West Coast Radical Red, maybe wrong grain in my kit?

Mashing
#1

So I took advantage of the buy two get one free AG kit sale NB ran earlier this year. I am a bit curious if I may have gotten the wrong grain from NB. The picture on the kit shows a significantly lighter color than mine turned out and describes it as very crisp and clean. I assumed it would be something like the Lakefront Fixed Gear kit which turned out very well. I would describe the taste on my batch as much more like a mildly hopped Scotch ale than a light bodied red ale. It tastes much fuller and smoother/thicker than I was expecting.

Looking back at my notes from brewday on August 9, I mashed at 1.5 qts/lb, did not do a mashout and batch sparged as I normally do. I hit 74% efficiency on this batch which is is right in my range for my system. OG was 1.054 and FG was 1.012. It’s not necessarily a bad beer, it just doesn’t fit the description or the image.

For reference, the grain bill is:

  • 1.25 lbs Crystal Rye
  • 0.75 lb Belgian Cara 45
  • 0.125 lb Roasted Barley
  • 8.5 lbs Briess 2-row

I’m just curious if it should turn out this dark. . .

The second picture is the Lakefront Fixed Gear for color comparison.

:cheers:
Rad

#2

That’s about the same color mine came out. I did a 10 gallon batch and kegged it. The first keg got drank over the period of about one month and was the least favorite of the beers I had on tap at that time. I kept putting off getting the second keg into rotation because of this.

After 14 weeks in the keg it finally got carbed up and put into rotation. It’s now like a completely different beer, very mild and drinkable.

If you give it time I think you will be pleased.

Paul

#3

Fair enough, that’s the information I was looking for, thanks for the reply.

:cheers:
Rad

#4

Here is a picture of mine. Keep in mind the light from the window makes it look lighter.