This Pete's Wicked Red Ale

Classification: pale ale, red ale, Pete's Wicked Red, extract

Source: Peter Blatherwick (blather@bnr.ca), r.c.b., 1/5/96

Deep, rich ruby-red colour, full bodied feel (esp for such a low alcohol brew), fairly bitter with very floral/hoppy aroma and flavour balanced by a trace of malt, good head retention especially after aging > 3 months. A real nose full that won't get you drunk in a big hurry. My personal favorite home brew. Style-wise, I'd say its a California Red Ale, but NOT an immitation of the commercial Pete's Wicked Red (I like mine even better ;-).

Other Notes: - used dark malt to add richness and malt complexity to otherwise very light ale
- Canadiana malt extract picked for redish colour, but any good quality extract would probably do just fine
- dextrine added to boost rich feel
- dry hopped with pellet since we have more reliable supply of pellet hops here in Ottawa, and this is a key ingredient in a running set of experiments (would prefer fresh leaf)
- Nottingham yeast known to be high attenuating and produce dry tasting result (relatively low ester)

Ingredients:

2.5 oz roast barley
8.0 oz crystal malt (20 L)
5 lb Canadiana light malt extract
1 lb Edme light dried malt extract
2 oz 100% dextrine
1 tsp gypsum
28 g Northern Brewer pellet hops (aa 10%)
26 g Styrian Goldings pellet hops (aa 8.5%)
7 g Willimette leaf hops
7 g Cascade leaf hops
3/8 tsp Irish Moss
10 g (2 pkgs) Nottingham English Ale dried yeast

Procedure:

Steep grains in 3 qts H2O at 150 deg F, 45 min, then sparge with 170 deg H2O.

Boil (60 minutes) with extracts, dextrine, gypsum, Northern Brewer and Styrian Goldings. Add Willamette, Cascade, and Irish moss in last 12 minutes of boil. Pitch 10 g (2 pkgs) Nottingham English Ale dried yeast (hydrated warm H2O). Dry hop in secondary with 28 g Cascade pellet hops.

Primary fermentation 5 days at 20 deg C (68 F), secondary 20 days at 18 deg C. OG 1032, FG 1005 (3.75 % alc by wt), est bitterness 57 IBU, est colour 15 SRM

Specifics:

OG: 1.032
FG: 1.005