Recommend me a Red Ale Kit!

wotswattage

I've only got about 8 bottles of my first ever brew left and I'm wondering what to brew next
The first one was a 100% standard Coopers Dark Ale kit with Coopers Brew enhancer #2 which I was delighted with! Myself and everyone who has tasted it agree that its delicious!

I'm interested in trying a Red Ale next and St Peter's Ruby Red Ale seems like a decent choice.
Any recommendations or suggestions??

I'll prob stick to the standard recipe again this time, and down the line experiment a bit. Hoping to have this batch ready for Christmas!

I'm also looking at getting an old Fridge and either using a brew belt or having a DIY go at wiring the fridge up for temperature control. Any pointers here?

poitinstill

heard thats good... not sure there are other red kits .. without steeping some grain to get color/ malt flavour to a coopers...

tteknulp

Heres a nice Red ale if your willing to steep some grains

Irish Red



Light LME 2x 1.5 tins

Caramel Malt 40L 280g Steep
Caramel Malt 80L 110g Steep
Roasted Barley 60g Steep

HOPS
Willamette 28g boil 60min
Golding 28g boil 30min

Nottingham Ale Yeast WLP039

Carawaystick

wotswattage wrote: »

I'm also looking at getting an old Fridge and either using a brew belt or having a DIY go at wiring the fridge up for temperature control. Any pointers here?

I'd only use a fridge for lagering, or fermenting a lager
It's a little bit colder now, so I usually put an extra blanket around my fermenter after the clicks change, but ales will ferment happily from 16-24 degrees, and probably better at the lower range.
Coppers kits reccommend higher temps cos they're Australian and it's hard to get <20 degrees outside of the middle of July in Melbourne

Your last beer worked out fine with no temperature control...

wotswattage

I guess I was under the impression that temperature was much more important than it is!
My last beer was made towards the end of our glorious summer I was afraid to let it go below 21 at any time, didn't realise things would still work out at as low as 16!! Maybe I'll be fine with an extra blanket so...

I'm gonna order the St Peter's Ruby Red tonight and hopefully be brewing by next week!

irish_goat

tteknulp wrote: »

Heres a nice Red ale if your willing to steep some grains

That's an extract recipe though, he's looking for a kit just.

Heard good things about the St.Peter's as well and you could still steep grains/hops like tteknulp has suggested.

wotswattage

Kit for now, then down the line I can get a bit more adventurous! Thanks for the suggestion anyway!!

Re the temperature control, if the temperature drops too low during fermentation it'l just stop, and restart again once it gets back up right?? It won't necessarily harm the brew?

wotswattage

One further question, this guy boosts the % a bit using high malt glucose or alternatively honey or the likes..

I really like CraigTube's channel he has a very down to earth way of presenting:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSZhF4d1GYg

This is something I'd be interested in trying (particularly for honey), anyone have any experience trying this??? Or an alternative?!?

tteknulp

wotswattage wrote: »

This is something I'd be interested in trying (particularly for honey), anyone have any experience trying this??? Or an alternative?!?

Honey or golden syrup is good ,doesnt add much to flavour ,the syrup would be good in a red ale with amber malt

wotswattage

Think I'll try that so. I notice the St Peters kit has the sugar/enhancer already mixed into the malt extract cans so should I ad the honey in ontop of that? And how much to ad?? I see in other kit mods you add a certain amount of honey in lieu of a certain amount of sugar.


Also what is the difference between these two types of tap?

http://www.homebrewwest.ie/quickserve-tap


http://www.homebrewwest.ie/bottling-tap-and-siphon-killer-plus-backnut


I'm going to fit a tap to the fermenter and probably use the syphon tube from tap to bottle.

tteknulp

Honey on its own youd need at least 2 450g jars ,or 1 jar & 500g of dextrose or 600g of Spraymalt , 2nd tap (red one) is better fit for bottling wand / they sell clear flexable tube that fits also get 1.5 metre of it , its cheap ,ferment tap --> tub --> wand = easy bottling

wotswattage

I see, not gonna work with the St Peters Kit so as the sugar/dextrose is already mixed into the cans...

tteknulp

wotswattage wrote: »

I see, not gonna work with the St Peters Kit so as the sugar/dextrose is already mixed into the cans...

2 can kits dont need extra fermentables ,thats not to say you cant add a jar of honey ? It will finish higher % is all