Oskar Blues Old Chub clone from BYO

jturman35 said:

I’m not sure if boiling down a gal into a pint of syrup would effect mouth feel much, but would add another dimension of flavor.

I just don’t think oats belong in a Scotch Ale, that’s just my opinion. However Old Chub is an AMERICAN version of the style. BJCP guidelines say smoke/peat have no place in this style. Real Scotch ales boil for long periods of time and have a much simpler grain bill.

I just brewed a Belhaven Scotch Ale 5.2% which did have 2oz peat malt. Real earthy and dark, nowhere near the original. I’m letting it sit in the keezer hoping it will condition and get better with time but I haven’t had any luck finding a clone. With all of this said, I have brewed this OC recipe twice and had issues brewing both batches. Yet both times they ended up being really good beer in the end.

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Makes sense. My experience was similar to yours--not good once bottled and carbed for me, but fantastic at the 2-3 month mark. I'm OK with breaching guidelines on this one but am interested to try a traditional Scotch Ale recipe down the road.

I missed my OG (too high) and fermenter volume (too low) significantly when I brewed since I didn't have a dipstick to measure preboil volume. Since I didn't know to offset this with additional hops or with sterile water addition, it was lip-sticking sweet. I want to give this one another go and not change too much, but you've got me interested with the boiling idea. When you suggest boiling down a gallon into a pint of syrup, would you also suggest scaling up to a 6 gallon batch in order to hit ~5gal in the fermenter, since 7/8 of a gallon will be evaporated away? Since sugar doesn't really evaporate, do you think boiling off a portion like this will have any effect on the OG?

Brewed this one again 2 weeks ago to the day. I split the beer between 2 carboys (5 gallons in one, 3 gallons in the other. I built a 2L starter of WY1056 and pitched approx. 1.2L into the large carboy and about .8L into the small. The small carboy has dropped clear and the airlock activity has pretty much stopped. OG was 1.080 and my current gravity is 1.022. Tastes great. I'm a tad high based on the OPs finishing gravity estimate, but I achieved roughly the same attenuation percentage, so I think it's done? No off flavors, very slightly sweet. Much better than my first attempt 5 months ago.

The large carboy is still cloudy and 3 gravity points higher. The airlock bubbles a bit on this one but gravity hasn't moved much in a couple days so I bumped the temp in my fermentation chamber to 69F (ambient) and roused the yeast. It's cloudy but maybe in a few days it'll come down a few points and finish up.

If nothing happens over the next several days on the small carboy, is 1.022 FG bottle bomb territory? I don't think I've bottled anything with that high of a final gravity, but I know I got a good pitch and aerated well, didn't ferment too cold initially (58 ambient, 62 in the beer with a slow ramp up to 68ish). Thoughts?

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Bottle bombs come from the beer not being finished fermenting. As long as you check the FG 3 or more days apart with no change you should be fine. Btw, my FG is usually around 1.020 with this recipe.

Oldskewl said:

Bottle bombs come from the beer not being finished fermenting. As long as you check the FG 3 or more days apart with no change you should be fine. Btw, my FG is usually around 1.020 with this recipe.

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Thanks kindly! Been sitting at 1.022 now for about 5 days so... time to bottle! Taste is spot on. On to the next batch!

Anyone know what water profile is best for this beer? I saw somewhere a higher Sulfate Level is beneficial for this style. I currently have Edinburgh selected. I typically use the brown/amber/ style but believe Edinburgh is close to the profile for this beer.

I don’t want this beer to end up cloying and sweet but rather dry and crisp.

Can't speak to the water parameters, but FWIW I've had this come out a little too sticky on the lips both times and finished with a higher gravity than I'd like. Not cloyingly sweet, but definitely not NOT sweet, if that makes sense. My Belgians finish around 1.010 - 1.014ish and give me that dry, crisp finish and not sweet flavor that I think would be nice with this recipe. Could also be from the sugar additions, though. If I brew this a third time I may consider mashing around 149-150 rather than the suggested 155F. I wonder if a little maltodextrin would help preserve the mouthfeel that would be lost with a lower mash?

Yea I’m thinking of mashing at 152 which prob won’t make that much difference but maybe will help.

jturman35 said:

I’m not sure if boiling down a gal into a pint of syrup would effect mouth feel much, but would add another dimension of flavor.

I just don’t think oats belong in a Scotch Ale, that’s just my opinion. However Old Chub is an AMERICAN version of the style. BJCP guidelines say smoke/peat have no place in this style. Real Scotch ales boil for long periods of time and have a much simpler grain bill.

I just brewed a Belhaven Scotch Ale 5.2% which did have 2oz peat malt. Real earthy and dark, nowhere near the original. I’m letting it sit in the keezer hoping it will condition and get better with time but I haven’t had any luck finding a clone. With all of this said, I have brewed this OC recipe twice and had issues brewing both batches. Yet both times they ended up being really good beer in the end.

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Ran across this thread while doing a Google search for Old Chub and I can't let this kind of misinformation go unchecked.

No, Scottish brewers did not use long boil times. Scottish brewery records listing boil times and compare them to London breweries you will see that only occasionally were Scottish brewers boiling longer... often times they were boiling just the same... and many times the Scottish boil times were shorter than their counterparts in London.

The impression of long brew times possibly comes from the greater malty backbone character of some Scottish beers. Those same records that show us the actual boil times however also show something else interesting... very low attenuation. So low that one can only assume that the brewers must have intentionally stopped fermentation prematurely to achieve them. The Scots must have liked their beer a lot sweeter than other beer drinkers.

As for using peated malt; for the most part it didn't happen. Perhaps it was used by some of the provincial breweries in the Highlands but not in the southern part of the country where most of the breweries (and the countries largest breweries) were located. Why? Because they had a crap-ton of coke available to them. Why would they transport heavy, and less efficient peat with a superior fuel available? It is often assumed that because Scottish distilleries used peat that the beer brewers must use it too... but the distilleries are located in the north.

Here is some interesting info I found with a quick search. Obviously Old Chub is not a traditional Scotch Ale.

https://beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/amp/nqq9c1pwm6

iparks81 said:

This clone recipe comes directly from the March-April BYO magazine
I'm not claiming this as my own in any way.

Old Chub
5 gallon batch
OG 1.078
FG 1.020
IBU 35
SRM 32
ABV 7.4%

13lb 10 oz north american 2-row
18 oz English dark Crystal
12 oz Munish
3.5 oz English chocolate malt
6 oz Special B
4.5 oz Weyermann smoked malt

9.6 AAU Nugget hops 60 min (0.8 oz 12%AA)

Wyeast 1056 American Ale 69F

Mash @ 155 1 hour
90 minute boil

Well thats about it, I plan on brewing this sometime soon, Ive scoured this site for a recipe since the first time that I had Old Chub and now im happy to say there is a Clone strait from BYO

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any update on this receipe? when i entered it into beersmith3, i got different numbers for ABV, IBU, & SRM.

i am looking to brew this recipe this weekend.. also, might anyone know what efficiency this recipe was based on? i had my first brew last weekend, and BS says i have 84% in the brewhouse...

thanks,

It’s pretty dang close to the original if not a clone. Are you going by the percentages or the exact amount?

The plan is to go off exact amounts, and according to beersmith3 it's doable on my system.. would you suggest otherwise? This will only be my second AG brew.. please pardon my ignorance.

Here's what BS says I should expect..

jlash630 said:

The plan is to go off exact amounts, and according to beersmith3 it's doable on my system.. would you suggest otherwise? This will only be my second AG brew.. please pardon my ignorance.

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Don't know if you're aware of it but there is another thread here (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/oskar-blues-recipes.423236/) that kind of parallels this thread but with a bit of different info. A disclaimer first - I haven't brewed this yet but hope to soon. I used the info from the recipe in the first post on the thread:

Old Chub Scottish Ale

Mash temp 156 F
12# Rahr 2-row
1.6 # Crisp 77L
1# Weyerman Munich Light
.5# Special B
.4# Weyerman Smoked
.3# Simpsons Chocolate

.37 oz Northern Brewer 90min
.50 oz East Kent Golding 10min

Yeast 1056 American Ale

and input everything into ProMash:



According to the OB website, OC is 8% abv, 30 ibu. While sitting here sipping on an actual OC, it dawned on me I could actually measure the fg. It came out to 1.024. Plugging that into the abv calculator, it means the og should be 1.084. Perfect! I adjusted the hops to give me about 30 ibu. It sounds like you're on the right track. Hope this info helps. Let us know how it comes out.

Cheers,

Dewey

I hadn’t brewed this in awhile. Missed my OG considerably this time, but is turned out excellent. 3 weeks in the primary and a week in the keg and oh so smooth.

I still have a keg of Old Chub that just won't kick! Meaning, every time i pour a glass i think its the last pour, been saying that for the last dozen pours.

This beer ages quite well for me.

I’ve had kegs like that. This beer does age well.