The Bagpiper (Strong Scotch Ale)

Here is my holiday wee heavy recipe: the ingredients are on the way.


OG: 1.082
FG: 1.023
IBU: 27
SRM: 17.6
ABV: 7.8%

16 lbs 00 oz - Simpsons Golden Promise (82.1%)
02 lbs 00 oz - Weyermann Dark Wheat (10.3%)
01 lbs 00 oz - Crisp Crystal 45L (5.1%)
00 lbs 04 oz - Crisp Crystal 120L (1.3%)
00 lbs 02 oz - Crisp Chocolate (0.6%)
00 lbs 02 oz - Crisp Roasted Barley (0.6%)

0.500 Oz - Australian Stella Hops (15% AA) 60 Mins
0.500 Oz - Australian Stella Hops (15% AA) 10 Mins

White Labs #1728 Scottish Ale (2 vials - 1000ml - stirplate)

I love this style, love 1728 yeast, etc. I think I have my recipe on hbt, check my recipe drop down? Anyhoo I'd eliminate the wheat, it really doesn't have a home here and with the lingering FG being so high the mouthfeel is going to be viscous and thick. I like using a bit of 120/spec. B in this and like using 2 carmel malts, but would use equal amounts, perhaps 8-10 oz. each. Again overdoing it here is a no no because lots of sweetness is going to remain. You're really looking for complexity from your crystals in this beer. (some people don't use any crystals at all) Whatever I did I'd drop the color/crystals enough to get the color to around 14 SRM, then I'd take the first 1-1.5 gallons of runnings and boil them down to syrup, almost scorching, so they are boiled down to approximately 1-1.5 qts. The boiling down process will contribute several SRM points, thus the lightening the color. This will add all kinds of complexity and create longer chain sugars. Lastly totally eliminate the 2nd hop addition, hop character isn't desired in a Strong Scotch Ale, but to each his own especially if you're not trying to win contests. Finally I like to mash a bit high here maybe do a 154-156 range mash, depending on taste and the rest of your process (ie if you're going to boil down first runnings).

Something like this:
17 lbs 08 oz - Simpsons Golden Promise
00 lbs 08 oz - Crisp Crystal 45L
00 lbs 08 oz - Crisp Crystal 120L
00 lbs 02 oz - Crisp Roasted Barley

0.600 Oz - Australian Stella Hops (15% AA) 60 Mins

Re run the numbers and see what you get. Fwiw many commercial and top quality homebrewed wee heavy's are Base grain with a couple percent roasted barley for color. Lots of kettle carmelization.

I brewed this beer Sunday. The only change was changing the 10 minute hop addition to a 30 minute addition of .250 Ozs. The brew day went perfectly and it's currently swirling away at 62F. I'm pretty excited to try this one.

Violent fermentation with 1728. I don't use an airlock during primary (I drop my temp controller probe into the Carboy and cover with foil - quasi open fermentation style) the krausen is almost coming out and the action is furious.

Took a gravity sample as its now clearing: unexpectedly, it finished at 1.012 which is not what I was hoping for. If I brewed this again, I'd mash at 158 instead of 154 to tame the attenuation. The beer smells of chocolate and even has a nice mocha/dark baker's chocolate note and loads of bready malt flavor. I can't wait to see how this develops.

This one has been in the bottle for a week now. Im looking forward to drinking it!

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Let us know how it is. I haven't had much of a taste for those big Scotch Ales lately, but used to love 'em. And I liked them a touch drier than the style, so your final gravity looks great to me.

This one is coming along slowly. At first, the beer seemed "muddy" and despite the intentionally low carbonation level, flatter than I wanted. However, I cracked a bottle for a fellow brewer to taste and tell me where I might have gone wrong and alas, the flavors really cleaned up nicely and the carbonation had settled in rather nicely. The only obvious flaw was in the fact that my thermometer was acting up and I mashed too low. Thus, the beer finished at 1.010 and is much drier than most beers of this style. All and all, it's a nice beer and I'm going to give it more time to age.