kkimmes

Recipes 

I am a newbie to All-grain brewing. I did my 4th batch the other day. I do not have an immersion chiller yet and I am still relying on the ice water in our laundry room sink for cooling the wort. I also just began learning the importance of using a yeast starter.

Long story short, I made a wee heavy about 8 weeks ago. The OG was 1.086. I was very happy about my OG given my rookie status with All-Grain.

Unfortunately, it took about 45 minutes to cool my wort and I only pitched on back of Wyeast into the wort. The LHBS was out of Scotch Ale Wyeast and they recommended I use the ESB Wyeast as they felt it was nearly the same.

I kegged the brew last week and it has very strong solvent notes and is almost undrinkable.

Do I leave it kegged for another 5 months and hope for the best or do I scrap this batch?

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On Tap : Dead Read APA
In Primary: Blue Moon Clone, Moose Knuckle Brown Ale
On Deck: Wee Heavy

keesh

Recipes 

Well 2 months is pretty young, so I'd let it mature. The solvent-y properties will probably go away with time. For next time, you need a starter for a wort that big!

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Primary - 1 Gal JAOM, Belgian IPA, Pumpkin ale
Secondary - 5-way split Breakfast Imperial Stout, 2 Gal Traditional mead
Bottled - Kolsch, Pliny the Younger clone, Centennial Blonde, Alpine's Nelson clone, Apfelwein, QuicknDirty Cider
On deck - EdWort's Haus Pale

Irrenarzt

Recipes 

Sit on it. Time may resolve it somewhat.

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In Queue: Sour Blonde, Kriek, DIPA, Wee Heavy, Dubbel, Double Nelson, Milk Stout

Fermenting/Crashing: Session Porter, BDG, Cream Ale, Cider, Munich Helles, Baltic Porter, Wheat Wine, Sour Quad, Apricot pLambic

Kegged/Bottled: Flanders Red, Hopped-Up Saison, Brett Saison, Bourbon Barrel Milk Stout, Bourbon Barrel-Aged on Montmorencies Quad, Tripel, Raspberry Melomel, Rye Barleywine

kkimmes

Recipes 

Lessoned learned, I have a stirplate mixing my starter as I type this.

__________________
On Tap : Dead Read APA
In Primary: Blue Moon Clone, Moose Knuckle Brown Ale
On Deck: Wee Heavy

Gameface

Recipes 

I make a lot of ESBs (pretty much 10g a month for the last few years). I just made my first Scottish Ale. Mine was an 80 shilling with an O.G. of 1.045 and I used the Wyeast Scottish Ale yeast.

Anyway, my point. I don't have it kegged and carbed yet but from the sample I can say that the Scottish Ale yeast made a big difference. The ingredients are very similar between it and the ESBs I make, but the Scottish has a slightly smokey aroma (I didn't use any smoked malt) that is NOT present in my ESBs. It's my understanding that this smokey character is the signature of a Scottish Ale and I don't think you'll get it from an ESB yeast.

keesh

Recipes 

Good, make sure to aerate as much as possible as well (the only way to over-aerate is if you're using pure O2) and to regulate your fermentation temps. The latter is just as, if not more, important than pitching rates IMO.

__________________
Primary - 1 Gal JAOM, Belgian IPA, Pumpkin ale
Secondary - 5-way split Breakfast Imperial Stout, 2 Gal Traditional mead
Bottled - Kolsch, Pliny the Younger clone, Centennial Blonde, Alpine's Nelson clone, Apfelwein, QuicknDirty Cider
On deck - EdWort's Haus Pale

kkimmes

Recipes 

I stir the heck out of my cooled wort using a sterlized whisk. I usually get a good response on the CO2 activity in the fermenter. My other all-grains have turned out really well, this is my first failure.
Also, I have a very nice cool basement and a temp gauge on my fermenter. I hold a very solid 66 F during fermenting.

__________________
On Tap : Dead Read APA
In Primary: Blue Moon Clone, Moose Knuckle Brown Ale
On Deck: Wee Heavy

kkimmes

Recipes 

Another note, my LHBS insisted that there would be no taste difference between the scotch ale yeast versus the ESB yeast. I trusted him, but question if I should have.

__________________
On Tap : Dead Read APA
In Primary: Blue Moon Clone, Moose Knuckle Brown Ale
On Deck: Wee Heavy

Slipgate

Recipes 

Scotch Ale yeast is tough. The only batch I ever gave away in its entirety was a Scotch Ale. Too bad you can't distill it.

PapsD

Recipes 

I'd say just wait. The flavor will improve in a few months.

I've brewed a few high gravity brews one had an OG of 1.086 and had a solvent/boozy flavor for 6 months. But was kegged after 2 months. and the other had an OG of 1.1 and had a distinct solvent/boozy flavor for about the first 4 months but was legged after a 1 month primary and 3 months in secondary @ fermentation temperatures. Both were made with US-05. But I pitched onto yeast cakes from a previous batch.