#28: Chirp! Red Ale

It's football time! My (and David Letterman's) beloved Fighting Football Fighting Cardinals, they of the perfect regular season and BCS run two years ago, and the disastrous fall from grace (and embarrassing 2-10 record) last year (after darn near everyone of importance graduated, got injured, bolted for the NFL, or bolted for bigger conferences in the case of the coaching staff) are ready to take the field on Thursday. Thus, I'm about a week or two behind on my tailgate beer. I'll be making my appearance at the 'Scheu in mid September, so this beer may be a touch young, but I think it'll be OK.

Why Chirp!? Of course because the 3rd down defensive stand chant of the Nest is the intimidating Chirp!

What better to make to drink when celebrating the red and black? Why... a red ale, of course... Note that this is loosely based on a Killian's clone recipe I found, so it's not a traditional Irish red but closer to the thinner Americanized version. A partial mash with the corn and grains, but otherwise pretty standard.

This'll be bottled exclusively into plastic 16oz bottles. Gotta observe the proper tailgate rules... 

Chrip! Red Ale
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Style: Generic Ale
Batch: 2.40 galExtract

Characteristics
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Recipe Gravity: 1.056 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 20 IBU
Recipe Color: 17° SRM
Estimated FG: 1.014
Alcohol by Volume: 5.6 %
Alcohol by Weight: 4.5 %

Ingredients
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Briess DME - Golden Light 0.50 lb, Extract, Extract
Briess LME - Pilsen Light 3.30 lb, Extract, Extract
CaraMunich 0.50 lb, Grain, Mashed
Crystal 120L 0.50 lb, Grain, Mashed
Flaked Corn 0.50 lb, Adjunct, Mashed

Kent Goldings (U.K.) 0.50 oz, Pellet, 60 minutes
Kent Goldings (U.K.) 0.25 oz, Pellet, 15 minutes

s-04 dry yeast 1.00 unit, Other,
Whirfloc 0.50 unit, Fining, 15 min

NOTE:  This beer ended up being a very tasty unintentional sour.  Not sure what happened, but I got the right kind of bugs into it.  Wish I could recreate it....