Scottish Ale

Hey- I'm brewing a Scottish Ale this weekend. Adding in some dark munich for a little more body, some peated malt for smoky aroma, and some flaked barley for a creamy head. Any suggestions about the brew/ ferment process to make an awesome beer?

You can take a peak at mine for some guidance. But only one peak!!!

#23 Scottish HellFire
Brew Type: All Grain Date: 2/3/2009
Style: Scottish Wee Heavy Ale Brewer: Richard Clark
Batch Size: 5.50 gal Assistant Brewer:
Boil Volume: 8.00 gal Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 68.00 % Equipment: Lead Penny Brewing Equipment
Actual Efficiency: 67.99 %
Taste Rating (50 possible points): 35.0

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
13.50 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 79.41 %
1.00 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 5.88 %
0.50 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 2.94 %
0.50 lb Peat Smoked Malt (2.8 SRM) Grain 1.47 %
0.25 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 1.47 %
2.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [6.20 %] (60 min) Hops 45.2 IBU
1.50 lb Brown Sugar, Light (8.0 SRM) Sugar 8.82 %
1 Pkgs Edinburgh Ale (White Labs #WLP028) [Starter 100 ml] Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.084 SG (1.075-1.100 SG) Measured Original Gravity: 1.084 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.022 SG (1.018-1.035 SG) Measured Final Gravity: 1.022 SG
Estimated Color: 20.1 SRM (10.0-47.0 SRM) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 45.2 IBU (20.0-40.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 15.5 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 8.15 % (6.90-9.00 %) Actual Alcohol by Volume: 8.12 %
Actual Calories: 389 cal/pint


Mash Profile Name: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge Mash Tun Weight: 0.00 lb
Mash Grain Weight: 15.50 lb Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
Sparge Water: 5.02 gal Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE

Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 4.84 gal of water at 170.5 F 158.0 F 45 min

Two ways you can go with a scottish. Use a recipe above, or go a more traditional way. Not sure if you are extract or not, but start your boil with simple base malts. Pull a gallon off and boil it down to a real thick syrup then add back to your main kettle. You will be amazed at all the flavor profile you get from doing a caramelization like this.

Here is a great link to information on the Scottish Ale style by Ray Daniels. Hope you enjoy it. Be careful with Scotch Ales - they have a way of making you forget about all the other styles

Scotch and Scottish Ales

If there is one ingredient that simply doesn't belong in Scottish ales, it is distiller's (peat) malt.

Incidentally, I just finished brewing a 70/- less than an hour ago.

The recipe:

[size=+2]Duncan's Malcontent 70/- [/size]
[size=+1]9-B Scottish Heavy 70/-[/size]
Author: Jason Konopinski
Date: 2/12/09



Size: 5.5 gal
Efficiency: 80%
Attenuation: 65%
Calories: 134.89 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.040 (1.035 - 1.040)
|========================#=======|
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 - 1.015)
|====================#===========|
Color: 16.36 (9.0 - 17.0)
|======================#=========|
Alcohol: 3.4% (3.2% - 3.9%)
|============#===================|
Bitterness: 17.0 (10.0 - 25.0)
|===============#================|

[size=+1]Ingredients:[/size]
6.5 lb Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt
.5 lb Dark Munich Malt
0.5 lb British Dark Crystal
3 oz Caramel Malt 120L
2.0 oz Pale Chocolate
1 oz Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.0 ea WYeast 1728 Scottish Ale

[size=+1]Schedule:[/size]
00:03:00 Mash-In - Liquor: 2.44 gal; Strike: 167.97 °F; Target: 154 °F
01:03:00 Saccharification Rest - Rest: 60 min; Final: 152.0 °F
01:33:00 Lautering - First Runnings: 0.0 gal sparge @ 150 °F, 10.0 min; Sparge #1: 3.08 gal sparge @ 178 °F, 10.0 min; Sparge #2: 3.08 gal sparge @ 178 °F, 10.0 min; Total Runoff: 7.87 gal

[size=-1]Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.2[/size]

flyangler18 said:

If there is one ingredient that simply doesn't belong in Scottish ales, it is distiller's (peat) malt.

Click to expand...

+1 on that. Peat belongs in whiskey not beer.

I couldn't agree more. I love most styles of brews and drink Laphroaig Scoth, but the peat flavor in the ale is a totally different matter. I thought it would be a great idea, but it was awful...to MY taste.

Can you point me to a commercial example of a Scottish Heavy (or Export)?