Best Grain To Redden An IPA

[LJvermonster]

Hi All,

I'm getting a kit from Midwest Supplies for a double IPA (http://www.midwestsupplies.com/hop-lord-imperial-ipa-all-grain-recipe-kit.html) and it is a fairly light color.

I like my IPA color more orange/amber/reddish and was wondering what the best grain to add that would be for coloring? Cara Red? Crystal 60? Is Crystal 120 too aggressive?

Thanks in advance!

 

[youngpretender13]

I'd say carared and just a touch of rye for good measure

 

[FatDragon]

Hi All,

I'm getting a kit from Midwest Supplies for a double IPA (http://www.midwestsupplies.com/hop-lord-imperial-ipa-all-grain-recipe-kit.html) and it is a fairly light color.

I like my IPA color more orange/amber/reddish and was wondering what the best grain to add that would be for coloring? Cara Red? Crystal 60? Is Crystal 120 too aggressive?

Thanks in advance!

A dash of chocolate malt or roasted barley might do the trick, and you could cold steep them if you don't want any roasty flavors in your brew. You wouldn't really want to add crystal malts to change the color unless you want to change the flavor as well, although if you were originally planning on half a pound of C10 (for example), you could swap part or all of that for something like C60 or C120 to change the color profile, though the flavor would probably be a bit different as a result of the swap.

 

[DLR1987]

I've heard crystal rye does well, although i have not tried it myself.

 

[stru]

Carared is a good one.

 

[LJvermonster]

It seems like the Fawcett Crystal Rye Malt would go along with the sweetness that would probably be found in the beer already. I wouldn't want to change the flavor of the beer (much) so I'll probably stay away from the 60 or 120.

Would adding 4 oz of Carared and 4 oz of the Rye be enough to darken the beer a bit without changing the flavor dramatically?

 

[youngpretender13]

Personally I enjoy the the dryness imparted by additions of rye. But then again i just like Rye in general. Technically carared is a brand of crystal but is often used to achieve a reddish hue.

 

[eric19312]

Try 2oz of midnight wheat. That will add about 4 SRM to a 5 gal batch with minimal impact on flavor and body. A whole pound of Carared will only add about 1.5 SRM and would have a pretty significant impact on the flavor and body of the finished beer.

 

[beeber]

Both carared and crystal 120 are just fine. You'll get more orange from carared and brownish red from the crystal. From what you are looking for carared would be my first choice.

 

[peterj]

Carared is only like 20L isn't it? As eric19312 said, it would take a lot of that to add a significant amount of color to the beer, and by then it would be adding a lot of flavor and unfermentable sugar. 4 oz is not going to do it. I think carared might help if you were making the recipe yourself and you only used that as your crystal malt, but since this is a complete recipe that you're adding to and it probably already has crystal malt you shouldn't add a bunch of carared or any other crystal malt to it. Also you don't want a bunch of crystal malts in such a high gravity beer that you want to finish dry.

The best way to go would be to add a small amount of a dark roasted grain like roasted barley, carafa, chocolate, midnight wheat, etc. This will add the color but will not affect the flavor or fermentability in such a small amount.

 

[Silos]

Just throwing this out there, but you might also try a 90 - 120 minute boil. You'd have to adjust your boil volume to account for more evaporation.

 

[Clonefan94]

A dash of chocolate malt or roasted barley might do the trick, and you could cold steep them if you don't want any roasty flavors in your brew. You wouldn't really want to add crystal malts to change the color unless you want to change the flavor as well, although if you were originally planning on half a pound of C10 (for example), you could swap part or all of that for something like C60 or C120 to change the color profile, though the flavor would probably be a bit different as a result of the swap.

Be careful with the dash. I used 4 ounces of chocolate malt in an IPA I made a while back, total grain bill was around 15 pounds and it came out pretty much a black IPA. I might be sensitive to the flavor and it was far from overpowering, but I noticed the taste of the chocolate it in there as well.

 

[FatDragon]

Be careful with the dash. I used 4 ounces of chocolate malt in an IPA I made a while back, total grain bill was around 15 pounds and it came out pretty much a black IPA. I might be sensitive to the flavor and it was far from overpowering, but I noticed the taste of the chocolate it in there as well.

I used 2 oz of black patent in my 5-gallon imperial red and didn't taste any roastiness, but I didn't get as much color as I wanted either. If I do it again, I'm going to up the dosage (and maybe swap in roasted barley) and cold steep, which is supposed to give you the color without the flavor contribution.

If you've got your process dialed in, Beersmith or other brewing software or calculators that give SRM numbers should give you a good idea of what you're going to get with a recipe, though not always, I suppose

 

[eric19312]

Chocolate malt is very strong flavor at pretty low doses. I'd go with something from the family of debittered black malts if you are just looking to impact color. Carafe Special and the like, and Midnight Wheat.


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[mrphillips]

I'd go with a longer boil (as some have suggested), and a pound of munich malt. It's sooooooo good in IPAs.

Be careful going up to crystal 120. It can give it an unwanted raisiny taste.

 

[PeteNMA]

Two ounces of Carafe-III thrown in just before mash out.

See here: http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2013/06/honey-red-aka-emma-stone-ale.html for a color reference

 

[Calichusetts]

Equal parts C20 and C60 get me there. Orange/amber can be done with a small amount of Munich to a light base malt. There are many ways to get there, as the above posters point out

 

[NathPowe]

+1 on a couple ounces of Carafa III. I've used this to make an IPA more red colored. If you're particularly concerned about flavor contributions, add it at the end of the mash before you vourlauf. Cheers.

 

[DrunkleJon]

I have used a dash (1-2 oz in a 5 gal batch) of melanoidin in a red ale to boots the redness.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

+1 on the melanoiden. I did an Irish Red that used it (somewhere around 4 oz?) and it had a nice hint of red.

 

[Malticulous]

Pretty much any red colored beer will have a lot of crystal malt in it. I've been adding a few ounces of caraaroma (130L) to darken the color of some beers lately. That much really only gets it to gold and yet it still adds noticeable touch of flavor. You'd probably need 5% to get to amber-red, or 10% of something 80L. Your grain bill would have to be 50% or more with a malt that is only 20L to get it that dark.

 

[mrphillips]

I have used a dash (1-2 oz in a 5 gal batch) of melanoidin in a red ale to boots the redness.

What flavor, if any, does an ounce or two impart in the beer?

 

[LJvermonster]

Just throwing this out there, but you might also try a 90 - 120 minute boil. You'd have to adjust your boil volume to account for more evaporation.

What exactly does the 90-120 minute boil that a 60 minute boil doesn't get you?

Also, thanks for all the great responses. I like the sound of the midnight. I definitely don't want to affect flavor just color. As this is a lighter beer, adding some reddish/darker color will yield some nice red/orange hue.


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[kcbeersnob]

I'm surprised that so many people are saying that Carared imparts red color. In my experience that is not true. It imparts more of a brown color and a very unique malty flavor.

IMO an undeniable red color is one of the hardest things to achieve in brewing. I've tried all kinds of tricks from a touch of roasted malts to combinations of crystal malts and I've never been satisfied. I've had some beers that would appear to have a red hue if held up in the right light at the right angle, but nothing that's soundly red. The thing that makes brewing a red beer so hard is that that the same components that create a red beer also create flavors that you may not want.

Probably the closed I've come to red is in a barley wine that used MO with 2 oz. each of C60, C120 and Special B. But you don't want those flavors in an IPA. Check out the photo below.

 

[dudius]

What exactly does the 90-120 minute boil that a 60 minute boil doesn't get you?

Also, thanks for all the great responses. I like the sound of the midnight. I definitely don't want to affect flavor just color. As this is a lighter beer, adding some reddish/darker color will yield some nice red/orange hue.


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Longer boil results in higher gravity, darker color, and added flavor/aroma all resulting from more density. The color and flavor/aroma are also affected maillard reaction and caramelization.

 

[eric19312]

Longer boil results in higher gravity, darker color, and added flavor/aroma all resulting from more density. The color and flavor/aroma are also affected maillard reaction and caramelization.

Here is a good article on the impact of a long boil on wort:
http://beerandwinejournal.com/barleywine-color/

Bottom line...most of the impact from a long boil will be from concentrating the wort. This is going to increase OG and FG and completely alter hop utilization. In the end it might be a good beer, but will not have the same balance as the kit design, and will not yield 5 gallons. If you top it back up with water at the end of the boil the color will be pretty much where you would have been without the 120 min boil.

 

[DrunkleJon]

What flavor, if any, does an ounce or two impart in the beer?

The description from Midwests page on it.
This malt will add red coloring and intensify the malt character of your beer.

Small amounts should not be too noticeable in flavor, but it will probably add a little bonus maltiness. Do you just desire the redness? Maybe just doing an extract style steep for the color rather than a mash would reduce the maltiness contribution further?

 

[LJvermonster]

The description from Midwests page on it.

This malt will add red coloring and intensify the malt character of your beer.



Small amounts should not be too noticeable in flavor, but it will probably add a little bonus maltiness. Do you just desire the redness? Maybe just doing an extract style steep for the color rather than a mash would reduce the maltiness contribution further?

That's not a bad idea. I'm strictly going for color on this one. I suspect the kit will be delicious enough to at least not change the flavor on the first go around.

 

[clickondan]

I usually use Blackprinz to alter color without affecting flavor or body.

 

[Hobanon]

The description from Midwests page on it.

This malt will add red coloring and intensify the malt character of your beer.



Small amounts should not be too noticeable in flavor, but it will probably add a little bonus maltiness. Do you just desire the redness? Maybe just doing an extract style steep for the color rather than a mash would reduce the maltiness contribution further?

I've read on here before about folks steeping roasted grains in stouts and black IPAs to reduce "harsh" burnt flavors from the malt. Probably a good starting point for minimal flavor...


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[PeteNMA]

You can cold steep things like black malt or roasted barley to get color without bitterness. Advantage of that is you can quickly boil the steep water to sanitize then add it to the fermenter to the color you want.

 

[HumulusHead]

Red x malt perhaps? Supposedly you can use up to 100% of your grain bill with it to impart reddish hue


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[chumpsteak]

Two ounces of Carafe-III thrown in just before mash out.

See here: http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2013/06/honey-red-aka-emma-stone-ale.html for a color reference

This.

Love Carafe-III. Its de-husked and doesn't affect flavor in small amounts and a little goes a long way.