BeerBorg

It's that time I like to brew an Irish Red. I don't always get around to one in the spring, but I like them in the fall too. This is another mini mash trying out more Williams Brewing LME. This one I used their American Rye LME that is mashed with 2 row, Rye Malt and Crystal. I added a pinch of some specialty grains to add what I like in an Irish Red.

5 gal batch. 5.5 Gal 30 min HARD boil. 1.050 ish OG, 13 SRM, 18 IBU. 5% abv.

6 lbs. Williams Brewing American Rye LME
1 lb. American 2 Row
.25 lb. Carapils
.25 lb. Biscuit Malt
2 oz. each C-60, Caramunich I, Special B. This combo gives me that nice deep red without roasted grains.
Mashed 30 min at mid 150's checked conversion and rinsed grains. 1/4 tsp each Gypsum and Cal Chloride added to boil.

1 oz. EKG 5.5% AA 30 min.
1 oz. Fuggles 5% AA 15 min hopstand at 190*.

1 packet Omega American Ale I yeast. Ferment at 65*.

What is the purpose of the Calcium Chloride addition? Are you tweaking your water profile, or does it serve another function?

I just always buy the same brand of spring water, so I don't know much about that sort of thing.

Do you use a starter with that yeast?

This sounds good, I haven't brewed an Irish Red Ale yet. I used to enjoy drinking Killians.

jpsherman wrote:What is the purpose of the Calcium Chloride addition? Are you tweaking your water profile, or does it serve another function?

I just always buy the same brand of spring water, so I don't know much about that sort of thing.

Yeah, I was tweaking the profile slightly. My tap water is carbon filtered and geared more more for hoppy ales so a little of both Gypsum and Calcium Chloride for flavor adjustments. The Chloride tends to help bring out the malt character, yet some Gypsum helps keep it balanced. Mostly I wanted to add some Calcium to the wort so that was my way to do it.

Gymrat wrote:Do you use a starter with that yeast?

I did not this time around. This new brand has a slightly larger pitch rate at packaging (150 billion cells compared to 100 billion cells) as with WL or Wyeast. Also the viability was excellent being it was packaged on 9/8 and I bought it a used it a week later. Surely it wouldn't have hurt to add it to a small starter to get it goin but with the OG and wort size I was pitching it into (4.75 gal)...I was right on the limit of needing a starter. I originally wanted to ferment this cooler, and if I would have made a starter I would have, but you gotta have a good pitch to start out at cooler temps.

This is why I am mostly a dry yeast user. I kind of end up brewing spare of the moment squeezing in a brew session and I can never plan a starter. So I do use liquid once in a while for smaller batches or low gravity batches and try to harvest yeast for next generations. But then I never get around to that yeast I saved in time because I never know when I'm gonna brew. lol.

Here is their website. They are catering to the craft beer scene in the area right now with all the breweries in the Chicago land area with dozens of strains but so far only a few strains are available for the homebrewer.
http://www.omegayeast.com/?page_id=13589

The reason I only use dry yeasts is because I dont want to mess around with starters. If this yeast can be used without one I may give it a try.

Gymrat wrote:The reason I only use dry yeasts is because I dont want to mess around with starters. If this yeast can be used without one I may give it a try.

I hear ya. I'll let you know how they work out. I have used two strains on 3 different beers this week. All different styles, OG, and slightly different temps. All with no starters. They took off well with normal lag time of somewhere 12-18 hrs as I had activity by the next morning after Brewing.

@Gymrat, you won't need a starter for this stuff either... they have 200 billion cells. But they are a bit more pricey. I'm going to get a few cans next time I order from MoreBeer to try out in some 5 gallon batches.

http://www.morebeer.com/category/imperi ... yeast.html

Those have me interested as well. Price wise its not bad $10 and not have to make a starter. Other liquid strains are $6-9 depending.

It looks to me like most of those are for Belgian style ales. Also I wonder about the viability of a yeast that needs to be refrigerated after it has been shipped to me via UPS. If they sold it at my LHBS I would definitely give some a try in an IPA.