Welcome back to Off The Hinge Brewing! I decided that over a week is long enough to wait for the next batch. I was asked to make a red ale. Why not? It is March and I am getting restless. This is not an Irish style. This is America! With that said, I decided to put a little west coast (San Diego) into this liquid miracle. There were a few things I have never used in this brew.
First, this is the inaugural run of the Blue Beast! It was great to introduce the Beast to mashing, however we both are new to each other and we have to find our bearings. She held the heat well, but it dropped more than I had anticipated. I wanted to mash at 153 degrees F, and I ended up mashing at 150. That is after I added more hot water. It was originally at 148. It will be a bit stronger than I planned, however I planned on a lower gravity. The style calls for an original gravity of 1.045 - 1.060 and I hit 1.054, but I wanted 1.051.
Secondly, I used Victory Malt for the first time. Victory is a biscuit malt lightly roasted, resulting in a 25 - 28 degree L (L represents lovibond, which is a measurement of color). The flavor profile consist of toasty, biscuity, baking bread, nutty, and clean. This malt adds a depth of flavor when combined with a high kilned crystal malt (75-150 L), I used Crystal 120 L.
Lastly, I used a technique of late hopping, which I have never attempted. Instead of adding my bittering hops at 60 minutes. I added mine at 20 minutes. I read about this technique in the article I mentioned in the last post. AleSmith in San Diego uses this technique in a beer called 'Evil Dead Red.' The point of this is to give a more perceived rounded bitterness instead of the harsh bitterness which is associated with the a lot of the supper hoppy beers.
As for hops, I used Centennial and Mosaic. I am on a Mosaic kick! My hope is that the fruitiness of the Centennials will meld well with the fruit notes of the Mosaic. I used the American Ale Wyeast 1056. I did a starter the night before and it is off to a great start (no pun intended). As for the Malts, I did not mention; 7.5 lbs. of American 2-row, 1 lb of US Munich, .25 lb of Cara-Pils, and .25 lb of Pale Chocolate. I used .5 lb of the other two.
I have to check out, so remember to drink good beer responsibly and be merry. Cheers!
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