I didn't fully address why fermentation was so quick in the video - it is 100% related to the combination of oxygenating with pure O2, pitching a large and healthy yeast starter relative to the OG of the beer, and having an appropriate amount of nutrients in the wort.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thank you. well, Inspired by you and others on UA-cam. I decided to create a video for the brew day. it will take some weeks before it's ready
Perfect timing!! I plan on brewing an Irish red for St Paddy's day basically a week out. I was looking all around for recipes and I really wanted to try and do something similar to this. My goal is to have dialed back sweetness and added malt complexity. Definitely going to try this recipe out. What fermenter are you pitching into in this video by the way? Thanks for the straight forward, easy to follow videos. Love your channel always can count on your content to be great! Slainte!
Glad you liked the video, this recipe is basically everything you just said haha. Let me know how it goes for you, and happy brewing! Stay tuned for details on the fermenter 🤫
Can I give you a tip? Forget roasted barley and special roast, use just arround 1-2% of carafa II. Increase biscuit malt percentage to 6 or 7%, is this malt that gives delicious flavor in IRA, try to reduce X-red and increase biscuit malt.
Besides having maybe a slightly darker color, would there really be a difference between using roasted barley and carafa II? I went easy on the biscuit because it can get really weird in higher quantities, ask me how I know! I do like its flavor, but when combined with the special roast it seems to give a richer and more enjoyable biscuit flavor without an artificial sweetness, but thats just my opinion. Thanks for the ideas!
The missing sweetness might be due to you mashing. 65c is in the area of beta-amylase. Try doing 67/68c for combination mashing or do 63c for 40min and 71c for 20min. 71c is optimal for alpha amylase and will add more sweetness and supports a caramel taste.
Definitely gonna take some tips from this video. The one time we brewed an Irish red I found the final product kind of lackluster in the malt department. Also your tasting notes are insane, I hope to one day become half as articulate as you. Cheers!
I appreciate the kind words! I started using a flavor wheel to frame my tasting notes and its helped pick stuff out a bit easier. But I just love talking about beer and get to rambling 🤣. Thanks for watching and cheers!
This looks like a great recipe, I'll make sure to make it soon! If possible give recommendations on dry yeast as well please in your recipes. Thank you 😊
You should try about 3-5% Melanoidin malt. I use 5% and comes out great. I also add about 1% Carafa 1 helps with keeping the beer dry. I also used British Ale 1098 yeast which will produce a nice clean dry Irish Red Ale.
Melanoidin is a good option as well. I like to use 5% when brewing German beers or beers that would otherwise have a long boil. That being said I could see it going well in this style. Carafa I vs Roasted Barley, do you think it makes a difference with the ultra-low concentration in this beer?
@@TheApartmentBrewer it's hard to say. I would have to brew two batches using Carafa I and Roast Barley, I actually use both in my Irish Red Ale for about 1.5% and it comes out great.
Get a carbonation lid! Cuts the carb time completely to 1-2 days. Well worth it and you don’t risk overcarbing or not getting it carbed right. Set to desired PSI for 1-2 days and it will be ready.
I don't buy into the anti crystal malt dogma though that seems to be made popular by the church of genus brewing. With the right yeast, fermentation and water profile an Irish Red should have a nice dry finish and a light body that counteracts the malt sweetness.
Does Genus count as church since they go live on Sunday mornings? Nah don't worry I don't go all that far out of my way to avoid crystal for the most part (in fact I had C120 in this brew), but I really do like to explore some of the other specialty malts out there that may have similar results.
So I've been forced to use distilled water per well water issues in my area. This may have been answered multiple times already so I'm sorry for that but what is/are your go to source (s) for water profiles? I can Google stuff over my style but I find them all over the place and not too consistent. I'm a noob at the altering water like this but not a brewing noob. I appreciate your style of explaining your brewing, east to follow and very helpful with the end results!
So usually I end up making my own. Usually a good place to start are the default water profiles on Brun Water and brewers friend. I'll match color and style of beer (i.e."Yellow Malty") and then start to tweak based on what I want to make the water do. Sometimes that varies with different styles, but that's where the research comes in. I'll be doing another water chem video in the next few weeks so stay tuned!
My partners family live in Ireland, so i regularly travel over there and sample the beer. The quintessential Irish Red Ale is Smithwicks. It's flavourless red water, so if your Irish Red has any flavour whatsoever, you've done a good job :]
I'm glad you enjoyed it! I don't think there was any difference besides simply having a faster, cleaner, healthier fermentation - which does relate to better beer in the end, but I didn't notice anything wildly different in flavor vs other beers I splashed to oxygenate. The pure O2 just guarantees that you get up to that optimal 10-12 ppm level, whereas splashing gives around 8 ppm - which is still totally fine.
Thanks for the upload! Do you usually use distilled water, and then modify the water profile? Or do you modify your tap water to meet the required water profile?
Great video! as a beginner in this amazing wolrd it's really helpful that you give the reasons of your choices. I want to brew this beer but where I live it's hard to find Red X. Do you recommend any substitute aprt from Munich malt? and if it has to be a munich which one would you use? Thanks and keep it going!
I would recommend a 50/50 blend of Munich and Crystal/Caramel 40L and I think that should get you a similar result. I'm not sure if that would replicate color, but it would be a similar flavor.
@@TheApartmentBrewer It's taste like yakki and it have the result of high temp fermentation as well as alcohol in it, not the best starting condition for fermentation.
I want to clone Kilkenny Irish cream ale for a number of reasons mainly it's my favorite beer and I won't drink beer to drink beer I only drink the ones that I absolutely like and you can't buy it in Montana at all which is where I'm located where can I find the right recipe because it's avoiding me great video by the way
I'm current drinking an Irish brown ale thanks to a 23L recipe kit from a homebrew store that had way too much roasted barley (130gm) for the style! That's rough 4 ounces
What minor treat would give u a better RED coloring?? Got my 20G batch in conditioning and want to nail down the color. FYI- Used Viking Red because unable to find RedX. art local shop.
The most vibrant red color will come from a tiny amount of dark/roasted malt. If you want to, bump up the amount of roasted barley a bit. If you're doing 20 gallons, maybe do like 6 oz.
I just brewed a irish red 2 weeks ago with a very similar grain bill! I had seen your SMASH video and really wanted to try Red X malt. The krausen from the 1084 wouldn't drop in mine until I cold crashed even at 1.010 FG. Did you have that issue too? Or just normal 1084 low flocculation?
Yeah, don't worry if you still have krausen floating around at final gravity. Once you've reached that final gravity and your measurements are steady, fermentation is done, no matter what the krausen looks like.
What is your serving pressure (is it different to your carbonation levels); your beer seems to fly out of your taps !!!! - Oh congratulations on your engagement BTW !
Thanks!! So I burst carbonated this keg and didn't really get a good level of CO2 expressing as head. So I tried to up the serving pressure to get more head and it sort of worked. Normally I carbonate my beer to 2-2.5 volumes of CO2 and then serve around 8-10 psi, but this one was like 15 psi 😅
Not really, since it's using mainly irish/English malts and hops as well. Same is true of a dark Mexican Lager, that's essentially a Vienna Lager made different ingredients
@@TheApartmentBrewer never seen at half 45° head like that! I don't use social media besides UA-cam. You mind posting your email, I'll contact you. Cheers
I didn't fully address why fermentation was so quick in the video - it is 100% related to the combination of oxygenating with pure O2, pitching a large and healthy yeast starter relative to the OG of the beer, and having an appropriate amount of nutrients in the wort.
I spot a strong whiskey collection in the background there too
I dabble
Irish red has always been on of my favorite styles
Mine as well
I like your tone and delivery. Informative and easy going. The red sounds good.
Nice work. I brewed this about a month ago and it’s a great Irish Red. Drinking it right now. I let mine age a bit naturally until clear. Cheers!
Excellent! Glad the recipe worked out so well for you!
Thank you for the excellent video. I am brewing my Irish Red this week.
Best of luck!
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thank you. well, Inspired by you and others on UA-cam. I decided to create a video for the brew day. it will take some weeks before it's ready
Very good useful information. I like how you “tweak” recipes the thought process. Congratulations!
Thanks! Sometimes it's more fun to do things differently. Plus it occasionally pays off very well!
Perfect timing!! I plan on brewing an Irish red for St Paddy's day basically a week out. I was looking all around for recipes and I really wanted to try and do something similar to this. My goal is to have dialed back sweetness and added malt complexity. Definitely going to try this recipe out. What fermenter are you pitching into in this video by the way? Thanks for the straight forward, easy to follow videos. Love your channel always can count on your content to be great! Slainte!
Glad you liked the video, this recipe is basically everything you just said haha. Let me know how it goes for you, and happy brewing! Stay tuned for details on the fermenter 🤫
Can I give you a tip? Forget roasted barley and special roast, use just arround 1-2% of carafa II. Increase biscuit malt percentage to 6 or 7%, is this malt that gives delicious flavor in IRA, try to reduce X-red and increase biscuit malt.
Besides having maybe a slightly darker color, would there really be a difference between using roasted barley and carafa II? I went easy on the biscuit because it can get really weird in higher quantities, ask me how I know! I do like its flavor, but when combined with the special roast it seems to give a richer and more enjoyable biscuit flavor without an artificial sweetness, but thats just my opinion. Thanks for the ideas!
My husband will love your mug of beer ha ha ha
The missing sweetness might be due to you mashing. 65c is in the area of beta-amylase. Try doing 67/68c for combination mashing or do 63c for 40min and 71c for 20min. 71c is optimal for alpha amylase and will add more sweetness and supports a caramel taste.
The best beer I have made so far!! Thank you!!
That's awesome! Congrats!
Nice, betcha that colour ends up spectacular once she clears up.
Definitely gonna take some tips from this video. The one time we brewed an Irish red I found the final product kind of lackluster in the malt department. Also your tasting notes are insane, I hope to one day become half as articulate as you. Cheers!
I appreciate the kind words! I started using a flavor wheel to frame my tasting notes and its helped pick stuff out a bit easier. But I just love talking about beer and get to rambling 🤣. Thanks for watching and cheers!
Irish Red, as hinted by your reference to Coors/Killians… has always just been an amber macro lager in my opinion
This looks like a great recipe, I'll make sure to make it soon! If possible give recommendations on dry yeast as well please in your recipes. Thank you 😊
I really should start doing that! Thanks for the reminder. I would use Safale S-04 English Ale in this one as a dry yeast option.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Please desist from using British isles
Great video! Digging the recipe, I haven’t been able to get my hands on any Red X yet but looking forward to trying it out once I do.
Thanks for watching! I'm wondering if you can order some online? A mix of Munich and CaraRed or C60 should do the trick.
Love Red X in this style. I actually use 65% Maris Otter and 20% Red X
That sounds like a pretty solid and simple recipe!
That's approx my grain bill as well but I add some 40L for caramel and ferment Darkness. It's beyond yummie!
Same here with a little cara foam for head retention. IMO even just Red X just on it's own is an amazing malt, love how it smells when your mashing.
You should try about 3-5% Melanoidin malt. I use 5% and comes out great. I also add about 1% Carafa 1 helps with keeping the beer dry. I also used British Ale 1098 yeast which will produce a nice clean dry Irish Red Ale.
Melanoidin is a good option as well. I like to use 5% when brewing German beers or beers that would otherwise have a long boil. That being said I could see it going well in this style. Carafa I vs Roasted Barley, do you think it makes a difference with the ultra-low concentration in this beer?
@@TheApartmentBrewer it's hard to say. I would have to brew two batches using Carafa I and Roast Barley, I actually use both in my Irish Red Ale for about 1.5% and it comes out great.
Music is great!
Get a carbonation lid! Cuts the carb time completely to 1-2 days. Well worth it and you don’t risk overcarbing or not getting it carbed right. Set to desired PSI for 1-2 days and it will be ready.
Not a bad idea! I was rushing and it showed.
I don't buy into the anti crystal malt dogma though that seems to be made popular by the church of genus brewing. With the right yeast, fermentation and water profile an Irish Red should have a nice dry finish and a light body that counteracts the malt sweetness.
Does Genus count as church since they go live on Sunday mornings? Nah don't worry I don't go all that far out of my way to avoid crystal for the most part (in fact I had C120 in this brew), but I really do like to explore some of the other specialty malts out there that may have similar results.
Sounds like a great beer, who cares about caramel malts lol! As long as it tastes good that is what should matter. Will have to try this out!
Thanks Trent! I think it really hits the spot
@@TheApartmentBrewer Irish brewers used to brew mild ales. The French beat coors by ten years or so. Sullivan’s Red ale is my favourite red ale.
Enjoy your channel. I love my clawhammer as well.
Its a great system!
I would love to see what this looks like even more clear! But cool recipe
I'll be sure to put a pic up on my instagram once it completely clarifies!
So I've been forced to use distilled water per well water issues in my area. This may have been answered multiple times already so I'm sorry for that but what is/are your go to source (s) for water profiles? I can Google stuff over my style but I find them all over the place and not too consistent. I'm a noob at the altering water like this but not a brewing noob.
I appreciate your style of explaining your brewing, east to follow and very helpful with the end results!
So usually I end up making my own. Usually a good place to start are the default water profiles on Brun Water and brewers friend. I'll match color and style of beer (i.e."Yellow Malty") and then start to tweak based on what I want to make the water do. Sometimes that varies with different styles, but that's where the research comes in. I'll be doing another water chem video in the next few weeks so stay tuned!
#beerstash 🍻👨
Cheers Steve
Cheers Jesse! Can't get the full tasting experience without one
My partners family live in Ireland, so i regularly travel over there and sample the beer. The quintessential Irish Red Ale is Smithwicks. It's flavourless red water, so if your Irish Red has any flavour whatsoever, you've done a good job :]
Same experience with most Irish Reds I've had as well. Hilarious but true comment, thanks for watching!
Try Sullivan's
@@djdownie3 My favourite
I see some new equipment - O2 aeration, new fermentor, etc. Are you planning to make a video update on the new setup?
Working on it, stay tuned!
Thanks for your great content! May I ask what difference you noticed when blasting with pure O2 vs splashing in the beer?
I'm glad you enjoyed it! I don't think there was any difference besides simply having a faster, cleaner, healthier fermentation - which does relate to better beer in the end, but I didn't notice anything wildly different in flavor vs other beers I splashed to oxygenate. The pure O2 just guarantees that you get up to that optimal 10-12 ppm level, whereas splashing gives around 8 ppm - which is still totally fine.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thanks for the explanation.
Happy holidays!
Could I add a little flaked rye to this recipe? Would it be a good idea and if so how much? Learning recipes still…
That would probably be absolutely delicious! I would go for about 15-20% of the grist, you can replace some of the base malt with it
Thank you. Should I add a few oz of crystal 40 or 60 also like you recommend in the video?
If you feel like it. The rye may make it a bit fuller though so keep that in mind
How was the beer with a drop-shot of that laphroaig in the background?
Amazing. I forgot where I was and stole a bus.
Thanks for the upload! Do you usually use distilled water, and then modify the water profile? Or do you modify your tap water to meet the required water profile?
As of the last few months I've started going 100% distilled. A few months ago I would modify tap water though.
Great video! as a beginner in this amazing wolrd it's really helpful that you give the reasons of your choices. I want to brew this beer but where I live it's hard to find Red X. Do you recommend any substitute aprt from Munich malt? and if it has to be a munich which one would you use?
Thanks and keep it going!
I would recommend a 50/50 blend of Munich and Crystal/Caramel 40L and I think that should get you a similar result. I'm not sure if that would replicate color, but it would be a similar flavor.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Great! I'll try it as soon as possible
Thank you, I have noticed you dunk the all flask content into the fermenter , liquid and solids ?
Yes I do. There is no definitive evidence that decanting vs not decanting the starter actually makes a difference on the homebrew scale.
@@TheApartmentBrewer It's taste like yakki and it have the result of high temp fermentation as well as alcohol in it, not the best starting condition for fermentation.
Want to try this with lutra as a yeast, ferment at 92F and get the turn around to like 5 days.
That would definitely work pretty well!
@@TheApartmentBrewer I'll add this to my summer agenda :)
I want to clone Kilkenny Irish cream ale for a number of reasons mainly it's my favorite beer and I won't drink beer to drink beer I only drink the ones that I absolutely like and you can't buy it in Montana at all which is where I'm located where can I find the right recipe because it's avoiding me great video by the way
Kilkenny was originally created to help people outside of Ireland as they tend to struggle to say Smithwicks
@@oscarosullivan4513 do you have any idea where to get all the right stuff to do this
@@sentineloffreedomforever1381 Homebrew shops, forums for homebrewing and time and patience
I'm current drinking an Irish brown ale thanks to a 23L recipe kit from a homebrew store that had way too much roasted barley (130gm) for the style! That's rough 4 ounces
Yeah thats way overkill for a standard batch. Probably tastes a bit roasty as well doesnt it
If you brewed again, would you bump the caramel and barley?
Barley, no, I think it's the perfect amount to add a little smoothness and head retention. Caramel, probably just a small amount.
What minor treat would give u a better RED coloring?? Got my 20G batch in conditioning and want to nail down the color. FYI- Used Viking Red because unable to find RedX. art local shop.
The most vibrant red color will come from a tiny amount of dark/roasted malt. If you want to, bump up the amount of roasted barley a bit. If you're doing 20 gallons, maybe do like 6 oz.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Great. Thanks!
I just brewed a irish red 2 weeks ago with a very similar grain bill! I had seen your SMASH video and really wanted to try Red X malt. The krausen from the 1084 wouldn't drop in mine until I cold crashed even at 1.010 FG. Did you have that issue too? Or just normal 1084 low flocculation?
Yeah, don't worry if you still have krausen floating around at final gravity. Once you've reached that final gravity and your measurements are steady, fermentation is done, no matter what the krausen looks like.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thanks for the guidance! Keep up the great videos.
What is your serving pressure (is it different to your carbonation levels); your beer seems to fly out of your taps !!!! - Oh congratulations on your engagement BTW !
Thanks!! So I burst carbonated this keg and didn't really get a good level of CO2 expressing as head. So I tried to up the serving pressure to get more head and it sort of worked. Normally I carbonate my beer to 2-2.5 volumes of CO2 and then serve around 8-10 psi, but this one was like 15 psi 😅
@@TheApartmentBrewer yes mate I get that - but your beers always seem to pour soooo quick !!! Looks great 👍🏻
Isn't it an Irish red ale brewed with lager yeast, a vienna lager?
Not really, since it's using mainly irish/English malts and hops as well. Same is true of a dark Mexican Lager, that's essentially a Vienna Lager made different ingredients
😎👍🏻🍺🍺
Cheers Tom! Thanks for watching!
Pretty sure Irish red ale dates back to like 1209 with the Fransican monks.
It doesn’t
Mate, you know i love your uploads! But that pour off the tap hahah :D You stay safe, contact me if, you're into some genuine norwegian kveiks. Cheers
Dude it was not a great pour at all 🤣. Appreciate the kveik offer, I'm curious! Feel free to message me on instagram or email me!
@@TheApartmentBrewer never seen at half 45° head like that! I don't use social media besides UA-cam. You mind posting your email, I'll contact you. Cheers
Sure, you can contact me at apartmentbrewer@gmail.com
Nothing "red" about that!
A bit opaque right away but once it cleared up it was a nice ruby. Thanks for watching!