Wee Heavy Recipe Idea - Looking for input

So, here's a recipe I've been working on for a while, but I haven't had a chance to brew it yet. This is where it's at currently. I'm looking for any input you all might have.

Uncle Ted's Wee Heavy
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast 1728 - Scottish Ale
Yeast Starter: None
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: None
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.088
Final Gravity: 1.024
IBU: 34.3
Boiling Time (Minutes): 180
Color: 22.5 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 58 degrees for 30 days
Lager: 12-16 weeks

Grain Bill:
17 # UK Pale
.75 # UK Medium Crystal 60
.5 # Canadian Honey Malt
.25 # UK Dark Crystal 80
.25 # Roasted Barley (Top Mash)

Hops:
1 oz Challenger 6.7% AA 60 min
.5 oz Fuggle 4.2% AA 30 min
.5 oz Fuggle 4.2% AA 10 min

Water Treatment:
Shooting for something close to Edinburgh
15 gallons of RO that I'm treating with:
chalk (CaCO3) - 9 grams
baking soda (NaHCO3) - 8 grams
gypsum (CaSO4) - 9 grams
calcium chloride (CaCl2) - 5 grams
epson salt (MgSO4) - 5 grams

60 min Mash In Add 24 qt of water at about 169 F for 155.0 F
5 min Mash Out Add 3.5 qt of boiling to raise to 161

Fly Sparge to 9 gallons.

Boil for 180 minutes down to 5.5 gallons. Extended boil for caramelization.

Cool to 58 degrees and pitch.

Hi, that looks like a good recipe. I wonder what wee mac's IBUS are from sun king? I have Pat Noonan's book on Scotch ales if you wanna borrow it, but I haven't done one before (currently working on fermentation chamber, sitting in garage just haven't put together yet).

I wonder how that final gravity with 35 IBUS will taste. Since I last made a brown porter and lost some hops due to spilloff, I am a "wee"(couldn't help) weary of underhopping when starting a new recipe.

I would lose the honey malt, but aside from that, I think it looks good. The grain bill is very similar to my Strong Scotch Ale.

Which UK malt are you using? I would go with Golden Promise over Maris Otter.

Instead of doing a 3 hour boil, you could always caramelize some of the wort separately and then add to the main boil after half an hour.

mbobhat said:

Hi, that looks like a good recipe. I wonder what wee mac's IBUS are from sun king? I have Pat Noonan's book on Scotch ales if you wanna borrow it, but I haven't done one before (currently working on fermentation chamber, sitting in garage just haven't put together yet).

I wonder how that final gravity with 35 IBUS will taste. Since I last made a brown porter and lost some hops due to spilloff, I am a "wee"(couldn't help) weary of underhopping when starting a new recipe.

Click to expand...

We mac is just a scottish ale. It's significantly lower in alcohol than this will be. As for it's IBUs it's about 24 IIRC.

turkeyjerky214 said:

I would lose the honey malt, but aside from that, I think it looks good. The grain bill is very similar to my Strong Scotch Ale.

Which UK malt are you using? I would go with Golden Promise over Maris Otter.

Instead of doing a 3 hour boil, you could always caramelize some of the wort separately and then add to the main boil after half an hour.

Click to expand...

I got the idea for the honey malt from a different recipe I read somewhere. Any particular reason you'd leave it out?

As for the UK malt I was going to use Maris Otter. Why would you suggest Golden Promise of it?

As for your boil suggestion, I was actually considering this. I might do that in fact depending on my schedule. The upside to a 3 hour boil is I have an excuse to stay out in the garage drinking longer

I would say lose or dramatically reduce the honey malt. That stuff is strong and a little bit of it goes a long way. I'd say Maris Otter works well, as I've used it in a scotch ale that turned out great. It's traditional to use Golden Promise, and it's said to have a sweeter flavor than Maris Otter.

I don't think, even with a 3 hour boil, you would get the carmelized flavor that you get from condensing one gallon of first runnings to one quart. I read somewhere that to produce this flavor you have to boil the entire batch for something crazy like 20 hours.

slarkin712 said:

I would say lose or dramatically reduce the honey malt. That stuff is strong and a little bit of it goes a long way. I'd say Maris Otter works well, as I've used it in a scotch ale that turned out great. It's traditional to use Golden Promise, and it's said to have a sweeter flavor than Maris Otter.

I don't think, even with a 3 hour boil, you would get the carmelized flavor that you get from condensing one gallon of first runnings to one quart. I read somewhere that to produce this flavor you have to boil the entire batch for something crazy like 20 hours.

Click to expand...

Ah, good to know. I might go ahead and do that then.

So maybe take a gallon of first runnings and sparge the rest to about 7 gallons. Then boil down that gallon to to a quart, and add to the rest. Then boil that down to 5.5 gallons over about an hour. That sound about right?

slarkin712 said:

I would say lose or dramatically reduce the honey malt. That stuff is strong and a little bit of it goes a long way. I'd say Maris Otter works well, as I've used it in a scotch ale that turned out great. It's traditional to use Golden Promise, and it's said to have a sweeter flavor than Maris Otter.

Click to expand...

You can absolutely use honey malt if you want. It's your beer. It just won't be entirely to style. Of course, several of my favorite beers I make would never medal in a competition because they're not to style. As far as the GP vs MO, GP would be the traditional malt used for a Scottish beer.

LoneWolfPR said:

So maybe take a gallon of first runnings and sparge the rest to about 7 gallons. Then boil down that gallon to to a quart, and add to the rest. Then boil that down to 5.5 gallons over about an hour. That sound about right?

Click to expand...

If your typical pre boil volume is 7.25, then that sounds about right.

We mac is just a scottish ale. It's significantly lower in alcohol than this will be. As for it's IBUs it's about 24 IIRC.

Click to expand...

Yea knew that, just pointing out the obvious though, if that is 24 then 35 and your grain bill may be a bit maltier, for comparison you know

Yeah. Think Wee Muckle. That beer is all kinds of crazy malty. It's only 30 IBU's.

Here's another question. 58 degrees is a good temp for this particular yeast, but should I possibly raise it to the low-mid 60's for a bit after initial fermentation for a diacetyl rest? I'm a little worried that the yeast won't eat up all the diacetyl at that low a temp.

I'd treat it almost like a lager. Start at ~58º until you're at about 75% attenuation give or take. Then bump it up to 65º to finish up. Just make sure you aerate the crap out of it and pitch a bigger than normal starter at that low of a temp.