Top o' the mornin' to yeh! Or evenin'... ♩ Lar-de-dar-de-diddle de-dum de-dee! ♩ *clicks heels in the air*

*ahem* excuse me... sorry. I sometimes (err...often) get carried away. I was typing in an Irish accent if you didn't follow. I hope you read it that way. If not, I'll give you five seconds to go back and read it again with an Irish voice in your head... Done? Good. The Irish always seem so chipper, with St. Paddy's Day finally here, there's much to be chipper about. For instance, Silly Sir Brewing Co. (a.k.a. me) is proud to announce the release of it's second Irish Red ale: Klifferd the Big Red Ale. It's big, it's Irish, and it's a whole lot of deliciousness capped and trapped in a bottle.

Rapidly chillin' the wort with copper coils

Man, I've typed so much, yet said so little. Alright, let's get down to brass tacks, shall we?

This is the first brew day I've extensively documented through pictures. I've had requests from many of the Reddit readers of this blog to outline my procedures and recipes more thoroughly. This post is primarily for home brewers, but I will attempt to explain everything in an easy to follow way for those of you who are just interested in the process.

My recipe was adapted from Homebrew Talk Forums. I was drawn to it because it 1) apparently took 1st place at a homebrew competition, 2) uses American hops, 3) had several grains I'd never used before, and 4) looked deliciously malty. Irish Reds are not particularly popular styles of beer for homebrewers to brew (presumably because they're relatively low on the bitterness, and most of us are hop-heads), but this recipe is really quite delish and malt forward.

MY ADAPTED RECIPE: 

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WLP-001
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.0
Original Gravity: 1.055
Final Gravity: 1.011
IBU: 32
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 16.5 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 12 days @ 70 F
Tasting Notes: Medium malt aroma and big malt flavours of biscuit and bread. Medium sweetness with slight honey notes balanced out by the citrus of the Cascade hops.

ADAPTED Ingredients

8.00 lb Maris Otter (2 Row) UK (2.0 SRM) (72.7%)
1.00 lb Caraaroma (130.0 SRM) (9.1%)
0.50 lb Carafoam (2.0 SRM) (4.5%)
0.50 lb Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM) (4.5%)
0.50 oz Northern Brewer [6.00 %] (60 min) (11.9 IBU)
1.00 oz Cascade [6.60 %] (30 min) (21.1 IBU)
1.00 lb Honey (1.0 SRM) (add at flame out) (9.1%)
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001)

My Tiny Apartment Brewhouse - It's tiny but I get by just fine.

I made a few adaptations to the Homebrew Talk Forum recipe. For example, I used 0.5oz Northern Brewer hops instead of 1.0oz Crystal. I also used Maris Otter instead of US 2 Row as I thought it would contribute a more pronounced biscuit profile for this style of beer. Finally, I adjusted the batch size from 5.5 gal to 5.0 gal because my grains hadn't been crushed enough and I feared I'd undershoot the OG without adjustments (I didn't have my own mill at this point).

To start, I heated the strike water to 163.5 before adding it to my mash tun.

I really had to ensure that I killed any clumps in the mash before I added the cooler lid. I also let the mash sit an extra 15 minutes, hoping to extract as much sugar as possible. I knew the added time probably wouldn't do too much to the gravity (sugar content) readings - if anything at all - but I didn't mind waiting a bit longer.

After an hour and 15 minutes, I collected the first runnings in my little pot, and recirculated before drawing it into the boil kettle.

Strike water temperature

Adding the water to the tun

Adding the grain to the water

Stirring to avoid clumps

I really had to ensure that I killed any clumps in the mash before I added the cooler lid. I also let the mash sit an extra 15 minutes, hoping to extract as much sugar as possible. I knew the added time probably wouldn’t do too much to the gravity (sugar content) readings – if anything at all – but I didn’t mind waiting a bit longer.

After an hour and 15 minutes, I collected the first runnings in my little pot, and recirculated before drawing it into the boil kettle.

Recirculating

Collecting

I measured out my hops, brought the wort to a boil on my electric stove, and boiled the Northern Brewer hops for 30 minutes before adding the Cascade hops and boiling them together for another 30.

0.5 oz of Northern Brewer at 6.0% A.A.

I added 1lb of liquid honey at flame out…

Adding the bee vomit

I got bee vomit on my hands!

… and immediately chilled the wort down to 64.6 F in about 12 minutes with my new wort chiller. It’s the best, and saves me from tub-chilling (which takes forever and uses up so much water, ice, energy, and dignity). Please consider the dignity levels of the following two pictures:

Old skool

New skool

Right?! In the first picture, I have zero dignity, a dopey smile, and am sitting on a toilet. In the second, I am standing upright lookin’ dangerous and conquering the hot wort like a hero. Every homebrewer should have a coiled wort chiller from day one.

Beautiful wort clouds

The chilled wort

I’ve learned that it’s important to chill it really fast to avoid bacterial contamination as well as possible vegetal flavours caused by Dimethyl Sulphide (DMS). Vegetable beer sounds almost as gross as Pickle Tournament Beer.

After chilling, I took a gravity reading, added the yeast, and aerated the wort by sloshing it from pot to bucket three or four times. Doing so adds oxygen to the wort which the yeast needs in order to convert fermentable sugar to alcohol. Many home brewers pump their wort with pure oxygen. My method seems to do the trick just fine, but is admittedly ghetto. It also runs the risk of contamination, and picking up any particles in the air. So far I’ve been okay.

Gravity reading of 1.055

Foam due to splashing the wort to aerate and add oxygen for the yeast

After 12 days of fermentation, I kegged, gelatin crashed, and carbonated. I used Marshall Shotts preferred method from Brulosophy and while it usually does the trick really well, I’m noticing it’s still pretty hazy. I speculate it may be the honey contributing to the haze, but I’m really just talking out my ass.

Ruby ruby ruby RUBY!

Silly Sir Apartment Brewing Co.

I’ll update the blog with more pictures if it clears up further. I loves me some crystal-clear beer. I’ll also post something with remarks from casual beer-drinking friends, and my beer snob buddies in the GTA Brew club to add objectivity to my tasting notes. If you’re thinking of diving in to this amazing hobby and live in the GTA, GTA Brews people are crazy supportive.

Are you a fan of Irish Reds, or are you more of a fan of hop forward beers? Let me know in the comments below!