50% Peated Scotch (not necessarily Scottish) Ale

I made an IPA with 20% peated malt and oak chips. It was pretty good, but ultimately I felt the peated malt character was more meat than peat and that it detracted from what was a good IPA.

For my next peated malt recipe, I'm going to go 50% peated malt and 50% 2-row. I plan to use about 1.5 pounds of each in a gallon batch so it will be high OG (calculates to 1.084 at 75% attenuation). I plan to do a single 60 minute mash at 150* and funnel sparge at 168*. I plan to do a 60 minute boil with 1/8 oz of CTZ @ 60, and 1/4 oz Fuggles @ 15 and 5, which calculates to 50 IBUs. I also plan to dry hop it with 1/2 oz Willamette and add oak chips in secondary. I was thinking about using WLP099 Super High Gravity Ale Yeast since I have that already (it's also supposedly an English yeast), but I might go with WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast, WLP028 Edinburgh Scottish Ale Yeast, or WLP045 Scotch Whiskey Yeast (this one makes the most sense as this is a Scotch Ale).

A couple points you may or may not want to consider:
1. There is the obligatory: Scottish ales are supposed to get their peatiness from the yeast, not the malt. I've done it both ways. My last had both peated and smoked malts.
2. You might want to add a couple ounces of Amber and/or Crystal to the recipe to increase biscuity and caramelly flavors and increase the SRM a little.
3. Your IBUs seem high. OG = 1.084 & IBU = 50 seems more like a barleywine than a Scotch Ale. You might want to consider IBUs in the 30 - 40 range.

Mostly, though, I wanted to thank you for planting the seed in my head for doing a peated Barleywine. I haven't decided on next year's long term project and a peated Barleywine might be it.

1. As I said it's not necessarily a Scottish ale. This is all about the peated malt, if it wasn't for the peated malt, I would have never ordered Fuggles and Williamette or purchased WLP045 today, instead I'd most likely be making a super high OG QIPA (which is next on my list).

2. I actually just realized I threw well over half a pound of Crystal 15 in my mash instead of my other half pound of peated malt, so now my grain bill is ~45% 2-row, ~30% peated malt, and ~25% Crystal 15, good thing my 155* water got knocked down to 145* when I added it to the grain.

3. Since I messed up the grain bill, I'm probably going to brew closer to 2 gallons and drop the OG to ~1.060, so that will drop the IBUs as well. I do think it needs some good up front bitterness, and the CTZ isn't going to add much hop flavor, plus the late additions are all Fuggles so it isn't going to be an IPA-like hop flavor, which was what I felt clashed with the peated malt last time. I want this to be dry, and hopefully it will be even with all the Crystal 45, plus I'm using a highly attenuative yeast that is supposedly made for Scotch distillers, so with the planned drop in OG it shouldn't be like a barleywine at all.

I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression. I think both recipes are fine. But the first was making me taste barleywine in my head. I think the second is going to taste more Scotch Ale.

I'm still working on a recipe for the beer you inspired in me. Right now, for 5 gallons, I'm looking at
12.5lb Marris
2.25lb peated malt
2.25lb smoked malt
1lb victory
10oz torrified wheat
3oz Chocolate malt
3oz Special B
5oz Brown sugar
3oz Molasses

White Labs 007 - Dry English Ale

Hops - To be determined (leaning towards CTZ, Citra, & Topaz)

Dry hop & oak may or may not be involved

ABV = 9.5% assuming 75% eff & 75% atten
IBU ~ 70

I like the smoked & peated combo. It worked well in my other beer. In this recipe, its 23%.

The next thing I need to check is if I can mash 19lbs of grain in my cooler.

1.5 gallons

1.5 lbs 2-row, 1 lbs peated malt, 3/4 lbs Crystal 15
Mash at 145* for 75 minutes
Mash at 155* for 10 minutes
Funnel sparge at 168*

3.5g Millenium @ 60
1/4 tab Whirlflock @ 15
7g Fuggles @ 15 and 5

OG is 1.054. IBUs calculate to 41. I split the batch in half and pitched ~30 billion cells of WLP090, which I will ferment between 65-69*, and ~30 billion cells of WLP045, which I will ferment between 72-77*.

Gravity is down to 1.009 for WLP090 and 1.008 for WLP045. The WLP090 iteration has a clean upfront taste and then the more meat than peat aftertaste. The WLP045 has a more even upfront and aftertaste, but still has a bit of that more meat than peat taste. I think for my next batch I might try to find a higher quality peated malt. I also think I'm going to do something that is 80-90% peated malt. Of course I still have to transfer to secondary and dry hop with Williamette leaf hops as well as adding some oak chips.

I bottled a few days ago. Gravity was down to 1.007. It seems to have mellowed out a little from the oak chips.

Everything turned out fine, but I just think the peated malt tastes weird. I like the iteration with the WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast better than the WLP045 Scotch Whiskey Yeast, but it is still more meat than peat, no Laphroaig here. I'm going to give this one more shot at 80+% peated malt and try to hit something around 10% ABV. I might give it a shot with WLP099 High Gravity Ale Yeast as well.