The Claymore

WARNING: I am not responsible for anyone lost, stolen or broken from this point forward!!!!

I spent most of the day today brewing the thing I thought I never would, my 1st competition beer. It is a small local comp held by my homebrew club. I had to use "smoke" as an ingredient as part of the rules. I decided I would brew a new twist with some old favorites, post up the recipe, process and the end results all in one spot, sort of a "mini blog". Feel free to add what you want!

The beer will be a "Scotch Ale/Wee Heavy-9E" that I have dubbed "The Claymore" I have spent the majority of the the day not only brewing but listening to tribal drums and bagpipes. Infusing my brew and brew day with some serious epicness! Hence, I am calling this "The Claymore". To share in this experience, I shall now post up one of my favorite "unknown" bands. I am hoping my beer is half as great as this!
The bands name is Cu Dubh (coo-doo) an epic unheard of underdog, much like this brew. The name of the song is Hrafn.

The recipe + process is:

The Claymore - Whiskey Barrel Smoked Wee Heavy

6 gallon batch
OG:1.101
?FG: 1.027 <- serious guess lol
ABV: 9.6%
IBU: 20
SRM 15.6


Malts:
12 lbs 2 row

2 lbs rauch malt
4 lbs smoked malt
2 oz lightly peated malt

1 lbs amber malt
8 oz RED MILL Scottish Oatmeal
8 oz crystal 120
8 oz. Carapils
4 oz. Caramunich
4 oz. Caravienne
4 oz biscut malt
2 oz aromatic malt

Hops:
1 oz. EKG@60
.50 oz. Fuggles @40
.50 oz. EKG@20

Extras:
11.5 oz. Lyle&#8217;s golden syrup. (entire bottle @ flameout)
Irish moss @ 15

Yeast: Scottish ale - 2L starter

Secondary onto JD whiskey barrel chips toasted @ 250 for 20 min. to taste.

I fully understand that in most cases all the specialty malts would be considered a "train wreck". The hydro sample was nothing short of EPIC!!!!

I mashed in at 155F for 60 min. Second runnings @ 157F for 60 min and Mashed out @ 168 for 30.

(*This was all done on my stove top)
I immediately after collecting the 1st runnings brought it to a boil. It was stirred, to prevent scorching, and boiled the entire time! Part of the category description mentions long boils and caramelization flavors, so I wanted that! 2nd runnings were added to the the 1st runnings and then what did not fit was brought to a boil in a separate kettle. Collected the mash out runnings and added that to the 2nd runnings. I brought both pots to a boil split the hops in 1/2 per pot and started the long 90 min boil.

Near the end I dumped the 2nd kettle into my big kettle when it could all fit inside and added the final hop addition, moss and syrup to this. I boiled off a LOT of liquid and believe to have achieved a very true "Wee Heavy"per description.

I will pitch the yeast at 12:00am. Just a few short moments away. After primary fermentation I will toast 1/2 lbs of Jack Daniels whiskey barrel chips and rack to that until the flavor is perfect. (I suspect about 3-5 days)

So what does the community think of all this?

Pitched and blow-off tube in place! now comes the wait...and talk...

That is a $hitload of smoked malt. The one smoked ale I did had ~ 15% rauchmalt (but did also have some smoked black tea too). Your bill is probably at least double that! I have no doubt it will be highly smokey...

What constitutes the difference between your rauchmalt and the 'smoked malt?' Is the smoked done with some different wood?

This recipe . . . . . . . ... . . looks perfect to me.

biochemedic said:

What constitutes the difference between your rauchmalt and the 'smoked malt?' Is the smoked done with some different wood?

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Rauch means smoke or smoked in German. Yeah, so what's the difference between your rauch malt and smoked malt? Curious because I like Rauchbier and I have a batch fermenting right now!

Yikes, that's a lot of smoked malt. I used 1 lb of smoked malt in a porter once and it was like drinking out of a campfire (not bad, just intense) even after aging for a couple months. I can't imagine the smoke in this one

I will now clarify the differences between the smoked malts.

Weyermann - Rauch malt. It is unclear (even on their site) what they use to smoke the malt. Coming from Germany it can take months to arrive at the shelf where it can also sit for some time. All of this lag reduces the smokiness, much like hops.

Breiss - Smoked malt. Is smoked with Door county cherry wood. It has a stronger flavor and smoke presence than the Rauch malt due to it being made in the state I live. (only a few hours away) It is more popular than the rauch malt according to the LHBS.

(Briess???)-Peated malt. Smoked with peat. WICKED STRONG!!!

IMO with my limited experience using smoked malts Rauchmalt seems to have a milder food like flavor (perhaps similar to beef jerky?) The Smoked malt has a more pronounced wood smoked flavor and is a little more smokey than the Rauch, closer to campfire smoke. Of course Peated malt is smoked over peat and is the strongest but tastes VERY different than the other 2.

I am not a big fan of rauch malt or the peated malt (NOTE: I USED 2 OZ NOT LBS of the peated!!!) but really like the smoked malt. I wanted the 3 different smoke flavors to mingle to make a nice but unique smoke flavor. The other thing to note is this is huge malty monster which should mask the smoke more than say an amber or lighter beer.

The hydro sample I drank was REALLY good. It had IMO the right amount of smokiness that was present. Unfortunately the sample was wicked sweet as well...lol. I will not know if I jumped off the cliff with the smoke flavor until after fermentation is done.

My end goal is to have the toasted whiskey barrel chips meld with the smokey malty Wee Heavy flavors and not over power the ale. I hope this will enhance the smoke flavor as well as subdue it slightly. (I toyed with the idea of smoking my own malt with the whiskey barrel chips but had no idea what the end result will be and 1 day may try that.) I have however toasted and used the chips in a IIPA as described above and it turned out great.

This is a 1 or 2 of beer and not something to down a 6 pack or more of. It will not even be close to ready until mid October or even later. The Judging will be on OCT. 8th. If I win, cool. If not, I have this epic ale so I feel like I already have!

I already have bought the O2 barrier caps...so aging this is just fine with me!

That damn post keeps getting in the way of that girl in the front row.

Not a fan of the gagpipes...

Anyway, I was hesitant to try a smoked beer until I got a chance at a brewday that Henry Hill hosted. It was very good! Then I thought, it would be hard to have too much! Not so...

A local brewery made a batch of smoked beer and I swear it was almost like sticking the end of a burnt stick in your mouth and rubbing it all over your tongue. It wasn't bad enough to not drink, but they could have halved the smoke and I would have been happy.

Homercidal said:

Not a fan of the gagpipes...

Anyway, I was hesitant to try a smoked beer until I got a chance at a brewday that Henry Hill hosted. It was very good! Then I thought, it would be hard to have too much! Not so...

A local brewery made a batch of smoked beer and I swear it was almost like sticking the end of a burnt stick in your mouth and rubbing it all over your tongue. It wasn't bad enough to not drink, but they could have halved the smoke and I would have been happy.

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I tried to brew a smoked beer awhile ago and I got scared of the "to much" and used enough to make the batch taste...strange...almost like soy sauce. I agree if it is to overpowering it would be bad but I still hope that this is going to go up to the edge of "to much" then stop just shy. That smoke will have to fight it's way past a LOT of other flavors...

Zamial said:

Weyermann - Rauch malt. It is unclear (even on their site) what they use to smoke the malt. Coming from Germany it can take months to arrive at the shelf where it can also sit for some time. All of this lag reduces the smokiness, much like hops.

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I was always under the impression that Rauch was beechwood smoked...

I had wondered if the other malt was the cherrywood smoked...I'd heard of that one, but I've never tasted it...I'm not even sure if my LHBS has it, but if it does, I might consider giving it a try when I do the Souchong Smoke Bomb recipe again...

biochemedic said:

I was always under the impression that Rauch was beechwood smoked...

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Now that you type this, I think I remember reading that at some point somewhere as well...

Well, as I type this update I am racking it onto some Jack Daniels Whiskey Barrel chips. I prepped the chips buy thoroughly drenching them inside a gallon Ziploc with Starsan, Then spread them out on a cookie sheet, covered the cookie sheet with enough tinfoil to not allow any water vapor to escape and baked them in the oven for 1 hour. I removed the foil after 1 hour and toasted them for an additional 45 minutes uncovered, all at 350F. I sanitized a 5 gallon paint strainer bag, tossed the chips in, tied it shut then cut off the excess. Placed it into the Ale Pale and started the transfer.

The sample is hot (as it should be at this point) but the flavor is truly unbelievably good! The smoke is actually subtle...which REALLY surprised me. IDK if the LHBS grains were a little old or what the story is but the different smoke flavors are blended brilliantly into the ale.

I will keep checking the ale every 24 hours as not to over oak this. I have used these chips before and know that the flavor is FOREVER so I want to bring it right up before it is "to much" and then keg/force carb and then bottle. I will guess I have about 1.5 lbs of chips or just over that in the bag...

The sample...It was all I could do not sit on the floor with the other end of the siphon hose in my mouth...this is going to be a FANTASTIC Wee Heavy!

Apparently I must have lost more volume to trub and a bit of absorption from the JD chips because it looks like I have 5 gallons...not 6 post transfer.

I will add updates when there is something else to add!

I'm thinking the oak will take a while longer than usual to fight it's way through also, I like where this started, where it's gone and hopefully where it ends. :rockin:

When is your local competition by the way?

The JD oak chips are now probably a medium dark toast at this point or darker and dangerous...lol. I think it will be just about done in days due to the nature of them and the quantity I used. These buggers leach flavor at an unbelievably fast pace in comparison to getting some oak chips and soaking them in whiskey for awhile. I will guess it is because JD reused these things for YEARS...lol.

As for the competition date it is scheduled for Oct 8th. The day before my birthday! Nothing like attending a beer competition and tasting for my birthday party...lol. We will be submitting a 6er, 2 of which will be used for judging the last 4 will be for sharing with the other participants.

I have been punching down the chip bag every night and taking a small sample with the spoon. I estimate it will be ready to have the chips removed either tonight or tomorrow night.

This is starting to taste face melting good! It is all I can do to not dip the spoon in and sneak another sample, then another and another...lol.

this recipe looks damn good. I might have to steal it. what kind of syrup did you use? I've never heard of it before

edb23 said:

this recipe looks damn good. I might have to steal it. what kind of syrup did you use? I've never heard of it before

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Lyle's Golden Syrup http://www.lylesgoldensyrup.com/index.php. It can be sourced at World Market or online. Funny you have not heard of it since it claims to be/is the world's oldest name brand!

Well I was on the fence on leaving it in 1 more day so I pulled the chips out. As I said before these chips add flavor WICKED fast. I had an IPA that I aged on these chips and IMO over did it a bit. After all the hop aroma and flavor had faded (I saved a few bottles) the whiskey barrel chip was still just as strong as day 1.

I will be kegging this up early next week. (It is waiting for a keg to be emptied.) Then force carbed, bottled with O2 barrier caps then aged in my closet for a few months until the comp. I understand that this may be considered "young" for a Wee Heavy but the samples have been nothing short of stellar and I honestly think the JD chips have sped up the aging process slightly.

I am not a beer judge so my palate is not "trained" beyond what I like or don't. My tasting notes from tonight's sample: It tastes like a wee heavy with a full body. (I have had a few different commercial varieties so I think the flavor is spot on for the style.) The smoke and the whiskey barrel flavors come secondly with the smoke being more aggressive, then fading into the whiskey barrel, finishing with the signature "tea like flavors" from carmalization and whisps of vanilla from the oak. Ya, it is still a bit hot from being young but that is to be expected.

Adding this to the futurebbrew list. Let us know how it does!

And Cu Dubh? Loving it!

Just kegged this up and cleaned up the equipment. Looks like I netted about 4.5 gallons. The flavors are spot on for what I wanted. I will slowly force carb this, so in a week or 2 I will pull the 1st sample to test the carbonation, then bottle it up.

I passed out a few 1/2oz. samples to some fellow HB club members at a brewing event I held last weekend and they all seemed to REALLY like it.

At this point my only regret is not making this into a 13.5 gallon batch instead of a 5.5 gallon one...I lost some of the beer to trub, transfers and the oak chips. Unfortunately a bit more than I would have hoped to have lost but I still love what is left...I went ancient Egyptian and the wife caught me sucking the last few drops from the end of the siphon hose still hooked to the fermenter...I was not going to waste even 1 drop of this....I do not care what looks she gives me...

This sounds fantastic. Pictures please

Awesome, I love me some wee heavy, I just bottled up my "Heavy Ruby" based on a McEwans clone, pretty basic with 3 month ferment. Used only redvine hops in this one, hence the Ruby name (Local hop farm calls their redvines "Ruby") Keep us posted on this one and your competition results.

I just finished bottling this bad boy up. After all the samples and a bit wasted during bottling due to strange foaming issues, I will end up with 34 12oz bottles all using O2 barrier caps, 1 bottle was clear for color testing during aging. There is also the additional 6 12oz long necks that will be the needed competition entry. This tells me the chips absorbed a bit more than I would have liked them to but I think I absorbed close to the same amount along the way...lol.

The left over samples from bottling today were nothing short of FANTASTIC. Once again I am NOT a BJCP certified anything, so all you have to go on is my word that it is yummy!

I will also make up some labels for this batch and as requested here are some pics (If you want pics of something else, let me know) :







I am not a photographer so this is about the best I can get for for pics...

see.......now i want to go and brew again....but my damn house is too hot and i'm too cheap to lower the a/c and way too lazy to set up a swamp cooler or water bath.

that looks damn tasty though. i think that would be a perfect beer for a deer camp to drink on a brisk evening around a fire and everybody's a little bit bloody. perfect.

Thanks to all the encouragement/kind words so far! I have been neglecting chores to make the labels. I use Office Depot name tags, print what I want and do a little hand stamping on each label. I do not label every bottle for every batch I make this way but for special brews like this one I do!

A bit of Info before the pics...
-The name of my home brewery is "New Avalon - Brewery and Winery"
-The name of the beer is "The Claymore"
-The ABV is 9.6%
-The description is "Whiskey Barrel Smoked Scotch Wee Heavy"
-Today's date is hand stamped in red.

Pics:

The comp was moved back. I just dropped these off tonight and will have the results next weekend.

Good Luck!!

FYI, best to use Google before naming your beer the same as a bottled, distributed one. EG: great divide

davefleck said:

FYI, best to use Google before naming your beer the same as a bottled, distributed one. EG: great divide

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I will never sell or distribute the beer or recipe in any sort of way, out of the home brew world. As far as this whole "better Google it 1st" thing is concerned, it is NEVER going to happen. I do not give 1 care about what any brewery calls their swill. As a home brewer if I want to call my beer "High Life" who the #@%& is going to stop me? I am not trying to be rude but this paranoia of brewery, beer names and the like needs to end. There is no correlation between the 2 since one is a hobby and the other a business.

Look at it this way....

If I were a model rocket enthusiast and I built a model of a space shuttle and called it "Endeavor" then told everyone I know (including the model rocket enthusiast forum) that I will be "launching the space shuttle Endeavor on Saturday in my back yard", do I need to fear that NASA and other government types will come over and fine/arrest me??? would I have to file a flight plan??? or will the patent office/private entity come down on me like an old testament plague? of course not.

or even better...

I site the bar/tavern called "Cheers". A blatant rip off from the TV sitcom or was it the other way around? I know that there are over 30+ different bars/taverns in the US named "Cheers". How is this even possible? Because they have no real link to each other and they use a different Font/Logo/City Name/ect. to differentiate themselves.


On a side note the judging and tasting is tomorrow I will post up the results at some point this weekend.

Zamial said:

I will never sell or distribute the beer or recipe in any sort of way, out of the home brew world. As far as this whole "better Google it 1st" thing is concerned, it is NEVER going to happen. I do not give 1 care about what any brewery calls their swill. As a home brewer if I want to call my beer "High Life" who the #@%& is going to stop me? I am not trying to be rude but this paranoia of brewery, beer names and the like needs to end. There is no correlation between the 2 since one is a hobby and the other a business.

Look at it this way....

If I were a model rocket enthusiast and I built a model of a space shuttle and called it "Endeavor" then told everyone I know (including the model rocket enthusiast forum) that I will be "launching the space shuttle Endeavor on Saturday in my back yard", do I need to fear that NASA and other government types will come over and fine/arrest me??? would I have to file a flight plan??? or will the patent office/private entity come down on me like an old testament plague? of course not.

or even better...

I site the bar/tavern called "Cheers". A blatant rip off from the TV sitcom or was it the other way around? I know that there are over 30+ different bars/taverns in the US named "Cheers". How is this even possible? Because they have no real link to each other and they use a different Font/Logo/City Name/ect. to differentiate themselves.


On a side note the judging and tasting is tomorrow I will post up the results at some point this weekend.

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Interesting take. I look at it as what I make is unique and I wouldn't want what I do to be interpreted as just an attempt to copy anothers.

Oh and Brian from Great Divide was an avid homebrewer before he founded one if the best regional breweries in the nation. Throwing absurd insults at such a high quality brewer only reflects on you.

davefleck said:

Interesting take. Throwing absurd insults at such a high quality brewer only reflects on you.

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YOU are misinterpeting/twisting my words. I did not specifically mention any brewery by name, I made a blanket comment. You assume to much...

Everytime I see this thread title I think of Ween's "Blarney Stone" I don't know why. (Warning this video is not boss nor 5 year old compliant)


Let us know how the tasting goes.

So, how did your brew do in the comp? I am adding this one to my short to-brew list.