Boosting ABV in Scottish Ale kit

Flanman said:

1.So its pretty obvious Im new to brewing and Im working on my second kit beer from Brewers Best Scottish Ale...I however prefer a higher ABV and oaked flavor in my scottish ales. I have bought some oak chips for the secondary but I dont know how much to use? I hear over oaking can be horrible.
2. THIS KIT SUCKS at only 3.25ABV. Im looking for about 6-8% ABV...I purchased another 3.3 pounds of CBW sparkling amber...but I have not idea how to figure how much I need to acheive this ABV without destroying the flavor too much...

This is the kit and what I have added...
6.6lbs amber LME (twp seperate jugs)
4 oz caramel 60L
4oz smoked
4 oz chocolate
1 oz roasted barley
1 lb amber DME
.5 oz cascade
.5 cascade + 1 oz palisade for aroma

I have not idea how to figure my SG!!! DME and LME conversions make no sense until someone clears it up...PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!!! I was looking forward to brewing this Sat but i dont know if this will happen. Thanks!

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edb said:

That kit sounds like its a 60 Shilling which is a lighter beer. The different beers are 60 Light, 70 Heavy, 80 Export, Strong Scotch Ale aka Wee Heavy. I'm a fan of the Scotch Ale. I made one last year and it was really nice, though others didnt like it too much because its so different.

Strong Scotch Ale
OG 1.070 - 1.130
FG 1.018 - 1.056
ABV 6.5 - 10%
IBU 17-35
SRM 14-25

First matter of business is get brewtarget its a free brewing app. You can key in all your ingredients and see what your starting gravity is and you'll get an idea of your IBUs.

Plan on brewing Saturday. A couple things that you can do with your recipe.

Add more extract, the Amber contains Crystal 40 or 60 so you're not going to need to add more of that IMO.

Cut your batch size down to 4 gallons vs 5, that will boost your gravity and you can top off with some more extract.

The hops in your kit are really odd for a Scottish ale, these beers are low on the hop flavor and aroma. The hops in your kit are more of an IPA APA style. So you can do the Crystal for bittering at 60 min and I would probably cut back on the Palisade from 1oz to .5 oz or less. I myself think fuggles or goldings would be better but then again all you really need is bittering.

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