I wanted this beer to be similar to awesome tasting Faction Red Ale I tried, which claims 98 IBU's and is hopped with Cascade, Centennial, and CTZ. It was bitter, roasty, aromatic... just a punch in the face of a red IPA. Unfortunately the homebrew shop didn't have Centennial or CTZ (Columbus). I had a tiny bit of Centennial left at home though, but decided to buy Nugget for bittering, and Cascade and Simcoe for flavor/aroma additions. I also used a bit of Citra I had left over.The malt bill was:
83% 2 Row
7% Munich
5.5% Crystal 40L
3.5% Crystal 120L
1% Black Patent
Hop schedule:
55.5 IBU Nugget at 60 min
Cascade and Simcoe at 10 min
Cascade, Nugget, Simcoe at 3 min
Centennial and Citra at flame out
Overall the hefty crystal malt base lends a big caramel component. The amount of hops put in (3.75oz for a 2.25 gallon batch) do balance it somewhat, but I wanted the hops to come out on top. Next Time I would probably decrease the crystal by half, up the Munich, add a bigger Nugget bittering addition and dry hop with a couple ounces.The color came out close to what I wanted. Once the beer cold crashes a few a weeks in the bottles it'll become much clearer and show off its red hue much better. The head retention was the best I've had. Nice and creamy. This was sampled after less than 2 weeks of carbonating, so it'll develop some more, although it was already at a very nice level.
***UPDATE*** After a few months of conditioning in the fridge this beer really turned into something fantastic. Sure, at first I was aiming for a hoppy red and it didn't seem to hit that hoppy mark I was looking for, but man this became a smooth red ale with a bit of sweetness in the middle and a touch of roast in the finish to keep things interesting. Really like how it came out, but would still adjust the recipe a bit next time around.
