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Irish Red Ale

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Fisher kel Tath

Fisher kel Tath

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 7, 2009
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Kalamazoo, MI
Extract with specialty grains

  • 6lbs Briess Light LME
  • 6oz Cara 40L
  • 6oz Cara 120L
  • 4oz Roasted Barley
  • .8oz Challenger (60min)
  • .2 Challenger (10min)
  • 1 vial WLP004 Irish Ale yeast

OG: 1.041
IBU: 22.2

Brewed this today, pitched the vial of yeast directly into the wort, as low gravity beer didn't think I needed a starter on it, but now worried if I should of did one just to proof the yeast.

About 12hrs from pitching (give or take an hour) seems to be little in the way of airlock activity. Temperature is about 70f, as waiting for it to start fermenting till I move it to 65f.

Gave the yeast a little stir to see if that helps things, but wondering how long I should wait before worrying
 
Nice, Man!

I look forward to updates. An Irish red is what I was planning to do within the next 2-3 weeks.

I would not worry yet. I have had ferments take off at about the 48 hour mark.
Sit tight, and don't fret.
 
I think my worry is stemming from using a different yeast brand than normal, and the fact that by this time my last beer was not only bubbling, it sounded like a time bomb ticking away (and did explode that night)
 
What yeast do you normally use??

I've been using Wyeast for my beers, with great results...

I actually brewed an Irish Red Ale on 1/10/11 that I tried (for the first time) tonight.I think I might have carbonated mine a little high (went to ~2.4-2.45 CO2 volumes) but will see how it goes over at tomorrow's party... It was bottled just under two weeks ago (will be two weeks on Sunday)...

Details of my recipe:

Batch Size: 5.125 gallons
Boil Time: 90 minutes
Type: All Grain

Ingredients:
5# Pale Malt, UK 2 Row
5# Pale Malt, Maris Otter
12 oz British Crystal Malt II
4 oz Toasted British Crystal Malt II (toasted for about 15 minutes)
.5 oz Target hops (10.50% AA) 60 minute boil
.25 oz Fuggles hops (4.00% AA) 5 minute boil

Yeast: Wyeast Labs #1084 Irish Ale (harvested, used a starter too)

OG: 1.064
FG: 1.018
Color: 11.6 (very nice in the glass)
Bitterness: 17.8 IBU
ABV: 6.01%

Mashed with 22 quarts for 90 minutes (162F temp water at mash in) with mash temp starting at 154F. Temp at end of mash was ~150F
Sparged with 2 gallons of 168F water.

Fermented for three weeks in primary. Checked with hydrometer and tasted to figure out when it was ready for bottling.

Next time, I plan on skipping toasting the grains... That is, unless I toast them whole, then crush them myself. By then I'll have a grain mill, so that will be easy (in a group grain buy, so I'll have 385# of base malt fairly soon)...

One thing to keep in mind, yeast can take 72 hours before you see evidence of active fermentation. If you're not using a carboy, then you have no real idea of what's going on (another reason I hate buckets)... Airlock activity is also no real indication of something, or nothing, going on. It just means there's not enough gas being produced to need to be vented. OR, that your fermenter is not properly/fully sealed.

For the WL yeast, I've heard the LHBS people advise using a starter on any brew getting it. Since you have no other way to know if it's good or not. At least with the Wyeast activator pack, you smack it, if nothing happens, you take it back and they give you a replacement. Just one reason I plan on sticking with Wyeast for liquid yeast...

Personally, I use starters for any new yeast going into brews with an OG above 1.060 (Wyeast activator packs)... When using washed/rinsed yeast, I use a starter to make sure the yeast is still good, and to give it a full leg up on things. Made a starter tonight for some 1728 Scottish Ale yeast that I'll be using on Sunday. It's going into a brew with a projected OG of 1.072... Should have more than enough yeast by brew day (started with about 4oz of yeast, which I've put into the starter)...

Next time, try using a little nutrient if you're concerned about fermentation starting off right... I also chill my wort down to under 70F, closer to 65F actually, before putting it into primary. Of course, I'm using an IC to do that, so it's easy, and fast...
 
I usually use Wyeast, but decided to give White Labs a try as I had used Wyeast Irish Ale, before and this would give me something to know the differences between them.

Doing an ice bath chill, I filled my sink full of snow before putting the pot in and then filled it with water. from 208 to 80 degrees in 10mins, adding my topping off water took me down to 65ish.

I really want to add a thermowell to my bucket lid for beer.
 
My brew pot is too large for my sink... I just use the IC that I built to cool the wort down.

Still tweaking the grain bill for the brew I'm making tomorrow... I have some specialty grains on hand, but need to get more variety soon... Probably will soon after getting a grain mill, and the several sacks o grain I'm ordering. :D 385 pounds of base malt :eek: will only make so many batches... Considering how my 'normal' brews use about 10 pounds of base malt... I am planning on at least a few really big brews in the coming months (so they'll be ready come next holiday season)... A couple of those recipe's have ~20 pounds of base malt in them... Talking about 5 gallon batches here...
 
Anyone else notice White Labs instructions on the label are contradictory?

Says to keep the beer around 75 till the fermentation starts, then 70 for the duration of the ferment. Yet the optimum ferment temperature is 65-68 for WP004
 
All the tubes say that, even the lager yeasts. You can safely ignore those instructions. I pitched my Altbier at 52 F, WLP810 right out of the tube, and it started just fine.
 
I once did a side by side comparison of the White Labs and Wyeast Irish ale strains on a 10 gallon batch of stout split into two different 6 gallon carboys. Couldn't tell a bit of difference between the two, really. I think both yeast companies sourced this strain from Guinness. I really love this yeast comparison and origin chart, if you are interested in which Wyeast and White Lab strains are similar and where they come from: http://www.mrmalty.com/yeast.htm
 
You do realize that you'll use less priming sugar for the batch in the keg than if you bottled it, right?? Instead of bottling it with the keg sugar, I would put that you will into the keg, then prime the rest with the correct amount of sugar. OR, carbonate the entire batch with CO2 and then use a bottling gun to fill the bottles out of the carbonated brew (from the keg)... If you're good with figuring things out, you could prime it all, in the bottling bucket, put what you want into the keg, then add the additional sugar for the bottles...

When I, eventually, start kegging, I plan to still bottle at least part of the batch. Most likely a 3 gallon keg, then the rest will be bottled up... I'll simply figure out how much sugar (by weight) to prime what's not going into the keg...
 
Fisher kel Tath said:
Not bottling this, well I might bottle a 12 pack, but if I do it'll be right after I mix the solution and beer in the keg.
Click to expand...


Hmmm. I guess I am just confused. If you are kegging this to serve out of a keg, why are you not just force carbonating it with CO2? Why are you priming?

I am probably ignorant in this realm, as I have only dealt with bottles and have not had any kegging experience.

Please enlighten me.
 
shouldn't have to wait too long with kegging should you? My brother and I usually do 10 gallon batchs of beer and bottle all of it. We just bought a kegging system with Nitrogen and C02 set up and brewed a Guiness clone...cant wait to try it... its still in primary phase
 
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