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You are here: Home --> Forum Home --> Brewing Forum --> Brewing Discussion --> Getting that coveted red color in your beer...

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homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


This is a subject that comes up from time to time.  I know there are some different approaches to it.

Roasted barley is amazing, color wise, but the flavor can be overwhelming. 

Melanoiden will give you some red.  Heck, you can get a bit of red with a touch of chocolate or the like.

Still, in pursuit of that "perfect" red - please share your best methods for getting that elusive color.



Posted 34 days ago.

KidMoxie
Charter Member
San Elijo Hills, CA
405 Posts


I've never used it myself, but Best Malz makes a malt called "Red X" that can be used for up to 100% of the grist. www.bestmalz.de/en/malt/BEST_Red_X.htm
BEST Red X malt is specially created for brewing red-tinted beers. You can use BEST Red X for up to 100% of your grain bill – no other malt is required. Offering exceptional reliability and optimal processability, BEST Red X can be employed to brew consistently fiery beers with intense reddish hues. Its full-bodied flavor and attractive, unique color coupled with easy handling in the brewery, make BEST Red X the best choice for creating a broad range of new beers, such as red-tinted wheat beers.

As with all BEST malts, BEST Red X is produced using a special malting procedure exclusively from two-rowed summer brewing barley from recognized and thoroughly tested barley varieties.

Heh, this is my favorite part:





Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


I have never heard of red-x.  Interesting.  I wonder if anyone here has used it?



Posted 34 days ago.

ingoogni
nl
314 Posts


Red-X is a malt blend, pale, melanoidin and cara. It's reddish with the right gravity, 11-12 °Plato.

Except for beet juice, pale plus roasted gives the best red, you could try and use Sinamar instead of roasted. I don't like the taste of Sinamar, it has the same "powdery carbon" taste as CarafaIII (Norit?).




Posted 34 days ago.

testingapril
Charter Member
Atlanta, GA
595 Posts


For a roasted substitute that doesn't taste terrible, give Briess Blackprinz a try.

I've never used redX but it certainly looks intriguing. I had not heard that it was a blend though. So you have a source for that ingoogni?




Posted 34 days ago.

chino_brews
Charter Member
Eden Prairie, MN
301 Posts


Randy Mosher said in his 2014 NHC presentation, "Beer Recipes from the Inside Out", that the color red comes from crystal/caramel malts in the 60-90�°L range, and roast/black malts in the 350-450�°L range.

I know I'm a Mosher fan, but I tend to especially trust him when it comes to color because he is the one who did the experiments and come up with on of the formulae that underpins the Morey color prediction system.

Edit: The idea is to use only pale malts and malts in those color ranges if you want a ruby red beer. This is pretty much like the grain bill for a very basic Irish Red (pale ale, C60, tiny amount of roasted barley).




Posted 34 days ago.
Edited 34 days ago by chino_brews

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


I know that you can get some reddishness from various C-malts; carared gives more orange than red (in my experience). 

I wonder if cold steeping a larger amount of roasted barley would help give intense red while cutting down on the roastiness?  I have to say that I'm more interested in methods that use more commonly available grains, as opposed to an unknown (and possibly a blend) like redX.



Posted 34 days ago.

chino_brews
Charter Member
Eden Prairie, MN
301 Posts


@homebrewdad: besides researching techniques (see my earlier cite of Mosher's 2014 NHC presentation), one thing I like to do is to dissect known recipes that accomplish what I want. For example, Jamil Z's Evil Red is an intensely red ale, and the grain bill is:

78.7% - British Pale Malt 3L
6.6% - Crystal 40L
6.6% - Munich Malt 8L
3.3% - Victory Malt 25L
3.3% - Crystal 120L
1.6% - Pale Chocolate Malt 200L

So pretty much the opposite of what Mosher recommends. And telling us there is more than one way to skin the cat.

As far as cold steeping, the percentage is so small it shouldn't lead to appreciable roasted flavor, but if you want to use roasted malt, why not use Carafa Special II?

Multiple edits: formatting. gah!




Posted 34 days ago.
Edited 34 days ago by chino_brews

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


Hah!  You and I posted at almost the same time, Chino! 

Really great info - just what I was looking for.  I have continued to tweak my Enchantress in an effort to get crazy red color out of it, and with all else being equal, I like red beers anyway.  Thanks for the input.



Posted 34 days ago.

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