Scottish Heavy Walker's Gruagach 80/-

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Brewed this last night and have a question. I collected about a quart of the first runnings and reduced it as mentioned. However, I added it back to the boil about 30 minutes in - just before the hop addition. Will this make a difference vs. adding it in the last few minutes?
 
Brewed this last night and have a question. I collected about a quart of the first runnings and reduced it as mentioned. However, I added it back to the boil about 30 minutes in - just before the hop addition. Will this make a difference vs. adding it in the last few minutes?

H'm. Interesting question. I brewed my first batch of this Tuesday, and I just did the reduction (damn near boiled over, I got lucky!), took the pan out to the garage where the boil was going, put it in and dunked the pan to rinse it out. I couldn't even tell you when I put it in..........that's a 90 min. boil, so I'm guessing halfway, maybe.
 
Brewed this up today. Og was 1.057. Added back the caramelized portion with about 30 minutes left in the boil, fwiw. I'll report back in a few months. Cheers!
 
I don't think it'll make a difference when you add the reduction back. I always do it near the end of the boil, just because that's when I have it ready to go, but ... i doubt it matters.
 
I'm approaching 4 weeks in primary, so I did a hydrometer test for FG today = 1.010. Lower than I expected, given what I've read in this thread, and given that I pretty much hit the OG right on the money at 1.054. Anyway, ready to bottle and sock it away for a while....
 
My first batch is a little over two months from brewday; a month in the fermenter, a month in the bottle. Just retrieved a tube from the basement early this morning and stuck it in the fridge, enjoying it now. Excellent, just excellent. Some of this thread indicates it may improve given some more conditioning. Can't wait....it should be amazing in that event. 4 oz. peated malt produced a flavor, but very subtle. The reduction apparently produced enough unfermentables to yield a nice blended sweetness.
 
I just brewed this yesterday. I used 10 lbs of marris otter instead of the 9 lbs of two row and 1 lb of crystal. For my first attempt at an all grain batch I think I did pretty good. Ended up with 5 gallons in the fermenter and I collected another gallon from the mash tun to make an unhopped malt beverage for a friend.

Thanks for the recipe! I'll let you know how it turns out. Its pretty dark as it sits now even without using the crystal malt. I'll try to post some pics.
 
The crystal is in the recipe not for color as much as it is for a rich carmel flavor, but I am sure it will be good.
 
Okay, I let the reduction boil for the 90 minutes then added it straight to the fermenter. So I would think that will help. Sorry for the resolution on this pic, I took it this morning in the basement before I left for work. The Krausen is about 1 finger tall.

day 2 british ale.jpg
 
Just transferred this to secondary. Overshot my OG by quite a bit due to high efficiency, so I'm looking at 7% now.

Very tasty though! This one won't last long.
 
Congrats Hinke! We picked up a couple golds, a silver and a bronze!:mug:

Largest attendance I've ever seen there and we have been going longer than I would care to admit. The T-Shirts and scoresheets usually don't show up for a couple weeks. They were planning on handing out the scoresheets but from I heard there were just too many and not enough volunteers.. not fact.. just what I heard. I do know that that comp is a huge undertaking and that they were really working their tales off. Hopefully they will get the results up soon. Hope to make it again next year.

CHEERZ!:tank:
 
Thanks!

My first time there and first time entering a beer in to the Bluebonnet :)

They had over 1800 entries total.

I judged one flight on Friday, then just had fun the rest of the time :)
 
Thanks!

My first time there and first time entering a beer in to the Bluebonnet :)

They had over 1800 entries total.

I judged one flight on Friday, then just had fun the rest of the time :)

A GOLD for your first time entering!?!?! OutStanding!!!! :rockin: Congrats! Hope you entered as a new entrant!! Keep bringin it strong!!
 
Thanks!

Did not enter as new entrant...that's how little I know :eek:

This beer is on the schedule again. Can't wait to have it again.
 
We got 1st place in the Scottish/Irish Ale category with this recipe at the 2012 Bluebonnet!!

This is not surprising at all. After trying several other Scottish 80/- recipes and finding -something- lacking, after tasting my first batch of this beer I knew it was going to be a regular on my shelves. I don't know whether it's the reduction or the peated malt that does it, but it's a winner.....
 
Brewed my second batch yesterday; this one's a keeper for sure! I remembered to do the reduction, but it looked like the level was a bit low after I sealed up the bucket. I'll have to remember to add more makeup water next time. That 90 minute boil and the reduction definitely use more than normal.....
 
This looks like such a good recipe and I love Scotch ales. I'm going to give this a go in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, it's not so easy to get some of the malts here in Japan. Specifically the melanoidin and the aromatic. Does anyone have a good substitute for these two... something like Carared, for example?
Cheers for the help!
 
This looks like such a good recipe and I love Scotch ales. I'm going to give this a go in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, it's not so easy to get some of the malts here in Japan. Specifically the melanoidin and the aromatic. Does anyone have a good substitute for these two... something like Carared, for example?
Cheers for the help!

Of the several Scotch ales I have brewed, this is by far my favorite. As for the malt question, when I ran across a malt equivalency table I realizee that there are a lot of malts around that have just been given proprietary or regional names, when they are identical (or close enough) to a more familiar malt, like C40L or something. There's a link somewhere on HBT, but this is the first one that popped up under Google:

http://kotmf.com/articles/maltnames.php

good luck!
 
Brewed a 10 gal batch last night. It was cold outside and it took 25 min to get my mash temp up to 154-I was at 148 for a while. Finally raised the Polar mash run up off the ground and that did it! Let the mash go for 90 min total. How do you think this may affect the beer?
I did the carmelization step and I have some advice. Use a big sauce pan with extra space to prevent boil overs. Especially if you're running back and forth to the brew pot.
Only changes I made to the recipe were I used Golden Promise base malt because I had it, put in an extra 0.5 oz of hops and targeted a 12 gal finish instead if the 11.0 in doubled recipe. The GP malt usually delivers for me and I hit the OG dead on miraculously.
My LHBS had peated malt that didn't taste so strong so I used the full amount, but be aware as they vary. It will smell and taste like a Band-Aid if you use too much. Thoughts on adding scotch to the secondary?
Please post your replies to my ?s above :).
 
Brewing this in January after the holidays. Started with a Brewer's Best Scottish Ale so it's time to revisit the style with style.

My hopping regime might be more like:
1oz EKG @ 60 min
0.5oz Northdown @ 20 min
 
dadnboys said:
Brewed a 10 gal batch last night. It was cold outside and it took 25 min to get my mash temp up to 154-I was at 148 for a while. Finally raised the Polar mash run up off the ground and that did it! Let the mash go for 90 min total. How do you think this may affect the beer?
I did the carmelization step and I have some advice. Use a big sauce pan with extra space to prevent boil overs. Especially if you're running back and forth to the brew pot.
Only changes I made to the recipe were I used Golden Promise base malt because I had it, put in an extra 0.5 oz of hops and targeted a 12 gal finish instead if the 11.0 in doubled recipe. The GP malt usually delivers for me and I hit the OG dead on miraculously.
My LHBS had peated malt that didn't taste so strong so I used the full amount, but be aware as they vary. It will smell and taste like a Band-Aid if you use too much. Thoughts on adding scotch to the secondary?
Please post your replies to my ?s above :).

OK, finally tasted this carbed in keg after a few days. First, I split the 10 gal into 5 gal batches and pitched Edinburg Ale yeast in one and the Scotch Ale yeast in the other. Precarb the Edinburg batch was more complex, had some ester notes reminiscent of a Belgian Ale. This beer probably fermented at 65-70 deg. FG was 1.012. The Scotch Ale batch was flatter, malt nose and the peat came through better. Fermented at 60-65 deg. FG was 1.010. Now a week later, and carbed up the 2 beers are coming closer together. Very tasty.
 
Just my two cents on this--my buddy and I brewed this beer over the winter, and although the process went very well, we were initially shocked at the peat taste. We are both big scotch drinkers and love peated scotch, so it's not that we can't handle or aren't familiar with the taste--it's just that it was really intense. But as the beer has aged, the flavor has really rounded out, and the harsh phenolic "preserved corpse" character has turned into a slightly medicinal, briny, smokey taste, much more like a good scotch. It has really blended in well, and we now think it's a great beer. So I guess my advice is, follow the recipe but then let it age for at least 2 months before drinking. Thanks for the recipe!
 
Just my two cents on this--my buddy and I brewed this beer over the winter, and although the process went very well, we were initially shocked at the peat taste. We are both big scotch drinkers and love peated scotch, so it's not that we can't handle or aren't familiar with the taste--it's just that it was really intense. But as the beer has aged, the flavor has really rounded out, and the harsh phenolic "preserved corpse" character has turned into a slightly medicinal, briny, smokey taste, much more like a good scotch. It has really blended in well, and we now think it's a great beer. So I guess my advice is, follow the recipe but then let it age for at least 2 months before drinking. Thanks for the recipe!

A few things:

1. I love peaty Scotch (Laphroiag being my favorite).

2. I have made this recipe several times, and am brewing it again this Spring, and made according to recipe (4 oz. peated malt, I use Simpson's), I don't find it all that peaty (I start drinking after 4 weeks conditioning), in fact it's more of a "hint" of peat, enough so that I may try another ounce this year.

3. Maybe you got some strong peat......
 
Hmm, I also used Simpson's. Maybe it was just really fresh, or something. Despite a one-month stint in the primary, the phenol character (reallyl bandaid-like) was initially so intense that we thought we had an infection. Well, I don't know, but I'm just glad it turned out well in the end.
 
Peat is a damn potent thing, and I'm sure it varies from maltster to maltster and over time.
When I was trying to dial this thing in, 3oz was barely there, 6 oz was way too much.
I don't even know what brand I had. It was just packaged up in a half pound package at my LHBS.

edit: I will add that this is the first time I have ever heard the recipe called "too peaty". Normally, people have the reaction that rico had. Meaning, they tasted a hint of peat and wanted more, or they thought it was just right.
 
I just bottled a 5.5 gallon batch of this last week after a month at 60F and a month at 50F. I'll let you know how the peatiness comes out. It's still flat though.
 
Just opened a bottle after almost three weeks. I made some modifications on the hop profile and used Golden Promise for the base malt and went with US-04 since I was ready (and still ain't) to do starters like the Wyeast's Scottish Ale. Been excited to try it out since this is the style that got me into brewing.

Not too peaty at all. You can taste it behind some of the malt character and remains in the mouth after. I might even up the dosage by 50% for a peated oatmeal stout I want to brew.

I stored it at 60F for one month then ~53F for another. Very clear with a dusting of yeast at the bottle of the bottle. My only concern is that the carbonation is low. It's the longest I've let a beer sit and US-04 sounds like a good flocculating yeast. Maybe I should have agitated it a bit more during bottling to rekindle some of the yeast.
 
I just brewed this and ended up with OG at 1.054, I used 5 lbs of Pale 2 row and 3.75 lbs of Maris Otter. It is fermenting nicely at 60 deg. My question concerns the volumes of CO2 to use to bottle. Tasty Brew shows the style for Scottish Ale/80 schilling at .75-1.3. The calculator shows to use .8 oz of corn sugar for a 5 gal batch that was fermented at 60 degrees. Will this be enough to even produce any head at all? Does this seem low? Has anyone bottled and have any experience with this?
 
Just opened a bottle after almost three weeks. I made some modifications on the hop profile and used Golden Promise for the base malt and went with US-04 since I was ready (and still ain't) to do starters like the Wyeast's Scottish Ale. Been excited to try it out since this is the style that got me into brewing.

Not too peaty at all. You can taste it behind some of the malt character and remains in the mouth after. I might even up the dosage by 50% for a peated oatmeal stout I want to brew.

I stored it at 60F for one month then ~53F for another. Very clear with a dusting of yeast at the bottle of the bottle. My only concern is that the carbonation is low. It's the longest I've let a beer sit and US-04 sounds like a good flocculating yeast. Maybe I should have agitated it a bit more during bottling to rekindle some of the yeast.

What did you use to carbonate and how much did you use? I was wondering if 1 oz of corn sugar would be enough for the style or if this seems low? I generally store after fermentation around 68-70 deg. in a closet and usually carbonate to style with adequate head. Not sure on this one, my first attempt at a Scottish ale.
 
I think I bottled with 4 or 4.5 oz of corn sugar which worked well for a nut brown ale I did. But in most cases I prefer standard 5oz/5gal priming over less carbonated, more stylistic priming amounts. The last growler I filled was a Scottish Ale (the one that started it all) and it turned sickeningly sweet as it went flat so I wanted to distance myself from that.

This batch sat for two months at low temperatures (60F and then 55F) before bottling. I used US04 which is pretty good at dropping out so only a slight silt is at the bottom of the bottles.

What I've done to try and get more carbonation post-bottling is to let the bottles sit in front of the heating vents so they get up to 68F for a few days. Also used a bit of agitation/gentle wrist snap to try and put the yeast back into the beer. I put them in the fridge yesterday so I'll see what's become of them in a couple minutes.
 
Going to brew this again tomorrow. Two things to remember:

1. Remember to do the reduction.

2. Remember not to allow the reduction to boil over.

I've been lucky so far, but.....I'm just sayin'.
 
Brewed this in late December, exactly to recipe, not counting slightly reduced amount of hops to account for higher AA. Used Golden Promise as the base. Fantastic brew.

I would agree with the folks who have said the minimum aging on this should be around three months. My experience was that the peat aroma/flavor was increasing for the first few months as I would taste it, at its peak it was borderline unpleasant, then it began to mellow. Right now it is absolutely one of the best tasting beers I've made.

The only adjustment I would make is to be more vigilant with the secondary boil, I don't think I quite made a syrup the first time.
 
1) PEATED MALT
I've been trying to get an idea for usage of peated malt and found this thread.
It's interesting to note the various (albeit subjective) responses wrt peat strength.
If I look at Crisp's offerings ( Scottish Peated Malt From Crisp | Malt For Scottish Whiskey ) they provide various strengths:
"three levels of “smokiness”; lightly peated malt (15 ppm phenol), medium peated malt (25ppm) and heavy peated malt (50ppm)"

Do you have any idea of the strength used in this recipe?
I have access to the 50ppm peated malt, maybe 8oz too much then?

2) YEAST
Looks like I dont have access to this yeast or it's alternatives (WY1728/Scottish Ale, WLP028/Edinburgh, A31/Tartan, GY044/Scotch)
Any other suggestions?
 
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