Kolsch (washed), and Safe ale 04 on hand.
As well as an oz of simcoe, northern brewer, Fuggles, EKG(UK) Tettnanger, Saaz(czech), Spalt(German), Willamette, Cascade, Centennial, Armarillo, Hallertauer.
With having a new baby and going to school full time I stocked up on hops and malts ahead of time so all I would have to buy for a while is yeast and specialty grains. This makes everyone happy. :cheers:
I am thinking the Nottingham yeast will do well with this recipe. I would appreciate any input or changes anyone thinks I should make. Thank you
For a subtle roastiness I’d probably use a chocolate malt rather than roast barley if you have it. Cascade and Centennial are similar in terms of flavor profile, so whether you use one or both I don’t know if that matters. The hop schedule looks decent although I wonder if you have enough dry hops, thats less than the equivalent of an ounce in 5gal.
I’d go a step further and suggest a small amount of pale chocolate malt (in lieu of the chocolate). I use it in my steam beer that I brew, and for some ambers, and you get a little toastiness from it (but not necessarily roasty).
I might have to do that chocolate malt that does seem a little more fitting. After looking at other peoples ambers and irish red ales. I think I will change the crystal 60 to 120 through in a little special b and a little pale chocolate malt. I normally am a cascades kind of a guy. I brewed an ipa with centennial and cascades it was brilliant. While the flavors are very similar, when they are combined in the same hopping schedule and you intertwine there hop schedule. You end up with a more complex flavor while still keeping a cohesive taste that is better well rounded than cascades alone, at least in my opinion.
I have not actually dry hopped a bear yet so I really not what it adds say to a flame out addition. So I figure I can’t go over board with a 1/2 oz of hops. Not to mention I like using the whole bag of hops. I brewed a beer once with some magnum I only used half of for a batch of beer. I rolled up the rest stuck it in the freezer for a month and I could swear I could taste the freezer in the beer. My fermentation temp might of been a little high giving it that off flavor but I still like to use the whole package now.
I haven’t done so, Ken’s red ale is a good one to look at of comparison.
http://www.freewebs.com/kenlenard/
If you want dark caramel notes you should stick with crystal 60. 120 or special B is going to get you into the dark/dried fruit realm.
Thanks for the description of the Cascade/Centennial combo. I’ll give that a try.
[quote=“tom sawyer”]
Thanks for the description of the Cascade/Centennial combo. I’ll give that a try.[/quote]
Do I detect a note of snark to the OP?! Or a symphony of snark?!
Re: Cascades + Centennial to the OP, Am IPA’s/hop-forward beers traditionally use these two with some Columbus/CTZ to give some resinous character (hence the “3 C’s” that is oft referenced), and many now use Amarillo, Citra and Simcoe which are even more characterful (and in shorter supply).
FWIW I do agree that Cascade by themselves (frankly, even Centennial, or “Super Cascades” by themselves) are not nearly as characterful as when they are used with other varietals. Frankly, I am not huge on single hop beers, I think some hop magic happens when mixed, especially at each hop addition.
I wasn’t being snarky, it was a genuine comment. While I did suggest the overlap might be large in my first post, I can believe there are enough differences to make the combo worthwhile. Hell an all-Cent beer is good so why not the combo?
You’ll know when I’m being snarky. I’ll use the emoticon for snarkitivity.
I think as home brewers we are fighting a battle between brewing a beer that fits solidly into its category, while still trying to push it further at the same. I have opinions on hopping schedules and which hops to combine and which ones just tend to muddy up flavors. At the end of the day if I was honest with myself I probably have no real concrete evidence on why I insist on justifying why i use some and stay away from others. Its like this, I did an ESB a few months ago. I used Marris otter some crystal 20 a little honey mashed it as 156, Wyeast ESB yeast, and hopped with EKG and Fuggles. About two weeks of bottle conditioning and 3 days in the fridge I tried one. It was good nice creamy head full lacing good complex malt profile but the after taste was a little funky(Feet?). The fuggles were the last hop addition at 20 minutes. I attribute this to the fuggles cause it was the first time I had that flavor. It was also the first time I had mashed that high and it could of been anything from high fermentation temps to oxidation to light through the carboy to the starter was not big enough. The whole point is I am convinced it was the hops and will probably not use them again till someone hands me a beer that that was the main hop. At which point I will doubt my hypothesis and try it again. No one has ever handed me a beer that there was nothing I would change. Although I do have a recipe that no one could convince to change at the same time. It does make for good debates though. Which I think some people are to offended by and its really sad cause that is where you can come up with something amazing. I am sure if someone told you 30 years ago to throw minute rice in a cream ale you would of thought he was off his rocker. In my book that guy was a freaking genius.
On a side note some dark fruit notes in this beer would be a welcome I think. This is why I love brewing beer, you get to pick the color the subtle flavors you want that may or not be there. I am excited to start documenting my beers on here though. This is a little off topic but is there a way I can post recipes to my main page?
