Homebrew Review: Hoppy Red Ale

Since Heathen Crusade III, about a year ago, I’ve been trying to perfect a hoppy red ale; something with a nice caramel backbone but with citrusy hops to finish. This is my third attempt. All of them previously haven’t been to my liking, but this one is by far my favourite.

Review:
I poured myself a pint of this ale into my New Glarus mug because it has a pint line compared to most other glasses I own. The head on the beer is quite large probably coming from the carbonation because the head dissipated fairly quickly. It has been sticking around as a ring since it has dissipated. The clarity isn’t great; it's slightly hazy. I can see through at the bottom of the glass, but not the entire glass. I think it’s mostly from not chilling the beer fast enough.

The nose on the beer is filled with spiciness with undertones of floral citrus hops. I can barely get some caramel notes, but it’s there, just in the background. The spicy notes dominate the nose, which isn’t really what I expected. When taking a sip of the beer the citrus/spice flourish. I also get a nice caramel bready flavour that lingers after the hops leave. What is nice about the flavour of this beer is that it isn’t a straight forward hoppy beer (like I mostly make), but it has a great malt back bone. The caramel sweetness almost has a plum flavour that I can barely pick up. If you’ve ever had a Bells Two Hearted, you’ll know the distinct hoppiness from centennial hops, and that flavour shines through, but the when mixing with Columbus hops there a unique flavour. It’s something of a floral citrus mixed with the spiciness that is in the nose. I can’t quite describe the spiciness except you can feel the resin in it. As I swish the beer in my mouth, I get a slight bit of alcohol, but here is also a nice mineral/estery flavour in the backend from the yeast. I’ve really come to enjoy Wyeast 1028 yeast immensely. The yeast gives another dimension to hoppy beers. I don’t like a lot of carbonation in my beers, so I didn’t carbonate this much, and I think the body is thinner than I expected; to my surprise, however, the bitternes fits incredibly with the beer. I didn’t use any bittering hops, only hops from 20 minutes to 5 minutes.

So what would I change for my next attempt for a hoppy red ale? I’m going to dry hop it for sure. I’m missing the hop nose. I’m also going to mash slightly higher, probably 154 to 155. I’d also be curious to mix different caramel malts, like a combination of Crystal 120L and 80L. I’m thinking about bumping up the crystal malts to 12-15% of the grist to give more body and a more pronounced caramel/bready flavour.


Recipe:
Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 90.00 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 10.00 %
0.50 oz Centennial [8.00 %] (20 min) Hops 8.7 IBU
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.10 %] (20 min) Hops 15.3 IBU
0.33 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.10 %] (15 min) Hops 8.3 IBU
0.33 oz Centennial [8.00 %] (15 min) Hops 4.7 IBU
0.33 oz Centennial [8.00 %] (10 min) Hops 3.4 IBU
0.33 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.10 %] (10 min) Hops 6.0 IBU
0.33 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.10 %] (5 min) Hops 3.3 IBU
0.33 oz Centennial [8.00 %] (5 min) Hops 1.9 IBU

Measured Original Gravity: 1.064 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.37 %
Measured IBU: 51
Mash Temperature: 152 F

Homebrew Review: Sweet Stout

I have previously brewed a sweet stout, but after 3 months the balance between the hops and the sweetness from the lactose made the beer hard to drink. I also had a bit of fusels, which was probably because I didn’t make a starter. With this knowledge, I tweaked my recipe and I put the beer on the cake of my American Stout.

Review:
I opened the beer then ate dinner, so the beer is at a nice temperature. If I were to guess, I’d say it is at about 40-45 F. I always take a few whiffs of the beer in the bottle before I pour it, and this sweet stout has a nice roasted malt character with under tones of chocolate. A bit of the roasted malt gives an hint of coffee. It’s quite complex and smells great. As I decant the beer into a pint class, I can barely see through the beer. It’s thick, creamy, and has a slight ruby red undertone as the light shines through. There is a nice thick tan head upon the top of the beer, which looks pretty damn good if I say so myself. The head retention is okay, and eventually goes to a ring around the beer. When I smell the beer again, I get much more sweetness and chocolate. It’s almost like a chocolate stout with a tad bit more roasted malts.


As I sip this beer, I feel a huge complexity of flavours starting from roasted malts to chocolate sweetness to a bitter coffee flavour. What is quite shocking to me is the amount the beer changes around my tongue and mouth, yet combines into a amalgamation of flavours. The flavours really come together to makes a great balance, though. However, the beer is a little low on the carbonation, but that was on purpose to get a nice thick mouth feel a sweet stout should have. The aftertaste is completely clean, even though I used English Ale (US-04) yeast. I think what makes this beer so drinkable is the complete balance and how the flavours caress my tongue. One thing to note is that there is an aqueous note when you take a larger drink, which adds to the drinkability (like the eatability of Sun Chips). I think this is an all around solid Sweet Stout with the flavours I expected. However, my favourite part of the beer is that it’s subtle; it doesn’t come and punch me in the face. It lingers on my tongue and caresses it, making me want to drink more. As I write this review, I’m already halfway through the beer. I just cannot stop drinking it. I couldn’t help but think that a great dark chocolate candy bar or a sweet/rich chocolate cake would be immense.


I’d say it’s a successful home brew, and I don’t know exactly how I’d change the beer. However, I’d like to see how the beer tastes with 1 lb of Roasted and Chocolate malts instead of the ¾ of a pound. I’d probably try ESB or Irish yeast next time, as well.

Recipe:
Amount Item Type
7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)
0.75 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
0.75 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)
1.20 oz Magnum [12.00 %] (60 min)
1.00 lb Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM)

Measured Original Gravity: 1.064 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.024 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.22 %
Measured IBU: 45
Mash Temperature: 158 F

General IASF Bearded Brewers Information

This blog was created to share homebrew recipes, reviews, and to talk about homebrew ideas. The extent of the blog will vary due to the varying schedules of the bloggers. There should be some updates through out this week to get started. I'm going to post a few reviews I've already written to get the blog going.

Enjoy.