My Scottish Ale

Bromley · 03-30-2007, 02:02 PM

I bottled a scottish ale that had been in primary for two and a half weeks and secondary for 2 weeks.

I'm wondering if fermentation stalled out in the secondary or something.
My OG was 1.073. At transfer to secondary it was 1.024. It seemed to be continuing to ferment in the secondary with airlock bubbles every 1/2 to 1 1/2 minutes and visible tiny bubbles rising to the neck of the carbouy. However, it only got down to 1.022 before it seemed to be done. At bottling it tasted a little on the sweet side, but I assume this is to be expected when you are starting at a higher gravity.

I don't have a specific question or anything just wondering if anyone has any comments.

**tubbfan** · 04-01-2007, 02:29 AM

Maybe you should post the recipe so we can see how fermentable the grains were. . .

XELA · 04-01-2007, 02:34 AM

whats with people startin threads with "my something"..? i started doin that cuz of all the scrubs episodes lol

iv never had scotish ale.. sounds interesting? any different from just english ale?

**TheJadedDog** · 04-01-2007, 02:35 AM

Looks like you are at about 69% attenutation which is a little bit low. This could be due to many things. What yeast did you use? How well did you aerate? What were your fermentation temps? Did you rack to secondary too soon?

High gravity ales don't get to those lower FGs like you may be used to seeing, personally I wouldn't worry about it too much.

One thing I will recommend is letting that beer age quite a bit before you drink it. I'm letting my wee heavy age 6 months before kegging.

**TheJadedDog** · 04-01-2007, 02:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XELA

iv never had scotish ale.. sounds interesting? any different from just english ale?

It is typically very malty with only one hop addition and a fairly high OG. In my opinion it is quite different from the English ales, but then I am a geek when it comes to ales of the British Isles. McEwans is a good commercial example if you can get your hands on some.

XELA · 04-01-2007, 02:43 AM

It is typically very malty - i love malt! sounds good!

McEwans? ill remeber that! do i have to go north to find that? im in midlands england

**TheJadedDog** · 04-01-2007, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XELA

It is typically very malty - i love malt! sounds good!

McEwans? ill remeber that! do i have to go north to find that? im in midlands england

Oh man, if you're already in the UK, hop on the train and get it straight from the source! I am so freaking jealous of you guys. Any of the pubs in Edinburgh should have a version on tap and it is worth the trip IMO.

XELA · 04-02-2007, 12:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheJadedDog

Oh man, if you're already in the UK, hop on the train and get it straight from the source! I am so freaking jealous of you guys. Any of the pubs in Edinburgh should have a version on tap and it is worth the trip IMO.

good good, never been to scontland, but i imagen the beer is worth the trip..

Bromley · 04-02-2007, 02:17 AM

Here's my recipe:
9lbs Muntons Plain Light extract
4 oz Roasted Barley
4 oz Crystal 120
4 oz Crystal 10
8 oz Smoked Malt
2 oz CaraPils

1 oz Northern Brewer pellets (60 min)
0.5 oz Kent Goldings pellets (30 min)

I thought I was going to produce something close to a Wee Heavy, but my ABV is only around 6.8%. So it's pretty low for that style.

I love lots of rich malty flavor, but I tried a MacEwans a couple of weeks ago, and I actually didn't like it very much. I thought it had a medicine-like flavor to it. If that makes any sense...I'm far from being a qualified Beer Judge.

I do plan on letting it age in the bottles for at least a couple of months, but I'm cracking one tonight after only a week in bottle just to get a general idea of what I ended up with.

**TheJadedDog** · 04-02-2007, 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bromley

I thought I was going to produce something close to a Wee Heavy, but my ABV is only around 6.8%. So it's pretty low for that style.

Did you use top-off water? Could be your OG reading was low, with all those fermentables, they are bound to sink to the bottom. When I first took my OG it was 1.070, a little stirring brought it up to 1.080. The only way to really lower your OG when brewing with extract is to add too much water.