Recent content by Ølbart

WLP028 should work fine. It's a bit like WLP002, but less flocculent, and with a different (but not overly strong) ester profile.

It doesn't look bad, but I'd use less caramel malts and more chocolate malt, and maybe mash a bit lower. Unless you want it sweet.

The 'optional' peaty and smoky character comes from Americans brewing ale suited to their own expectations. Scottish ale isn't smoky or peaty, not from the malt, not from the water, not from the yeast. What you're replicating is an American fiction.

Historically accurate? Scotland still exists, and the Scots still brew beer. Scottish ale with smoked malt is an American invention. You should call it an American Pale Ale.

You're not making a true Scottish ale with peat smoked malt either.

Golden Promise and Maris Otter are varieties of barley. I'm not sure GP is any sweeter than MO, but it does lack its characteristic nutty character, which makes it somewhat more useful for non-English styles. I've used it in a very nice Dubbel.

Freezing is the best way to store hops. If they're sealed and on vacuum/nitrogen, they should be fine for a couple of years. Of course, they'll just degrade much slower than at higher temperatures, they'll still degrade.

The choice of Roasted Barley and Black Patent is a difficult one, as the differences may or may not be subtle (and will vary by maltster), and are certainly a matter of preference. I believe Black Patent usually is sharper. Other grains to try are Brown Malt and Amber Malt (again, different...

According to the BJCP guidelines, "any type of hops may be used", and according to my experience, both EKG and Columbus will work fine in a RIS, although the Columbus may need some time to mellow out. Then again, so will probably the molasses, but it's hard to predict. I don't think you'll need...

6 months on oak chips may be too much. You'll need to taste it regularly to find the right time. As for the recipe, I think it's too complex to comment. It might be good, it might be bad, you probably don't need more than 10% roasted grains in a 1.100+ recipe. I used 5% in my last imp stout, and...

100% Peated is actually drinkable. Well, sippable. If Lagavulin made a light beer (at 8.5% ABV), this would be it. I'll probably (no, certainly) never buy it again, but I'll gladly recommend it to anyone who likes to drink wet camp fire. This beer is single malt, and a bit too thin, but I...

I have to disagree on the peat smoked malt. It's a notable ingredient in Nøgne Ø's Sunturnbrew, a deliciously smokey barley wine. They also have a brew called 100% Peated, which they claim is "almost undrinkable". We'll see about that later tonight; I just bought a bottle. As for Special B...

Yes, the bittering is very soft. It does make a very good pale ale on its own, though. Aim for a 1:1 BU:GU ratio and use lots of late hops.

I remember an old thread about Aromatic SMaSHes: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/some-questions-about-using-100-aromatic-malt-207418/ It's definitely possible.

I've tasted Hallertau Blanc in a single hop beer. It did remind me of Nelson Sauvin, but perhaps less fruity-sweet (which might also be due to a lack of malt sweetness, of course).