Obtaining a 'ruby' coloured ale

[CrownCap]

Morning all,

I'm probably going to crack out a new brew this Sunday, a bitter something along these lines...

23L
Pale Malt .. 4.5kg (90%)
Crystal Malt .. 250g (5%)
Torrefied Wheat .. 200g (4%)
Chocolate Malt .. 50g (1%)
First Gold hops to about 30 IBUs

I'd like to get a slightly red/ruby like colour in the beer, hence the chocolate malt.

I know its a bit subjective, but is 1% chocolate malt about right to achieve that

Your thoughts and comments would be gratefully appreciated...

[J_P]

I recently enjoyed a bottle of Wez's "Big Kenny" which has a similar (1.5%) proportion of dark roasted grain in it and that had a nice ruby red glow to it.

Edit: You can find the full recipe on his blog

[Dan]

I made a ESB a while back using a massive 20% crystal.
the colour is a wonderfully dark garnet/ruby red

unfortuately the crystal flavour is a bit over powering!

the last few brews i made using chocolate malt 1-2% didnt have a huge impact on the beer colour.

[CrownCap]

Cheers Guys, looks like perhaps 2-3% chocolate might be what I'll try then. Don't really want to overload it with crystal too much just in the pursuit of colour.