Homebrew #2: Red Ale

*I am new to this blogging thing and am trying to figure out the best way to record all this information in an interesting and concise way. So, I'm going to try out different formats and things to see what works best*

I really love red ales. It started with Sam Adams Irish Red and evolved from there into a infatuation of searching for new and interesting reds to try. For this second homebrew I really wanted to make something along the lines of my favorite reds (Pursuit of Hoppiness, Hop Head Red, Jamaican Red), which tend to be a little hoppier then traditional dry, Irish reds. That being said, I still decided to go to Hop To It! and use one of their recipes, since I am still learning and don't feel ready to make my own recipes yet (but I did use about 1/2 lb more malt, since that is supposed to help increase ABV). So I spent another ~$40 and came out with ingridients for what was described to me as, more or less, a traditional Irish red.

Ingredients:
-6.5 lbs Light liquid malt extract (I used 7 lbs)

-Specialty Grains
        -6 oz CaraRed Malt
        -6 oz Medium Crystal 
        -4 oz Extra Dark Crystal Malt
        -2 oz Roasted Barley

-2 oz U.S. Kent Goldings hops

-Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale

Again, I followed the procedure fairly closely, but I tweaked the water volumes because the closer to 5 gallons your boil is, the better it will turn out (from what I've been reading online and in recipe books). Also, I only started  with 1.5 gallons on the Homebrew #1 (Foreign Extra Stout) and it was not enough water to cover the whole steeping bag, so I wanted to make sure I had at least enough to submerge the specialty grains.

Procedure:
-Heat 3.5 gallons to 160 degrees
-At 160 degrees, remove from heat and steep specialty grains

We tied the steeping bag to the spoon with fishing line so the bag wasn't
 sitting on the bottom of the pot. I'm not sure how necessary this is, but I didn't
want the speciality grains to be burning against the bottom of the hot pot

-After 30 minutes, remove speciality grains and let drip dry
-Add extract

-Once extract is dissolved, bring volume to about 4.5 gallons
-Return to heat and bring to boil
-Add 1 1/2 oz U.S. Kent Golding hops and boil for 50 minutes
-Add 1 1/2 oz U.S Kent Golding hops and boil for 10 minutes
     *five minutes into the boil, I added the SuperMoss

Total Boil Time = 60 minutes

Post Boil:
-Cool wort down below 80 degrees

Wort being chilled via wort chiller

-Aerate
-Take gravity reading

The glass instrument sticking out of the top is the
hydrometer, which is used to measure gravity. We  were right on
the money with the target starting gravity of 1.051

-Pitch yeast (Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale)

Quick Notes:
Brew Date: 10/20/2011
Starting Gravity: 1.051 (which was what the recipe set the target at)
Target Final Gravity: 1.013
Target ABV: 5% (but I'm hoping a little higher since I used a bit more extract)

And that is it. I don't feel like I need to add every little detail of brewing since each post would be more or less the same, but if their are questions or confusions, just post comments and next time I will address them.

Oh! And I wanted to point out a near disaster Chris and I had. We use a propane burner while brewing since our electric range isn't strong enough, and I assumed 1 tank could do 2 brews, but boy was I wrong. When trying to bring the wort to a boil (at 4.5 gallons), it plateaued at 199-201 degrees for about an hour and half and showed no signs of going up. I thought it was the burner messing up, but Chris was smart enough to realize that we didn't have enough propane. So I ran out to a gas station I knew sold propane at 11pm and bought a tank right before they closed. Had I not been able to get more propane, this whole batch would have been a throwaway. (I'm not sure what effect a super long and slow rise to boil has on beer. Hopefully nothing negative!) Lesson Learned: Make sure your propane tank is full, and maybe even have an extra one on hand!