Hoppy Red Ale

As for the Sunday brew, I decided to go for a hoppy red ale. The hops are to be added late in the boil as to have a nice hoppy taste and aroma without the bitterness of an early addition. So, hopefully it's going to turn out malty and hoppy.

http://www.mrmalty.com/late_hopping.htm (at bottom)

Hoppy Red Ale
3.5G, all grain; OG = 1.068 FG = 1.016; IBU = 35.5; SRM = 17; ABV = 6.7%
90 minute boil.

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
7 lbs	Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM)	Grain	78.7 %
9.3 oz	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)	Grain	6.6 %
9.3 oz	Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)	Grain	6.6 %
4.7 oz	Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)	Grain	3.3 %
4.7 oz	Victory Malt (25.0 SRM)	Grain	3.3 %
2.3 oz	Chocolate Malt (Pale) (200.0 SRM)	Grain	1.6 %
0.60 oz	Centennial [10.00%] (10 min)	Hops	10.5 IBU
0.60 oz	Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (10 min)	Hops	8.9 IBU
0.30 oz	Centennial [10.00%] (20 min)	Hops	8.7 IBU
0.30 oz	Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (20 min)	Hops	7.4 IBU
0.60 oz	Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (0 min)	Hops	-
0.60 oz	Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (Dry Hop 7 days)	Hops	-
0.60 oz	Centennial [10.00%] (0 min)	Hops	-
0.60 oz	Centennial [10.00%] (Dry Hop 7 days)	Hops	-
1 Pkgs	American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)	Yeast-Ale

Single infusion mash at 154F (68C) using a ratio of 1.3 quarts water to 1 pound of grain. While you could go with a shorter boil, the 90 minute boil enhances the blood-red color. It also adds a touch more melanoidin and caramel notes. Cool the wort quickly after the last hop addition to retain as much hop aroma as possible. Optionally, dry hop with more Centennial or Amarillo if you’re a real hop monster. Carbonate to no more than 2 volumes and serve at 45 to 55 F (7.2 to 12.8 C).

Steps and How it Went Down

01. Filled the mash-tun with hot water to heat it up.
02. Boiled 13L of water to 79C(174F).
03. Drained the mash-tun of hot water.
04. Added grains and 10.68L of water, mixed it all up to get rid of any clumps of grains. (1.2L per pound of grain)
05. Made sure the temperature was at 68C(154F), closed and let sit for 60min.
06. Boiled 13L of water for sparge.
07. After 60 minutes, drained 2L of the wort out and poured it back gently on top(vorlauf).
08. Drained the mash-tun into boil kettle. Got 6L out of this.
09. Added sparge water. Let sit for 10min.
10. Vorlauf and drain mash-tun in kettle. Ended up with a bit more than 17L, not sure why..
11. Checked pre-boil gravity and got 1.047.
12. Brought to boil.
13. Added Amarillo and Centennial hops at 20min.
14. Added Amarillo and Centennial hops at 10min.15. Added Irish Moss and yeast nutrient at 10min.
16. Added Amarillo and Centennial hops at 0min.
17. Cooled down in sink of cold water to 15.6C(60F), took gravity and got 1.058(well under..), Brix was 15.
18. Pitched #1056 yeast. Closed and let sit for 3 weeks.

Additional Notes

-Ended up way down on my Final Gravity. Not too sure what the hell happened there. I'm thinking maybe I wasn't patient enough with the first running of the mash out and perhaps there was still some wort to be drained... So, by adding 11L to the sparge to get to 17L, I overshot and ended up with too much water in my wort... When I got over the 17L marker on my brew kettle, there was still some sparge worth coming out of the mash-tun, not a whole lot and not at a heavy pace but, maybe half a liter?

UPDATE
01/24/2011

Added 0.60oz of Centennial hops to the secondary for dry hopping on 01/12/2011. Turns out it's kind of a pain in the ass to put hops into a carboy...and to take em out later. Perhaps keep using pellets in the future? Then, bottled on the 24th.