Red Ale

This medium-bodied, Irish standard epitomizes popular imported beers with its with a thick off-white head, residual sweetness, and slightly fruity interplay of hops and Irish Ale yeast. The subtle addition of roasted barley provides a mild richness and a distinct red color.

Ingredients
7 lb. John Bull Amber Malt Extract
¾ lb. Briess Crystal Malt 80° L
2 oz. Roasted Barley 675° L
2 oz. Perle Hops (Bittering)
½ oz. Kent Golding Hop Plug (Flavoring)
Wyeast # 1084XL Irish Ale Yeast

Procedure
Before starting, make sure your liquid yeast will be ready to add to the beer. Plan on putting your fermenter where the temperature is within the temperature range listed on the Wyeast yeast package.

1. Soak the cans of malt extract in hot water for 20–30 minutes so that the syrup will be easier to pour.

2. Place cracked grains in the steeping bag and add to your brew kettle along with 1½ gallons of cold water. Heat slowly.

3. Right before the water starts to boil, turn off the heat and remove the grain bag. The grain bag should soak in hot water for about 20–30 minutes to get full flavor.

4. Remove the pot from heat and add the cans of malt extract. Keep the kettle off the burner and stir until the malt extract is completely dissolved.

5. Put the pot back on the burner and bring it to a boil. Avoid messy boil-overs by reducing heat or momentarily removing the pot from heat. Once boiling commences, add the bittering hops (if using whole hops or plug hops place in a muslin bag) and boil for 1 hour (set a timer).

6. After 45 minutes of boiling add ½ teaspoon of Irish Moss which can help clarify your beer (optional).

7. After 50 minutes of boiling add flavor hops (if using whole hops or plug hops place in a muslin bag).

8. After 60 minutes of boiling, turn off the heat.

9. If you are using whole hops or plug hops in muslin bags, remove them from the kettle. Put a lid on your pot and cool it in an ice bath (use your sink) for about 20 minutes.

10. After the wort (stuff in your pot) is cool, add 2 gallons of water to sanitized fermenter, add the cooled wort (if using pelletized hops pour through a sanitized strainer), and top up fermenter with additional water to 5 gallons.

11. Take and record a hydrometer reading (optional).

12. Be sure that the temperature of your wort in the fermenter is below 78º F before adding the yeast. Sanitize the yeast pack and the scissors before opening the yeast. Add yeast to wort.

13. Optional: You can increases the hop aroma and flavor in your beer by “dry hopping” it by adding hops to your fermenter. After the initial fermentation has finished, add hop pellets to your fermenter, leave the hops in for three to seven days, and then siphon the beer to your bottling bucket and bottle as usual.