Rebel Rising V2

A few months back I made a pleasant red ale loosely based on the Franciscan Well's Rebel Red, a staple of my beer drinking diet when I lived in Cork. I felt there were a few aspects of my version that could be improved upon, so on Saturday I went about doing just that.

The grain bill for this beer changed a little to reflect what I perceived as  a flaw in the last version - too much rummy raisiny flavour from the heavy dose of dark crystal. I dropped the total crystal bill by a small amount, and subbed half of that total for Simpsons Light Crystal. Another change was a lighter dose of early hops and a heavier dose of late hops. Since the beer is no chilled, even the late hops have a significant effect on bitterness, so pushing more of the hops to later on should give more hop character without changing the bitterness level.

I also changed the yeast, though I didn't really have a very good reason to do that, the yeast character in the previous version was actually a highlight. However I had a vial of White Labs Bedford Ale yeast platinum that I was really keen to use, so I decided to try it out on this beer. All but 15ml of the vial was pitched to a 1L starter and pitched at high krausen to the main batch.

Rebel Red V2

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L):          22.50    Wort Size (L):     22.50
Total Grain (kg):         4.06
Anticipated OG:          1.045    Plato:             11.11
Anticipated SRM:          15.5
Anticipated IBU:          27.3
Brewhouse Efficiency:       75 %
Wort Boil Time:             60    Minutes

Pre-Boil Amounts
----------------

Evaporation Rate:      15.00    Percent Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size:   26.47    L
Pre-Boil Gravity:      1.038    SG          9.50  Plato


Grain/Extract/Sugar

   %     Amount     Name                     Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 82.8     3.36 kg.  Pale Malt (Maris Otter)  UK     1.038      3
  3.4     0.14 kg.  Crystal 120L             UK     1.033    120
  3.4     0.14 kg.  Crystal 40L              USA    1.034     40
  1.7     0.07 kg.  Roasted Barley (Simpson's)UK    1.029    685
  8.6     0.35 kg.  Cane Sugar              Generic 1.046      0

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

   Amount     Name                 Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 15.00 g.     East Kent Goldings   Pellet   4.30   9.4  60 min.
 15.00 g.     Willamette           Pellet   4.00   8.8  60 min.
 20.00 g.     East Kent Goldings   Pellet   4.30   4.2  20 min.
 20.00 g.     Willamette           Pellet   5.00   4.9  20 min.


Yeast
-----

White Labs WLP006 Bedford British Ale


Water Profile
-------------

Profile:           Pale Ale
Profile known for:

Calcium(Ca):          71.0 ppm
Magnesium(Mg):        10.0 ppm
Sodium(Na):           13.0 ppm
Sulfate(SO4):        116.0 ppm
Chloride(Cl):         79.0 ppm
biCarbonate(HCO3):    30.0 ppm

pH: 7.30

Note that the hop times were actually 45mins and 0mins, and the batch was no-chilled. Also the 0.35kg Cane sugar was actually homemade Invert No.2. Water treatment was 1tsp CaCl2, 1tsp CaSO4, 0.5tsp MgSO4 into very soft Melbourne water.