Wee Heavy Strong Scotch Ale

[hopdropper]

so here's the deal....six weeks in the bottle at 75 degrees and still VERY minimal carbonation. i've never had an issue with carbing until now. this hog weighed in heavy at 1.085 and finished at 1.016 (permo....spot-on call a few posts back), for an ABV of 9.1%. do you think i just need to give 'er another few weeks? or did i jack something up? not sure how to salvage this beer since it's already bottled. a real shame cause it's malty as hell and delicious...just flat as a pancake. ideas?

 

[nbrack]

Wow this is an excellent recipe. I brewed this up a couple months ago and am now tasting it. I had to substitute galena for the chinook and I use scottish ale yeast... but this is one of my best beers yet. Fermented at 58. Thanks for sharing this recipe I will be getting another batch started ASAP!

 

[permo]

so here's the deal....six weeks in the bottle at 75 degrees and still VERY minimal carbonation. i've never had an issue with carbing until now. this hog weighed in heavy at 1.085 and finished at 1.016 (permo....spot-on call a few posts back), for an ABV of 9.1%. do you think i just need to give 'er another few weeks? or did i jack something up? not sure how to salvage this beer since it's already bottled. a real shame cause it's malty as hell and delicious...just flat as a pancake. ideas?

Give it time and keep it at around 70 degrees. You can also swirl the bottles to get the yeast up into suspension. I am jealous of your beer....its going to be so good.

 

[mike_in_winchester]

Brewed this up at the end of March. I changed the hops to 1.5 oz of East Kent at 60 minutes to stay near the bottom of the suggested IBU scale and used Notty. It finished at. 1.016.


thanks for posting, this is turning out to be a good one.

 

[edavelm]

You can un cap the beer and get some corn sugar tablets. Put 2 in each bottle& give it another week or two. That should fix the under carbonation issue.

 

[ayupbrewing]

No peat smoked malt, or similar, in this one?

 

[JeffD1]

This looks like a great beer, I'm looking forward to making it. One question, I just plugged everything into beersmith and it calculated the estimated SG at 1.092. Did anyone else experience this? I double checked the amounts and it seems I inputted everything correctly. Should I scale it down to 1.074?

 

[permo]

You may have your default efficiency set higher. I would dial back the base grain to adjust.

 

[JeffD1]

Ok great thanks!

I also posted this question in the beginners forum, but I'm having trouble with water volume. Beersmith told me to sparge with .21 gal because that is all I could afford and still keep it to 5 gal. Decreasing the amount of grain to bring the OG down will help a little but it won't completely solve the problem. How do you brew a 5 gal. batch with 14+ lbs of grain?

 

[permo]

Adjust to 1.25 quarts per pound of mash water. That should do the trick

 

[JeffD1]

Yep! That was surprisingly simple. Thanks a lot!

 

[brc]

Can you provide brewing instructions ? Thanks !

QUOTE=permo;1766940]14.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 81.16 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 5.80 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 5.80 %
1.00 lb Special Roast (50.0 SRM) Grain 5.80 %
0.15 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 0.87 %
0.10 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 0.58 %
0.50 oz Chinook [11.80 %] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 15.2 IBU
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (30 min) Hops 11.7 IBU


Can you provide the step by step brewing instructions? Thanks!

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.074 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.074 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.018 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.019 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.39 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 7.19 %
Bitterness: 27.0 IBU Calories: 338 cal/pint
Est Color: 17.8 SRM Color:

mashed for 45 minutes at 149 and decocted 45 minutes at 157



I just racked this hog to secondary, I filled my 5 gallon carboy up to the brim....I had about 16 oz left over so I filled a glass....this was SOOO good. Mildly sweet, not bitter at all, toffee, roasted nuts, coffee and a light bit of smokiness from the chocolate malt......this is going to a one good beer. I think the marris otter and the caramel malt are the key players here. Marris otter makes a huge difference over standard two row

When a beer is delicious and perfectly enjoyable after primary with no carbonation..you know you are in for something good.[/QUOTE]

 

[brc]

Meant to hit reply...I a m brewing this on Saturday, step by step instructions would be great!

 

[thadius856]

Had all sorts of problems with this one on brew day. Namely, I went pure retard. The recipe was fine.

My notes from BeerSmith:

Came out of the mash tun with 13.9 gallons when I expected 13.2-13.3 gallons . Unsure how that happened.

Windy during the boil and I had the extra liquid, so I had to boil longer. Should have waited until the usual 13.3 gallon mark before starting the boil timer, but didn't realize it until I'd already tossed in hops. Boil took closer to 120 min because of the slow boiloff rate from the wind blowing the flame around. Didn't want to lose all of my flavoring hops and have only bittering, so added an additional set of Nugget (the only jar I could reach in the freezer without hurting myself) at 30 mins.

Before:
- Boil 90 min
- 0.84 oz Chinook @ 60 min
- 0.84 oz Chinook @ 30 min
- 27.0 IBU

After:
- Boil 120 min
- 0.84 oz Chinook @ 90 min
- 0.84 oz Chinook @ 60 min
- 0.84 oz Nugget @ 30 min
- 47.3 IBU

Fermenting with Notty at 60-63F.

 

[MorrisBrewingCo]

Identical to the OP recipe. Here is what I'll be giving a try in January:

14.00 lb Maris Otter (81.16 %)
1.00 lb Crystal 60L (5.80 %)
1.00 lb Munich Malt 10L (5.80 %)
1.00 lb Special Roast (5.80 %)
0.15 lb Roasted Barley (0.87 %)
0.10 lb Chocolate Malt (0.58 %)

5.75 gal Strike Water at 160.5F
Mash at 149F for 45 min
Remove 16 qt for grist from Mash Tun in to Boiling Pot
Bring 16 qt grist to boil
Add boiled grist to Mash Tun until Mash Tun Temperature reaches 157F
Mash at 157F for 45 min
Heat 4.2 gal Sparge Water to 170F
Fly Sparge for 7.6 gal Pre Boil Wort

*Note, My water quantity has been adjusted because I lose 0.625 gal in my mash tun and 1.0625 gal in my Boil Pot.

0.50 oz Chinook [13 % AA] (First Wort Hop)
0.50 oz Chinook [13 % AA] (30 min)

Yeast Starter:
Wort - Boil 3 oz. of DME in 1 Liter of water for 15 minutes
Add 2 Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale to chilled wort
Stir Plate for 18 hours

Ferment for 5 weeks at 62 then cold crash for 2 days and then in to the Keg.

I will be using a starter and to calculate the necessary yeast cells brewer's friend gave me an OG of 1.087 for this recipe although OP has it much lower?

 

[cherbhy]

I brewed this beer to ring in the New Year on December 31st. Racked to secondary about 13 days later. Tasted delicious!

The fridge that holds the secondary fermenter can only go up to 45 degrees. Will this affect the beer? It's been at 45 for maybe two weeks.

 

[permo]

The fridge that holds the secondary fermenter can only go up to 45 degrees. Will this affect the beer? It's been at 45 for maybe two weeks.

Your beer will be excellent. Heck, I would hold it even colder if I had a fridge to cold store my beer for aging.

 

[jrodder]

Sipping on this one now. I didn't do a decoction, but sure as heck will next time. Also, I used London Ale 1028. (I love that yeast) Fermented wort at 62 degrees (probe on fermentor)

It's a fine recipe. Nice malty taste, but would be better with a decoction and maybe some honey malt or something.

 

[cpesko]

Made a 5 gallon batch turned out to be like 4 gallons og 1.80. I used one pack Nottingham and one pack sa-05.

 

[twistyboy]

when i enter decoction simple in beer smith that is the mash steps:

Protein Rest Add 34.50 qt of water at 126.6 F 122.0 F 35 min
Saccharification Decoct 14.18 qt of mash and boil it 154.0 F 45 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F 10 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 1.25 gal water at 168.0 F


should i follow that or the recipe of the brewer?

sorry im a newbie...

thank

 

[jshake]

brewed a double batch of this 3 weeks ago and knocked it down to 11 gal and ended up with a og of 1.082 split it into to buckets for fermenting. did on with notty and one with Scottish ale wyeast. both finished out at 1.020 for a 8.1 abv. kegged the notty one up after 2 weeks and man is it good. just kegged tho other one up last night can't wait to compare the 2 side by side.

 

[te-wa]

Brewed this one last night in hopes of aging it until September.
Mashed at 156 and fly sparged at 169 - 70 min boil for 5.2 gallons.
I'm fermenting cool at 60F since I used Irish ale yeast and want to keep diacetyl to a minimum. Got this yeast by accident so hoping it doesn't throw the style off. Imma secondary for about 70 days. *note: I boiled 2 liters of wort down to a slightly syrupy body and added at flameout. Now... Trying to be patient!

 

[PerryS]

Sorry for reviving this zombie again, but... it's for the beer.

This is an amazingly good recipe. After reading the thread and reading that the OP's contest entry was disqualified for using PNW hops, I substituted 1.5 oz Kent Goldings (60m) and 1.5 oz Fuggles (30m) to satisfy the Beer Judge Compliance Police. This is Scottish Ale, true to style.

I just opened one, bottled ten months ago. Wow. Hints of cherry along with chocolate and roasted coffee. Malt balanced by noble hops and a subtle ethanol finish. A prost to permo, if he's still around. :rockin:

Also in true Scottish tradition (my last name is Scott, after all), I used Danstar Nottingham, which is quite economical. Damn fine recipe. I'll be making it again. Soon.

 

[SFBuff]

@jshake. How did this comparison turn out? Thinking of doing this recipe and would love an opinion on the yeast.

 

[jshake]

The notty yeast finished dryer and the Scottish yeast made it maltier. It was a great beer both ways

 

[perfecxion]

ive got this beer about ready to move to secondary but im thinking about doing an experiment where ill split it up into 3 or 4 1 gallon just and ill oak each one with chips that were soaked in different types of whisky, has anyone seen something like this done before? ive never use oak chips/cubes before.

 

[Adirondack47]

Has anyone oaked their batch? Id like to hear how long you had them on oak for and how it turned out.

I'm thinking that a couple of ounces of bourbon soaked oak cubes for a week or two post fermentation would make what looks like an amazing recipe even amazing-er.

 

[dchmela]

Reviving this one for 2015! Lots of good info in here, going to make a variation on SB Sunday. After much research, going with this for recipe:

6 gallons

15lbs Marris Otter 90%
1lb Crystal 60 6%
5oz Roasted Barley
3oz Peated Malt

2oz Goldings @ 60
1oz Goldings @ 20

WLP028 Edinburgh Ale Yeast

Mash @ 154
Ferment @ 64

Once it's done fermenting, looking to put some Bourbon soaked oak chips in until it's right and then kegging.

I was wondering, has anyone done a decoction versus a straight batch sparge and what the difference in taste was? Thanks for any info.

 

[jdanderson1449]

I bottled this around two weeks ago. It's starting to get really good. In fact, it's so good that I'm going to make only two slight adjustments to help balance a little bit of the malty sweetness (which I know is appropriate but I want a tiny bit more hops) and make it a little bit more drinkable. I've changed hops variety to meet style guidelines already.

I'm going to increase overall IBU to about twenty-five and enter it in local competition. I think it's that good.

Fermented with Nottingham because is there anything that yeast can't do?

 

[tlucarelli]

I'm going to brew this up in a couple weeks. Was thinking about using Willamette since I have them on hand. Since that is a US hop, does it fall out of the style guidelines? I know it's roots trace back to Fuggles or Goldings so I still feel it's appropriate.

 

[cherbhy]

Reviving this one for 2015! Lots of good info in here, going to make a variation on SB Sunday. After much research, going with this for recipe:

6 gallons

15lbs Marris Otter 90%
1lb Crystal 60 6%
5oz Roasted Barley
3oz Peated Malt

2oz Goldings @ 60
1oz Goldings @ 20

WLP028 Edinburgh Ale Yeast

Mash @ 154
Ferment @ 64

Once it's done fermenting, looking to put some Bourbon soaked oak chips in until it's right and then kegging.

I was wondering, has anyone done a decoction versus a straight batch sparge and what the difference in taste was? Thanks for any info.

Good luck with your brew on Sunday! This is an excellent recipe. When I brewed this last year, I did a decoction mash, and the results were very good. Brewers will argue that adding some melanoiden malt will produce a similar effect, and there have been blind tastings where people have been unable to distinguish decoction brews vs. those with melanoiden malt, but, alas, I'm a believer. IMO decoction adds a certain je ne sais quoi that is not easily replicated. Also worth noting: the step mash that decoction allows will create a different flavor profile/body than a single infusion (you're probably already aware of this).

As to your recipe, I used wlp028 when I brewed permo's recipe and the results were great. That strain really accentuates the malt character nicely, and I can see the flavor contributions melding well with bourbon chips. The yeast is a great choice. I would advise, however, to reconsider the peated malt. Peated malts can introduce some really unpleasant & harsh phenolics. Other wood smoked malts tend to have more mellow characteristics (i.e. cherrywood smoked malt), and bare in mind that the bourbon chips will contribute some wood flavor in and of themselves. You may want to consider some biscuit or special malt to round out the crystal and dark roasted malts, and some munich to increase melanoidens, aid in head retention, and contribute to 'maltiness.' Special roast in particular adds a toastiness in this brew that I find desirable and is unachievable with only the dry/bittersweet coffee flavor of roasted barley.

In any case, I hope this helps, and happy brewing!

I'm going to brew this up in a couple weeks. Was thinking about using Willamette since I have them on hand. Since that is a US hop, does it fall out of the style guidelines? I know it's roots trace back to Fuggles or Goldings so I still feel it's appropriate.

Willamette is a classic choice for this style.

 

[bd2xu]

I just made northern Brewers all grain wee heavy and did a suggestion from BYO... I collected a gallon of the first runnings and boiled it down to a syrup, and added back to boil. Going to age this batch on medium French oak spiral for awhile and then bottle and age. Think it will be best after several months. Recipe is

15.5 lbs. British Golden Promise
0.5 lbs English Medium Crystal
0.375 lbs Belgian Biscuit
0.125 lbs RoastedBarley

1oz northern brewer at 60
Wyeast 1728

 

[jdanderson1449]

I just sent this beer with a couple of slight modifications to a local competition. I really don't care how it does, I want judges notes to see what they have to say and to see if my thoughts on other modifications are on the right track.

That being said, I've got the malt to do this again, hopefully on Wednesday with an extra hop addition. I like the beer just fine but I'd like to add just the tiniest bit of hops to balance out a little more of the sweetness.

 

[OkanaganMike]

I'm excited to try this recipe but being new, I have a question on the "special roasted grain" in the original recipe. Is this roasted barley and can I do this on the oven? Temp/time? Any clarification/help will be appreciated

 

[tlucarelli]

I'm excited to try this recipe but being new, I have a question on the "special roasted grain" in the original recipe. Is this roasted barley and can I do this on the oven? Temp/time? Any clarification/help will be appreciated

You can get special roast at your LHBS. No need to mess with roasting yourself.

 

[OkanaganMike]

You can get special roast at your LHBS. No need to mess with roasting yourself.

Thats the problem, I've checked the website and nothing there. Figured I may be able to roast myself. Thinking 15 mins or so @ 300C. Opinions?

 

[tlucarelli]

Thats the problem, I've checked the website and nothing there. Figured I may be able to roast myself. Thinking 15 mins or so @ 300C. Opinions?

Here's a couple links...I wouldn't be able to help with roasting yourself as I have no experience there. I've read a couple books with some details, so if you wanted to roast I'm sure you could look online.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/briess-special-roast-malt.html
http://www.morebeer.com/products/briess-special-roast-malt.html

 

[OkanaganMike]

Thanks tlucarelli. I did a search on it myself and found some methods that look interesting. Key factor is letting them rest 2weeks or so before use to let some of the roasting aromas dissipate before use.
Cheers

 

[permo]

I have roasted my own all the way up to chocolate malt and I would sure encourage you to try it if you wish. Please be sure to give the malt a week or two after roasting to "settle down" as I call it. It is really bitter the first few weeks.

This recipe is really, really solid....especially from a grain bill perspective.

 

[OkanaganMike]

I'm back from out of town and back to my computer for more learn'n. I've read all 16 pages (again) and the decoction bit kinda scares me since I'm pretty green into all of this and have only done 4x 5gal BIABs. I think I understand how important the decoction method is to this recipe and it does seem fairly simple (for a std 3 pot A.G. system) but wonder if anyone has done this via BIAB?

I've only got a single LP burner and a 15gal keggle but I do have the alum turkey fryer pot that came with the burner so I figure I might be able to pull this off.
Whaddyathink? Will I be able to pull the grain out of the bag or should I mash it for 45mins, then remove the lot of grains into the turkey fryer with a bit of liquid for the decoction? Doing this with aluminum worries me also since it is a thin bottom and worried about scorching.

Sheesh, lots to work with here eh?