Grain for a red ale?

[WelshPaul]

I've been trying to make a red ale for a while now and despite getting some superb results, I can't manage to get the colour quite right. I've used Cara Red, Roasted Barley and various types of Crystal, but all the beers come out a rich deep amber rather than a red colour. Can anyone make any recommendations?

 

[phettebs]

Special B for the win!!!

Edit:
I use Special B in my red/amber ales and it really does give a nice deep red. I've gotten close with chocolate but it seems to get brown pretty quickly. I also like the nice toffee flavour from Special B. Be careful though: a little goes a long way!

 

[mike77]

I've been working my way up with Roasted Barley to try and get a red but suspect it may go brown. Has anyone used Cara Red with any success? I may give special B a go.

 

[WelshPaul]

Excellent, I have Special B in my cupboard. I'm just a little concerned that it could lend an overly strong flavour to the beer; any suggestions for quantities?

 

[zgoda]

Carared is just 40 EBC crystal, there's nothing special about redness in it.

 

[phettebs]

Excellent, I have Special B in my cupboard. I'm just a little concerned that it could lend an overly strong flavour to the beer; any suggestions for quantities?

For a 19 litre batch, I use 4oz. That does give a bit of flavour so you could work backwards from there.

 

[WelshPaul]

Thanks. I usually add 80g of roasted barley to this recipe for a batch of that size, which adds a nice amount of flavour so it'll be interesting to see what the Special B brings to the table.

 

[sparks]

I'm interested in making an American style amber/red ale too, I've had a look at some recipes and have been trying to work out one for myself.

For 20L, I was thinking of using

4kg pilsner
1kg dried amber extract
1kg 2 row
500g carared
300g special B

Is that quantity of special b likely to impart an overwhelming flavour or is it about right?
I'm planning to bitter with cluster and then use cascade and chinook for aroma

 

[phettebs]

300g special B

Is that quantity of special b likely to impart an overwhelming flavour or is it about right?

Yes, that will be a bit much for an amber. I only add 113g to my American amber. By contrast, for a big bold Belgian Dubbel, I still only add about 227g and that is a really rum and toffee flavoured beer IMO!

Unless you are trying to use up ingredients, I'd just skip the pilsner and extract and go with 2 row. I've never used Carared but I believe as someone said above, it's just crystal which I use in mine as well.

Yours hops sound fine.

 

[sparks]

Hmm, very interesting, I'll have another look around at recipes and rethink how much special b I'm going to use. Thanks a lot :)

 

[RobWalker]

Brewed one recently, here was me recipe;

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 18.00 L
Boil Size: 20.60 L
Estimated OG: 1.053 SG
Estimated Color: 33.7 EBC
Estimated IBU: 24.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.00 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (5.9 EBC) Grain 92.6 %
0.25 kg Caramunich Malt (160.0 EBC) Grain 5.8 %
0.07 kg Roasted Barley (1220.0 EBC) Grain 1.6 %

here was me colour;

think like you say it might be more mahogany. would probably knock 10g off the RB next time! Not sure what colour caramunich is was either tbh

Just a little info from experience, not sure if it helps...part of the problem is that you'll only brew it a few times and batches of ingredients can vary from your supplier...

 

[sparks]

Colour looks great, I'll try to simplify my recipe a bit, getting a bit carried away. I'm definitely going to to add some special b in there though.

 

[Hoppy]

I think you all are heading in the right direction with the grain, you need a v.small amount of gravy browning!
Crystal and Caramel (E150) is commonly used commercially for red beers.

Regards

H

 

[BillinKC]

phettebs posted "for a big bold Belgian Dubbel, I still only add about 227g and that is a really rum and toffee flavoured beer IMO!" in reference to Special B. Your comment about 1/2 lb Special B in a 5 gallon batch caught my eye. I use Special B but in much smaller amounts. I've been trying to add a caramel flavor to an ESB beer I've worked on for a long time. Tried many things. Would you say that the "rum and toffee" flavor is like a caramel taste? Thanks for info about Special B in large percentages.

Bill Frazier
Kansas City, USA

 

[phettebs]

Hi Bill,
It is different, at least to my tastes, that caramel. What I found works best for the caramel taste is Thomas Fawcett and Sons' Crystal II. When I first started brewing English beers, I was using normal American crystal 60 and it just didn't have that caramel character to it. Adding a half pound of crystal II has really change them up for me.

A half pound of special B in an ESB might be a bit much. It holds its own in the Dubbel because that is a 7%abv beer and has a lot going on. I'd worry that the special B in the ESB would just dominate the beer too much and make it almost cloying. I have not actually tried it though. It would be worth a shot.

Barry

 

[BillinKC]

Barry - Thanks for the Thomas Fawcett and Sons Crystal II. I'll track some down and try it out.
Bill