Redback APA

About This Beer

The Redback APA was an attempt to recreate the red ale character of an earlier batch (RAPA) using a different approach to colour. Where the original red APA relied on Gladfield Shepherd’s Delight for its warm amber-red hue, this version substituted Gladfield Redback Malt as the primary colour contributor, with Gladfield Supernova Malt providing caramel depth. The Mosaic and Nelson Sauvin hop pairing was kept from the earlier recipe, targeting tropical and white-wine fruit expression over a clean American ale base.

The goal was a moderately hopped, colour-forward pale ale sitting around 4.8% ABV, with enough malt character from the specialty malts to balance the hop additions without obscuring them.

Ingredients

The base is Gladfield American Ale Malt, chosen for its cleaner, less toasty flavour compared to the standard Gladfield Ale Malt. That cleaner base was important here to let the specialty malts and hops do the work without interference. Supernova Malt at 25% contributes toasted caramel and nutty character without the residual sweetness of crystal malt. Redback Malt at 10% was the central experiment: a Gladfield specialty roasted at lower temperatures to produce a bright red wort colour with dried fruit and toasted malt notes, while retaining reasonable extract and body contribution.

The hop pair of Mosaic and Nelson Sauvin is an interesting combination. Mosaic brings layered tropical fruit, blueberry, and earthy depth; Nelson Sauvin adds the distinctive white wine and gooseberry character that few other hops can replicate. Both were used as bittering additions at 75 and 30 minutes, with a 3-day dry hop at equal weights for aroma and late character.

Two packets of US-05 were used for a clean fermentation platform that would not interfere with either the malt or hop character.

Brew Day

Brewed on the BrewZilla 35L Gen 4. Mash in at 67°C with 16.5 L of water, sparged with 16 L at 76°C. Pre-boil volume came in at 28.0 L. The 75-minute boil reduced to 27.5 L post-boil, with 27.0 L transferred to the fermenter. OG hit the target of 1.055 exactly. The batch notes record a 15-minute hold at 80°C before cooling, the standard whirlpool rest on this system at the time.

Fermentation

Standard Safale US-05 fermentation path, targeting bottle conditioning. The batch was packaged on 2023-05-19, 14 days after brew day. No gravity readings during fermentation were recorded for this batch, so a final gravity wasn’t logged. Carbonation target was 2.3 volumes CO2.

The Result

The tasting was recorded on the same day as packaging, so these are very early impressions before carbonation was fully established.

The beer fell short of what the earlier red APA had delivered. The Redback Malt produced the expected red colour visually, but the dried fruit and toasted character it contributed didn’t match the warmth and complexity that Shepherd’s Delight had brought to the earlier recipe. The overall beer read as less compelling, and with the higher final volume slightly diluting the OG, ABV came in a touch lower than intended.

The Mosaic and Nelson Sauvin pairing performed as expected in terms of aroma character, but the malt base didn’t give them the same foundation to work from.

What’s Next

The lesson recorded from this batch is clear: Redback Malt is a capable red colour contributor but is not a like-for-like swap for Shepherd’s Delight in this style. Any future red APA iteration would return to Shepherd’s Delight or explore a blend of the two. The hop pairing and base malt structure are worth keeping.