Bombay Red Ale

After a very hectic May and the last of the school year, I'm finally brewing again. This time it's a red ale--malty and hoppy. Red ales are not exactly a recognized beer style, but nonetheless you'll find many a brewpub and craft brewery on the West coast with a great beer by that title. They are normally malty like an amber ale, but have as much (or more) hop flavor and aroma as a pale ale. Here's my current version.

Bombay Red

5 gallons

6 lbs. Alexander's Pale LME

1 lb. Munich Malt

1 lb. British Crystal Malt 75L

2 oz. Pale Chocolate Malt

3/4 oz. Columbus hops (14.5% AA) boiled for 20 minutes

1/2 oz. Cascade hops (6.5% AA) boiled for 15 minutes

1/2 oz. Cascade hops (6.5% AA) boiled for 1 minutes

1/2 oz. Columbus hops (14.5% AA) boiled for 1 minutes

1 oz. Cascade hops (6.5% AA) steeped for 30 minutes during chilling.

Fermented with a packet of Safale S-05 Dry Yeast

OG: 1.047

FG: 1.01?

SRM: 14 (Reddish Orange)

ABV: ~5%

IBU: 32

Old Ale

Tonight I brewed an Old Ale. The predecessor of brown ale, old ale is a dark and malty style of ale that was brewed commonly centuries ago in England. It was also known as Stock ale, because it was brewed at high potency and allowed to condition for longer periods of time, either at the brewery or in the cellars of public houses themselves. In fact, as they aged they grew in value enough that barrels of old ale were sold as commodities, to be laid down in a cellar and resold when the value had increased. Old ales were also served in a bit of a different way than we tend to serve beer now; they would be blended on the spot with a portion of fresh, lightly alcoholic beer called Mild. You could get your ale mixed 50/50, or with a higher percentage of Old ale if you had the duchies to shell out.

This is my first attempt at the style, so I've asked around and gotten a lot of differing opinions on what the recipe should look like. In the end, I've decided to try a new malt, brown malt, and fill in the rest of the ingredients by choosing rich malts that I love. There's also a bit of flaked oats added to make it a little "creamy." It's all finished and tucked away in the fermentation freezer, so let's hear it for the yeast! Chomp up that sugar, guys!

Old Salty Dog

English Old Ale

5 gallons

10 lbs. Maris Otter Pale Malt

1 lb. Brown Malt

12 oz. British Crystal Malt 75L

10 oz. Light Dry Malt Extract

8 oz. British Crystal Malt 120L

8 oz. Belgian Biscuit Malt

4 oz. Flaked Oats

1/2 oz. Fuggles hops (3% AA) boiled for 60 minutes

1.5 oz. Challenger hops (5.9% AA) boiled for 60 minute.

Fermented with 2 packets of Safale S-05 Dry Yeast

OG: 1.062

FG: 1.01?

SRM: 20 (Brown)

ABV: 6.1%

IBU: 34

BJCP Brewing Guidelines for Old Ale