Why?

[JayBee]

Did it take me so long to go from kits I mean.
I`d been thinking about it for a few months after tinkering so much with most of the kits around and not being able to add anything else that I`d already tried.
I got my first 10 litre batch in the FV last Saturday and it was pretty straight forward. It was the simple one hop recipe started by the former Daab and taken on with great advise by OSB but with minor changes ( mix of fuggles and goldings ) and a little extra DME so I got an og of 1042, 5 days later its at 1012 so I reckon on bottling next Wednesday after 10 days if its steady. If the trial jars are anything to go by its gonna be really good after its mellowed a little, and I can`t believe how clear the samples are, even the very first one before pitching.
Anyway, I love the idea of 10 litre brews as I can try something different once a month or so and learn a bit more as I go along.
Last week I found an offer on a beer called Late Red? Its a quid a bottle in lidl and its a top drop, great drink and reusable bottle into the bargain. The blurb on the back says its a mix of goldings and cascade, both of which I`ve got in stock and its a lovely reddish colour, bit difficult to explain the taste really as I`m not good at it. I looked it up on the Shepherd Neame website and was gutted to find they only make it between September and November. I`m happy to try and make something with the hops ( I`ve got Beersmith ) but was wondering what gives that reddish hue that would be useful in an extract recipe.
Thanks for any pointers.

[WishboneBrewery]

You could try some 'Cara Red' which I think is a Steepable grain. 'Hop & Grape' sell it.

[JayBee]

Aha, good stuff. I use them regularly so I`ll have a look and add it to my next order. Cheers.

[CrownCap]

Could be some roast barley too, a few 10's of grams can add a good bit of colour without imparting too much stout flavour. Mind you, cara red sounds interesting

[6470zzy]

80L or 120L caramel malt are great at giving you a wonderful red colour as well as a lovely round caramel taste.

Cheers

[JayBee]

I`ll be making a 10 litre batch again. As I would have used 110 grams of crystal does anyone know if I need to do a straight swap with the cara red or use it as a proportion with the crystal?

[Chase24]

I've used cara red quite a bit and it does add a reddish hue - but if you need it dark red then you might want to mix in some crystal malt. as with all recipes its probably a matter of trying it out to see what works