Irish Red Ale Sorta Thing

[The_Professor]

I plan to brew up the Irish Red Ale Sorta Thing with my Mash & Brew next weekend.
"Sorta Thing" is included due to the gravity and dry hop.
This will be my first brewing day with the Mash & Brew as well as some other new stuff.
I'm using Brewer's Friend for the suggested outcomes.
For a 3 gallon batch (3.5 boil size):
8.0 RedX = 1.072 OG, SRM 16.8, ABV 7.09
0.6 FWH EKG (6.2) = 23.33 IBU (0.5 dry hop also)
S04 yeast

Did my strike and sparge volumes from the Mash & Brew booklet then tweaked a bit for grain absorption due to the slightly high gravity.

I'll monitor the error then go from there on future batches.

[Dawg LB Steve]

Nice! Imperial Irish Red !

[berryman]

Looks good and very close to what I am going to brew next, Maybe Weds. or Thurs. But want the ABV in the 5 range, and am doing a 5.5 gal batch.

[The_Professor]

I did not brew this last weekend as all the ducks were not in a row.
I did get this brewed up today.
The Mash & Boil worked really well.

I saw the faq said:
Some people are using their old water cooler mash tuns as sparge water holding tanks, first heating their sparge water to 176° F, and then pouring into their cooler and sealing.

I had planned to use my Igloo mash tun and Igloo HLT so I heated both my strike water and sparge water at once. After adding the strike water to the tun I heated the sparge water a bit more.

I had decided to mash at 153. After stirring in the grain and letting it equilibrate about 5 minutes it was at 155. (I had erred towards hotter because I was worried about heat loss.) At the end of the mash it was 152.

I let the wort slowly run into my fermentation bucket while I added the sparge water and then poured it into the Mash & Boil to begin the boil.

When the boil was done I used my new wort chiller and got the temp down in 15 minutes.

My volume was just under 3 gallons.

My refractometer had a slightly fuzzy line at and above 17.25. 17.25 gives me an OG of 1.071 (to Brewer's Friends suggested 1.072)

So everything seems to be in the ballpark, the color and aroma are good. Less than 5 hours start to finish with cleanup left to go.

Edit: And next morning the airlock is active.

[berryman]

I brewed my first red X today and I think close to yours but lower ABV. 10 lbs red X, .5 Carapils. .250 Acidulated Malt, 5.5 gal. Was 1.048 preboil 6.5 G and 1.054 5.5 g in the fermenter. 2 packs 04 yeast. 1oz 5.8 EKG @60 and 1 oz EKG @3 min. Very nice color.

[The_Professor]

.......Very nice color.

Yes, it seems to have a nice red hue. I'm interested to see how a glass of finished beer looks.

[The_Professor]

Today I racked to secondary and dry hopped with 1.0 oz EKG. Will bottle next weekend.

Grabbed a small sample.
The current Brix is 10.0 (1.020). Brewer's friend suggests a 1.018 FG.
The color does seem to be a nice red. Nice mellow malt not too sweet flavor.

[The_Professor]

Got this bottled today.
Color and flavor seem nice so I will see what I have after it carbs.

My OG was 17.25 Brix (1.071); Brewer's Friend suggested 1.072
FG was 9.5 Brix (1.017); Brewer's Friend suggested 1.018
Calculated ABV 6.8 to Brewer's Friends suggested 7.09.

[Kealia]

Sounds like a success to me! Congrats. Looking forward to seeing a first pour pic soon.

[The_Professor]

I stuck a bottle of this in the fridge a few days ago to try this weekend but it was calling to me tonight.
Pours with a nice lasting head.
It's easy drinking, slightly confusing sweet and bitter with good body.
I put another in the fridge for this weekend and I'll get a pic in the daylight.

[The_Professor]

[berryman]

Nice looking beer. What you think of it?

[The_Professor]

....What do you think of it?

Pretty good but it may need some ageing.

[The_Professor]

I'm having trouble deciding what I think of this. I put one in the fridge. The next day I pour a nice looking beer. I take a couple sips and think, hmmmm. Around half way through I think, that's a flavorful smooth beer. When it's done I've forgotten all that and I decide to put another in the fridge for testing.

[The_Professor]

I handed 4 of these out before St. Patrick's Day. Finally heard the last review.
Everyone liked it. I was a bit surprised.
One person even commented that there was both sweetness (from the high mash temp) and bitterness. I always find it interesting when someone that is not an expert at beer styles and judging picks out a quality of that beer.