Red Flare Ale Tap Handle

I really enjoyed the Evil Twin Red Ale I brewed this last summer.  It was supposed to be way hoppy, but came out like a more traditionally balanced red ale.  Tomorrow, I’m taking that recipe, bumping up the malt bill a bit, and then using the hopping schedule for my Columbus IPA and hoping for an imperial red ale.  I’m naming this red ale after my first World of Warcraft toon to hit 80 after the recent expansion, Mordicai – a hunter (yea, it’s nerdy – but the general public thinks that making homebrew is nerdy, too – so get over it!), with the ale’s name referencing a hunter skill.  If you play a WoW hunter, you’ll get it:)

This will be my 74th batch of ale, and the last I brew in 2008, so I’m hoping for an ale to remember.  I just finished prepping the brewing water, and milling the malted barley, for tomorrow’s brew day, so it should be an easy, uneventful brew day.  Here’s the recipe:

Mordicai’s Red Flare Ale
10-B American Amber Ale
Author: Mark Ranes
Date: 12/30/08

Size: 10.04 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 339.51 kcal per 16.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.076 (1.045 – 1.060)
Terminal Gravity: 1.019 (1.010 – 1.015)
Color: 16.65 (10.0 – 17.0)
Alcohol: 7.53% (4.5% – 6.0%)
Bitterness: 51.5 (25.0 – 40.0)

Ingredients:
2.0 tbsp 5.2 pH Stabilizer – added during mash
26.5 lb Pale Ale Malt
1.25 lb Munich Malt
.75 lb American Victory
0.5 lb Crystal Malt 40°L
0.5 lb Crystal Malt 120°L
1.0 lb 2-Row Carapils Malt
0.5 lb Pale Chocolate
0.5 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
0.75 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added during boil, boiled 45.0 min
0.5 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
1.0 lb Corn Sugar
1.0 tsp Wyeast Nutrient  – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
1.5 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
1.5 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
2000.0 mL White Labs WLP001 California Ale
2.0 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added dry to primary fermenter
2.0 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added dry to secondary fermenter

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Columbus IPA Tap Handle

One of the things I like to experiment with in my brewing is making single hop ales.  It really allows you to see what a particular hop variety brings to an ale.  To take this one step further (and feed my background as a former science teacher:), I like to take a recipe for a single hop ale, and brew it again, changing only one thing – the variety of hop.  Basically, this means keeping the hopping schedule, individual hop charge IBU percentages and overall brew IBUs identical to the original ale.  Tomorrow, I’ll be taking my Two Hearted IPA recipe, and changing only the hop variety – from Centennial hops (my hands-down favorite, only one hop to brew with on a desert island:) to Columbus hops.

Additionally, I’ll be bottling up a few bombers of the Two Hearted IPA, since I know the second keg will be gone before the Columbus IPA is ready, to allow for side by side comparisons of the two ales.  I just finished filtering my water and milling the grain for tomorrow’s brew day.  As always, the milled grain smells wonderful:)

Here’s the recipe for tomorrow’s brew day:

Columbus IPA
14-B American IPA

Size: 10.08 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 317.28 kcal per 16.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.071 (1.056 – 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.018 (1.010 – 1.018)
Color: 7.27 (6.0 – 15.0)
Alcohol: 7.03% (5.5% – 7.5%)
Bitterness: 61.1 (40.0 – 60.0)

Ingredients:
20.0 lb Pale Malt(2-row)
4.0 lb Vienna Malt
10.0 oz Crystal Malt 10°L
6.0 oz Crystal Malt 40°L
1.0 lb Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt
.5 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
.75 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added during boil, boiled 45.0 min
.80 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
1.0 lb Corn Sugar
1.5 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
1.5 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
2 ea Whirlfloc – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
1.0 tsp Yeast Nutrient – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2000 mL White Labs WLP001 California Ale

Milling grain for Columbus IPA

One other difference in this brew from the Two Hearted IPA is the yeast.  Unfortunately, I’m out of Pacific Ale yeast, but I’ll be restocking soon since a trip to B3 is in my near future.  This ale should dry out just a bit more than Two Hearted IPA, but I can adjust for that with a slightly higher mash temperature.

Brenda is off to San Franciso in the morning to take up another load of stuff to Meagan at AAU, so I’m on my own for the brew day.  Unfortunately, Meagan is using my older PowerBook G4 at school, until the new MacBooks are released in a couple weeks, so my iTunes server is MIA. I’ll have to rely on Sirius for brew day tunes:)

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