Brewer's Best Scottish Ale

Hello everyone,

I'm currently working on a Brewer's Best Scottish Ale for my first brew. I was wondering if anyone else has tried this kit and, if so, what readily available commercial Scottish Ale would you compare it too? I'd like to do a side-by-side comparison between my brew and one of the store bought varieties.

Thanks!

That was the 1st kit I did. I'm not sure what to compare it to. Besides, I made so many mistakes I don't think it tasted quite the way it would have without the mistakes. I probably should have let it mature properly before drinking it all too.

I know that was no help at all. Best of luck to you.

lol, well, thanks anyway.

If it helps anyone, the recipe is:
Extracts
3.3 lb Amber Barley Malt LME (Muntons)
1.0 lb Amber Spray DME

Grains
4 oz Crushed Crystal 60L
4 oz Crushed Smoked
4 oz Crushed Chocolate
1 oz Crushed Roasted Barley

Hops
0.5 oz Glacier Bittering (Alpha Acid 7.4%)
0.5 oz Glacier Aroma (Alpha Acid 7.4%)

Yeast
1 sachet (11g) Windsor Brewing Yeast (Danstar brand)

The O.G. is supposed to be between 1.034 and 1.038.
It's supposed to yield a %ABV of 3.25-3.50%.

15-18 IBUs (which I am guessing is not very hoppy).

Maybe by looking at this someone can recommend a commercial brew to taste test against?

This was also my first kit. Again, I am not quite sure what to compare it to, maybe skullsplitter but on a smaller level. It came out great. I really liked it for a kit.

Not very good. came out with not much flavor at all, except for off flavors that is. Very subdued malt flavors and a color that sort of reminds me of newcastle. But a very old and skunky newcastle. Of course I forgot to crush my grains and fermented at too high of a temp, so there ya go. I brewed in Jan and still have 12 bottles left. They are getting better with age, but still not good.

Good luck!

Well, since the time I posted this I've picked up three Scottish Ales:

Oskar Blues Old Chub
Belhaven Scottish Ale
Arcadia Scotch Style Ale

I may pick up a few more in the next three weeks. The goal is to have a taste test when mine is finished bottle conditioning. I'll post results then.

This is an old thread, but I figured I'd see if anyone would like to follow up on it. I just picked up this kit. I've been brewing for a year now, and all my 5 gallon batches have been from Northern Brewer. I've had some issues with my orders, so I'm testing some other companies out. I was turned off by the low gravity of this kit, but I figured I'd give it a chance and see how it turns out. My kit has some changes from the one you posted. Instead of Glacier hops, it has .5oz of Northern Brewer (AA 10.3%) for bittering, and .5oz Willamette (AA 4.9%) for aroma. I thought about adding a pound or two of DME, kicking up the hops, yada yada yada, but I want to know how these kits taste. I'm curious how yours turned out. Based on what I've read so far, I'm thinking 1 week primary and 1 week secondary will be sufficient, but I've gotten very used to 2 weeks primary, 2-4 weeks secondary. Any thoughts, comments, rants, raves, complaints, what have you, is very welcome.

This was my first brew ever. I remember it being very malty, almost no hop bitterness. But then again I was trying to boil 2.5 gallons of wort on a glass cooktop and I don't think I ever got it to a good rolling boil.

Mine had off flavors. I mistakenly put the fermenter in the upstairs bathtub because I thought it needed to be somewhere warm. (I've learned a lot since then)

Again, it was very low ABV and malty...similar to an English Mild. The recipe doesn't specifically say it, but this is closest to style of a Scottish Light I think. It was nothing like the Scotch Ales you get at your favorite brew store.

I think if I brewed it again I would like better because my technique and equipment has improved a lot since then.

Give it a shot and see what you think!

just picked this kit up today, but i didnt notice until i got home that the ABV for it was only 3.5! what can i do to raise this? do i just go back and pick up some more LME or is there something else i might add?