Red Menace Ale

This is basically my house style of beer. It was the first recipe I created and I’ve tried to refine it in several ways over several batches. It’s basically a hoppy pale ale that is red in color. Hitting that red color can be difficult. The one ounce of roasted barley should be enough for a five gallon batch. I’ve kept kegs of this beer around for months at a time, so it can definitely aged.

Goals

• 5 gallons
• Starting specific gravity: 1.045 - 1.055
• Finishing specific gravity: 1.010
• ABV: 5%
• Bitterness: 35 - 40 IBU
• Color: 15 - 17 SRM

Extract recipe

Ingredients

• 6.25 lb. light malt extract (liquid)
• 0.6 lb. 40 L crystal malt (crushed)
• 0.25 lb. 90 L crystal malt (crushed)
• 0.5 lb. victory malt (crushed)
• 1 oz. roasted barley (crushed)
• 2 oz. Cascade (60 minutes)
• 1 oz. Challenger (10 minutes)
• 1 oz. Cascade (5 minutes)
• Wyeast #1057 (American Ale)
• 2 tsp. gypsum
• 1 tsp. Irish moss

Procedure

• Place crushed grains in two muslin bags and add to 1.5 gallons of water.
• Heat water to 150-170° F and hold for 30 minutes.
• Remove grains, sparge with hot water, and discard.
• Add malt extracts and gypsum. Bring to boil.
• Add 2 oz. Cascade hops. Boil 60 minutes.
• With 20 minutes remaining, add Irish moss.
• With 10 minutes remaining, add 1 oz. Challenger hops.
• With 5 minutes remaining, add 1 oz. Cascade hops.
• Cool with wort chiller to ~ 75° F and add to 3 gallons of water in carboy. Top up to 5 gallons.
• Pitch yeast.
• Bottle or keg fermentation is complete.
• Age approximately three weeks.

All grain recipe

Ingredients

• 8.5 lb. 2 row
• 10 oz. 40L crystal malt
• 4 oz. 90L crystal malt
• 8 oz. Victory malt
• 1 oz. roasted barley
• 2 oz. Cascade (60 minutes)
• 1 oz. Challenger (10 minutes)
• 1 oz. Cascade (5 minutes)
• Wyeast #1056 (Irish Ale)

Procedure

• Heat 12.5 quarts of mash water to 167° F.
• Add hot water to crushed grains in mash tun.
• Hold for 60 minutes at 155° F.
• Lauter with 170° F water, collecting 6 gallons.
• Bring to a boil.
• Add 1.5 oz. Fuggles hops. Boil 60 minutes.
• Add 2 oz. Cascade hops. Boil 60 minutes.
• With 20 minutes remaining, add Irish moss.
• With 10 minutes remaining, add 1 oz. Challenger hops.
• With 5 minutes remaining, add 1 oz. Cascade hops.
• Cool with wort chiller to ~ 75° F and transfer to carboy. Add extra water to bring to 5 gallons.
• Pitch yeast (or a yeast starter, if you’ve got one).
• Bottle or keg when fermentation is complete.