Eric's Red Ale
Brewed: 12/11/2016 Bottled: 01/04/2017
 For my first birthday after beginning SheppyBrew, my beer model got me the Bewitched Red Ale w/Mellow Amber brew pack from Mr. Beer. On the next Presidents' day, I used it to make Eric's Red Ale.
The beer has evolved over several batches, but has always been deep-redish amber in color with a heavenly malty flavor. I have been moving it from almost no bitterness to a bit higher on the BU / GU ratio, but it is still more on the malty side of the ratio. It has always run about 5.5 % Alcohol (by volume).
This was one of my favorite beers, and I had planned to make sure I had this "on tap" at all times. Unfortunately, I let myself go quite a long time without brewing it.
Malty goodness. Yummy beer.
I decided to retire Eric's Red with Mr. Beer ingredients, and make myself an all-grain recipe for this beer. I already had Quarter Life Crisis, but Eric's Red AG is less hoppy. This AG version is more of an Irish Red, although probably a bit more hop flavor and bitterness than you would usually associate with an Irish red (not by much).
Batch 7 was my first all-grain batch. It used Maris Otter, Carared , Chocolate Rye Malt, and Crystal and Columbus hops. Its yeast was US05. Batch 8, was the same as 7 except is used London Ale Yeast. Batch 9, I threw in Citra hops at the 5-minute flavor / aroma addition. Not very Irish, but pretty yummy nonetheless. I tried White Labs' WLP004 Irish Ale yeast for the first time. I also decided to add a bit of chalk to bring the water calcium up to help with clarity of the beer.
You can read about Eric's Red on my blog: http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/Eric%27s%20Red 
| Style |
|
American Amber Ale |
|
Batch Size |
|
5.50 gal |
| Type |
|
All Grain |
|
Boil Size |
|
7.77 gal |
| Brewhouse Efficiency |
|
75.00 |
|
Boil Time |
|
90 minutes | Recipe Characteristics
| Recipe Gravity |
|
1.053 SG |
|
Estimated FG |
|
1.012 SG |
| Recipe Bitterness |
|
29.6 IBUs (Rager) |
|
Alcohol by Volume |
|
5.5 % |
| BU : GU |
|
0.557 |
|
|
|
|
| Recipe Color |
|
12.6 SRM |
|
|
|
|
| Measured OG: |
|
1.053 |
|
Measured FG: |
|
1.012 |
| ADF: |
|
77 |
|
Measured ABV: |
|
5.5 | Ingredients
Ingredients
| Amt |
Name |
Type |
# |
%/IBU |
| 3.00 g |
Chalk (Mash 60.0 mins) |
Water Agent |
1 |
- |
| 9 lbs |
Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) |
Grain |
2 |
86.2 % |
| 12.0 oz |
Carared (20.0 SRM) |
Grain |
3 |
7.2 % |
| 6.0 oz |
Crystal, Medium (Simpsons) (55.0 SRM) |
Grain |
4 |
3.6 % |
| 5.0 oz |
Chocolate Rye Malt (250.0 SRM) |
Grain |
5 |
3.0 % |
| 0.250 oz |
Columbus (Tomahawk) [15.20 %] - Boil 50.0 min |
Hop |
6 |
13.9 IBUs |
| 0.50 tsp |
Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 mins) |
Fining |
7 |
- |
| 0.50 tsp |
Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins) |
Other |
8 |
- |
| 1.000 oz |
Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min |
Hop |
9 |
6.5 IBUs |
| 1.000 oz |
Citra [14.10 %] - Boil 5.0 min |
Hop |
10 |
9.2 IBUs |
| 1.0 pkg |
Irish Ale Yeast (White Labs #WLP004) |
Yeast |
11 |
- |
Mash Profile
Mash Steps
| Name |
Description |
Step Temperature |
Step Time |
| Mash In |
Add 13.05 qt of water at 159.1 F |
148.0 F |
75 min |
Batch sparge with 2 steps
(1.87gal, 3.88gal) of 168.0 F water
Recipe Notes
Make yeast
starter few days ahead of time.
3g chalk in the mash water. This should bring
Denver water profile (as defined by BeerSmith) to
Ca=67,Mg=8,Na=21,SO4=50,Cl=23,HCO3=157
Pitch as close to 60 F as
possible. Keep temp below 65 for 2 days, then let it warm up to room temp (but
lower than 72)
Ferment about 2 weeks.
Force carbonate to 2.5 volumes.
Condition to taste.
Brewing Record
| Brew Date: |
|
12/11/2016 |
|
Strike Temp: |
|
160 |
| Mash Temps: |
|
148 down to 146ish |
| Pre-boil OG |
|
1.043 (1.043 SG) |
|
Pre-boil Vol |
|
8 (7.77 gal) |
| Actual Mash Efficiency |
|
|
|
Pitch Temp |
|
|
| Fermentation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Day 1: Active at 60F |
| Day 3: Still going strong 64 |
| Day ... |
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