Beer Forum

Hello! I've been playing with a recipe for a Belgian Imperial Red for a bit, and figure it's ready for a bit of feedback. Take a look and let me know what you think!

Style: Imperial or Double Red Ale
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 14.91 gal
Post Boil Volume: 12.23 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 11.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 10.55 gal
Estimated OG: 1.087 SG
Estimated Color: 15.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 73.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 80.8 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10.29 gal Knoxville, TN (KUB) Water 1 -
2.00 Items Servomyces (Boil 10.0 mins) Other 15 -
2.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 14 -
2.00 tbsp PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 2 -
2.0 pkg Trappist Ale (White Labs #WLP500) [35.49 Yeast 19 -
21 lbs 4.0 oz Pilsner (DURST MALZ) (7.0 SRM) Grain 3 64.6 %
5 lbs 2.0 oz Carared (Weyermann) (24.0 SRM) Grain 4 15.6 %
14.1 oz Caramunich I (Weyermann) (51.0 SRM) Grain 7 2.7 %
2 lbs 9.0 oz Turbinado (10.0 SRM) Sugar 10 7.8 %
1 lbs Oats, Golden Naked (Simpsons) (10.0 SRM) Grain 6 3.0 %
2.00 Items Oxygen (Primary 6.0 hours) Other 20 -
2.00 Items Oxygen (Primary 0.0 mins) Other 21 -
2.00 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.00 %] - First Hop 8 12.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Pacific Gem [15.00 %] - Boil 25.0 min Hop 12 28.5 IBUs
2.00 oz Saaz [4.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 9 12.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.00 %] - Boil Hop 16 2.2 IBUs
2.00 oz Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 17 2.2 IBUs
2 lbs 1.2 oz Wheat - Red Malt (Briess) (2.3 SRM) Grain 5 6.3 %
2.00 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.00 %] - Boil Hop 11 7.6 IBUs
2.00 oz Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 25.0 min Hop 13 7.6 IBUs
1.00 oz Pacific Gem [15.00 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop 18 1.7 IBUs


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 32 lbs 14.3 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 42.64 qt of water at 163.5 F 153.0 F 120 min

Sparge: Drain mash tun, Batch sparge with 2 steps (8.69gal, 4.35gal) of 168.0 F water

wow, silence... lol

On a side note, I tracked down one off of BA. Email or tow later, pointed at this... Tempted to add some barley and Special B in small amounts and back off the carared... Thoughts?

http://midnightsunbrewing.com/sales/SS_8PBmars.pdf

Fulkrum, I'd like to comment, but I don't have any experience with this style. Any commercial examples you can point me toward? I'm trying to envision what a big beer like this, fermented with an Abby ale yeast, and all those hops would be like.

Oddly enough, a search turned up two results. I'll post the BA Links... One is from Anchorage (linked in previous post)... The other is an Eel City beer...

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/38 ... a=mrkrispy

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1627/46056

So, basically, playing with something in my head since I haven't had one either. But it works there Hoppy, fairly prominent alcohol, nice malt backbone. Belgian yeast should provide some fruity esters.

I am in the same position as 'Keelanfish'. No experience, but question the oats.............

Kbar wrote:I am in the same position as 'Keelanfish'. No experience, but question the oats.............

Texture and color primarily....

I'm curious to hear how it turns out when you get around to brewing it. I'm generally not a fan of the Belgian yeast esters combined with high levels of hops like I've had a couple times in high gravity Belgian style IPAs. I guess there's a chance that malt complexity may improve the overall beer for my pallet, but it may just as likely become a big jumbled mess. Maybe try a smaller batch than the 12 gallons your recipe indicates to establish a starting point and make tweaks from there?