Hop Head Red Bitter

Source: Ron Sconyers
Recipe added: 04/13/01
Email: Dentrx@mindspring.com

This is a very smooth aromatic beer, very similar to Sweetwater IPA in aroma and taste, but with a nice bright red color. Both beautiful to behold and drink. It is more of an American Bitter, utilizing Wyeasts American strain of liquid yeast, with more of a malty character than most bitters or pales. Relatively simple and inexpensive, it has become a staple in my brewing regimen. I try to always have a keg of this one ready to serve. I hope you enjoy it.

Specifics

Recipe type: Partial Mash
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Starting Gravity:
Finishing Gravity:
Time in Boil: one hour
Primary Fermentation: 7 days
Secondary Fermentation: 7-14 days

Ingredients:

7.5 lbs. Extra light liquid malt extract
4 oz. melanoidin
1-2 oz. gallena(14.1%) (amountdepends upon your personal hop taste-I'm a major hop head so I go for the full amount)
5 oz. cascades (8-9%)
1 tsp. irish moss
Wyeast 1056 (I use the smack packs, but I've heard the pitchables are really nice)

Procedure:

STARTER 1)Add two cups of light DME to 2 pints of boiling water. 2)Cool to 75 degrees Farenheidt. 3)Add contents of Wyeast smack pack (after initiating of course) to starter wort. 4)Store in dark 75 degrees room. 5)Pitch at high krausen (approx. 10-12 hours). Save a small amount of your starter, stored in a dark corner of your fridge, for bottle conditioning. WORT 1)Bring three gallons of water to 150 degress farenheidt, hold at 150. 2)Remove grains, and bring wort to a rolling boil. 3)Remove from heat and stir in extract. Return to heat and add 1 oz. of gallena hops. 4)At 15 mins. into boil, add additional oz. of gallena if desired. Gallena is a great bittering hop, strong without the astringency associated with many high alpha hops. 5)At 45 mins., add 1 tsp. of Irish moss to boil. 6)Add 3 oz. of Cascades for final five minutes of boil. 7)Remove from heat and cool quickly. 8)Add to fermenter, bring volume to 5 gallons. 9)Pitch yeast starter. 10)After 7 days, or so, transfer to secondary and add 2 oz. of Cascades for dry hopping. 11)After 7-14 days in secondary fermenter, bottle or keg.

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