Alesmith Brewing Co.’s Evil Dead Red clone

Alesmith Brewing Co.’s Evil Dead Red clone

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.069   FG = 1.018
IBU = 10   SRM = 18   ABV = 6.66%

Evil Dead Red was one of the most innovative beers to come out of California in the early 2000s. It utilizes a hop burst technique to provide tons of aromatics thanks to ample American hops added late in the boil without a true bittering hop charge. This beer remains AleSmith Brewing Co.’s annual Halloween beer.

Ingredients
12 lbs. (5.5 kg) 2-row pale malt
1.6 lbs. (0.7 kg) Munich malt (10 °L)
12 oz. (350 g) English light crystal malt (45 °L)
9.7 oz. (275 g) English crystal malt (77 °L)
3.5 oz. (100 g) English extra dark crystal malt (120 °L)
1.8 oz. (50 g) roasted barley (550 °L)
0.9 AAU Chinook hops (60 min.) (0.075 oz./2 g at 12% alpha acids)
4 AAU Chinook (10 min.) (0.25 oz./7 g at 12% alpha acids)
3.5 AAU Columbus hops (10 min.) (0.25 oz./7 g at 14% alpha acids)
2.5 oz. (71 g) Cascade hops (hopstand)
1 oz. (28 g) Chinook hops (hopstand)
1 oz. (28 g) Columbus hops (hopstand)
1.5 oz. (43 g) Cascade hops (dry hop)
1 oz. (28 g) Chinook hops (dry hop)
1 oz. (28 g) Columbus hops (dry hop)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Safale US-05 yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step
Mill the grains and mix with 5 gallons (19 L) of strike water at 168 °F (76 °C) to reach a mash temperature of 156 °F (69 °C). Hold this temperature for 45 minutes. Vorlauf until your runnings are clear. Sparge with enough water to obtain 7 gallons (25 L) of wort. Add a pinch of hops near the beginning of the boil, mainly for foam control. Total boil time is 60 minutes. Add hops as indicated. After the boil, chill wort to 175 °F (80 °C) then begin a whirlpool of the wort and add the hopstand hops. Let settle for 30 minutes, then chill the wort to 66 °F (19 °C). The aim is to have 5.25 gallons (20 L) of wort in your fermenter. Aerate with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch yeast.

Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) for 7 days. Chill to 60 °F (16 °C) and wait 7 days. You can then cold-crash the beer prior to packaging to 35 °F (2 °C) for 48 hours to improve clarity. Carbonate to ~2.5 volumes.

Alesmith Brewing Co.’s Evil Dead Red clone

(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.069   FG = 1.018
IBU = 10   SRM = 18   ABV = 6.66%

Ingredients
6.2 lbs. (2.8 kg) extra light dried malt extract
1 lb. (0.45 kg) Munich dried malt extract
12 oz. (350 g) English light crystal malt (45 °L)
9.7 oz. (275 g) English crystal malt (77 °L)
3.5 oz. (100 g) English extra dark crystal malt (120 °L)
1.8 oz. (50 g) roasted barley (550 °L)
0.9 AAU Chinook hops (60 min.) (0.075 oz./2 g at 12% alpha acids)
4 AAU Chinook (10 min.) (0.25 oz./7 g at 12% alpha acids)
3.5 AAU Columbus hops (10 min.) (0.25 oz./7 g at 14% alpha acids)
2.5 oz. (71 g) Cascade hops (hopstand)
1 oz. (28 g) Chinook hops (hopstand)
1 oz. (28 g) Columbus hops (hopstand)
1.5 oz. (43 g) Cascade hops (dry hop)
1 oz. (28 g) Chinook hops (dry hop)
1 oz. (28 g) Columbus hops (dry hop)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Safale US-05 yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step
Heat 5 gallons (19 L) of water to 158 °F (70 °C) and remove from heat. Place the crushed grains in a grain bag and soak in the water for 30 minutes. Remove grain bag, allowing liquid to drip back into the pot. Stir in all the dried malt extract and bring to a boil. Follow the remainder of the all-grain recipe.

Backstory
In my conversation with Peter Zien, the CEO/Owner of AleSmith, he mentioned that the recipe was actually the brainchild of Tod Fitzsimmons who has worked at AleSmith for 22 of the 23 years in which AleSmith has been in operation. Back then, Tod was the president of QUAFF homebrew club and Peter was the vice-president of the club. Tod created a beer he dubbed I Thee Wed Red for his wedding celebration back in 1997. Demand for the beer went through the roof after its release. Evil Dead Red is a blood-red beer and according to Peter, “The ABV must be 6.66%!”