Up the Ginga Irish Red Ale

[Glynn Foster]

Already thinking about how I'm going to re-use my 1084 yeast cake from the stout I brewed last, after a little washing. The fermentation did in the end take off, slow and steady all the way. A little worried by floaties on the surface, but seems like the yeast hasn't yet dropped and a taste out of the carboy yields a pretty terrific brew- a couple of days in the fridge will cure that.

I'm a relatively large fan of session beers, and an Irish Red always reminds me of a good northern hemisphere Christmas beside the fire - a nice quaffer before a large feed. Hopefully I'll get to brew this in the next couple of days. The name is inspired from when the Tour de France 'toured' Ireland - during a King of the Hill challenge up in the Dublin/Wicklow mountains the TV caught a nice "Up the Gicker" sign on the road.

Up the Ginga Irish Red #10
9-D Irish Red Ale

Size: 18.93 L
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 186.76 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.056 (1.044 - 1.060)
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 - 1.014)
Color: 19.35 (9.0 - 18.0)
Alcohol: 5.52% (4.0% - 6.0%)
Bitterness: 24.1 (17.0 - 28.0)

Ingredients:
4.2 kg Maris Otter
0.2 kg Crystal 150
0.2 kg Cara-amber®
0.1 kg Carapils®/Carafoam®
0.02 kg Roast Barley
0.0 ea WYeast 1084 Irish Ale
40 g Fuggle (3.8%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
20 g Fuggle (3.8%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 21.11 °C
Source Water: 15.56 °C
Elevation: 0.0 m

00:03:00 Mash In - Liquor: 10.0 L; Strike: 73.29 °C; Target: 65 °C
00:03:00 Batch Sparge - First Runnings: 0.0 L sparge @ 75.6 °C, 0.0 min; Sparge #2: 10 L sparge @ 75.6 °C, 0.0 min; Sparge #3: 10 L sparge @ 75.6 °C, 0.0 min; Total Runoff: 25.94 L

[Glynn Foster]

Finally got to brew this last night. As usual forgot to get an OG from it (need to figure out some nice way of doing that after I've racked to the carboy). Missed my mash in by 4 degrees which suggests I need to tinker with calibration variables. 12 hours later the airlock is happily bubbling. Doesn't look very ginga though.