Heavy Scottish Turned into a Light Wee Heavy

BlackHoleSun · Jan 27, 2015

So for my 2nd all grain brew (after 8 months of down time due to moving) I went for a relatively simple Scottish Ale. Shooting for an 80/-

my Efficiency was slightly higher than I anticipated at 72.3%.

This gave me a post boil sg of 1.059

I was expecting the fg to be in the range of 1.014 to 1.018, however when I pulled my sample at bottling on Sunday, it was down to 1.008. ABV 6.7%
I siphoned off just under 6gal of beer into my bottling bucket.

The sample itself was still delicious, maybe just slightly lighter than I wanted. Any Idea what made it dry out so much? I'm thinking I should have used Maris Otter now over 2 row.

Either way, the sample was very very good, so I'm sure the final beer will work out.

Thoughts would be appreciated. Recipe is below

11 lbs 2 row Malt
1 lb Vienna Malt
.5 lb Crystal 20L
.5 lb Christal 80L
.5 lb Crystal 120L
1 oz Goldings East Kent Boil 65 min
1 tab whirfloc
Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) in a 1.5 L starter

I mashed in at 158F for 60min. Batch. Split sparge in half (170F)

had a bit more wert than I wanted and boiled for about 30min before I added the hops and started the 65min clock.

Cheers :mug:

Wolfbayte · Jan 27, 2015

BlackHoleSun said:
So for my 2nd all grain brew (after 8 months of down time due to moving) I went for a relatively simple Scottish Ale. Shooting for an 80/-

my Efficiency was slightly higher than I anticipated at 72.3%.

This gave me a post boil sg of 1.059

I was expecting the fg to be in the range of 1.014 to 1.018, however when I pulled my sample at bottling on Sunday, it was down to 1.008. ABV 6.7%
I siphoned off just under 6gal of beer into my bottling bucket.

The sample itself was still delicious, maybe just slightly lighter than I wanted. Any Idea what made it dry out so much? I'm thinking I should have used Maris Otter now over 2 row.

Either way, the sample was very very good, so I'm sure the final beer will work out.

Thoughts would be appreciated. Recipe is below

11 lbs 2 row Malt
1 lb Vienna Malt
.5 lb Crystal 20L
.5 lb Christal 80L
.5 lb Crystal 120L
1 oz Goldings East Kent Boil 65 min
1 tab whirfloc
Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) in a 1.5 L starter

I mashed in at 158F for 60min. Batch. Split sparge in half (170F)

had a bit more wert than I wanted and boiled for about 30min before I added the hops and started the 65min clock.

Cheers

I agree your beer will be fine and as I read this I added "Get in my Belly!" after every sentence.

+1 on the Maris Otter, but that's personal preference

Your mash temp may have dropped, or a long sparge time and no mash out may have allowed more starch conversion than you planned. An Oatmeal Stout did the same thing to me last month.

Keep an eye on that for the next batch and let us know how this one comes out once its carbed and properly conditioned. You may want to give it an extra week on top of what you planned.

In the meantime, RDWHAHB

Upthewazzu · Jan 27, 2015

BlackHoleSun said:
I was expecting the fg to be in the range of 1.014 to 1.018, however when I pulled my sample at bottling on Sunday, it was down to 1.008. ABV 6.7%
I siphoned off just under 6gal of beer into my bottling bucket.

Timely, I did a very similar recipe (10.25lb Pale, .75lb C120, .25lbC40, Wyeast Scottish Ale Yeast) and mashed at 152 and ended up with the exact same OG as you, 1.008. I assumed it was because of the low mash temp, but maybe it had more to do with the yeast (I also did a 1.5L starter).

BlackHoleSun · Jan 27, 2015

I verified that the temp stayed steady during the mash, so it wasn't that. However, now that I think about it, the wert would have cooled after it was siphoned into the pot. Especially with 2 sparge steps.
I think that I will put some heat on my pot next time to heat the wert up and stop any additional enzyme activity, as I drain the tun and sparge.

feinbera · Jan 27, 2015

I'd also check that your thermometer's accurate – doesn't matter if your temp is stead if it's four or five degrees lower than you think it is from the get-go.

And, speaking from messy, messy personal experience, keep a close eye on those first runnings – they'll go from mash temp to boil-over quicker than you think!

BlackHoleSun · Jan 27, 2015

Verifying my thermometer isn't a bad idea (even if it is supposed to be certified)

I would probably wait until I had a bit of wert in the pot before I turned the heat on low. The temp would just need to get to 180 or so and hold steady

BlackHoleSun · Jan 27, 2015

Upthewazzu said:
Timely, I did a very similar recipe (10.25lb Pale, .75lb C120, .25lbC40, Wyeast Scottish Ale Yeast) and mashed at 152 and ended up with the exact same OG as you, 1.008. I assumed it was because of the low mash temp, but maybe it had more to do with the yeast (I also did a 1.5L starter).

That mash temp does seem a little low. You could also have had what I think happened to mine if you didn't do a mashout. The wert cooled as you drained the tun and sparged

Heavy Scottish Turned into a Light Wee Heavy

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