Wee Heavy Traq Air Owl Wee Heavy

11B. English And Scottish Strong Ale, Strong Scotch Ale (Wee Heavy) All-grain
Almost Traquair House
OG 1.081
FG 1.020
IBU 29
ABV 7.9 %
SRM 15

Specifics
Boil Volume 8 gallons
Batch Size 5 gallons
Yeast 75% AA

Style Comparison
Low High
OG 1.072 1.081 1.088+
FG 1.019 1.020 1.025+
IBU 20 29 40
SRM 10 15 47
ABV 6.9 7.9 8.5+



Fermentables
% Weight Weight (lbs) Grain Gravity Points Color
98.2 % 14.00 British Two-row Pale 79.8 7.0
1.8 % 0.25 Roasted Barley 1.1 22.5
14.25 80.9

Hops
% Wt Weight (oz) Hop Form AA% AAU Boil Time Utilization IBU
57.1 % 1.00 East Kent Goldings Pellet 5.5 5.5 40 0.221 18.2
42.9 % 0.75 East Kent Goldings Pellet 5.5 4.1 25 0.175 10.8
1.75 29.1

Mash @ 154 60 minutes

Take first 1 Gallon and boil down to 1 pt, add to rest of runnoff and boil for 60 minutes

I think I'm going to give this recipe a shot this weekend. Now that the weather is cool I can ferment it in the range it needs to be for that authentic scottish taste. I'd like to use golden promise for the base grain but I'm not sure it's available at either of the lhbs around here. I'll probably go with maris otter or british pale instead. I kind of feel like that really rich smoothness from the real Traquair House ale comes in part from it fermenting in open wooden containers. I wonder if oaking it in secondary would be beneficial?

Golden Promise works the best, but any good British malt will do. If you try the oak let me know how it turns out.

This is my version of Skotrat's recipe. He uses Nortern Brewer hops and I like EKG. It's good both ways

To get it really smooth let it sit 2 months @ 45 degrees

Brewed yesterday. Didn't boil down the kettle caramelization aliquot as much as I wanted to. Was doing it in a 9 gallon pot and was getting scared about it scorching when it got down really low. As a result I don't think the color came out as dark as the real thing. Probably didn't develop as much flavor either. I boiled a little over a gallon down to a little over a quart. I also used 15 lbs of maris otter and 3 oz. british roasted barley for a 5.5 gal. batch. I went with NB hops although reading the Traquair website, it says they use EKG for all their brews. Your version will be closer in that regard. It also says they use Munton's malt exclusively, and as far as I know, Munton's doesn't malt golden promise. So maybe the Munton's maris otter will work out. I was sure to get the Munton's roasted barley too since it is much darker (453+ L) than the american roasted barley (300 L). I pitched a big starter of wyeast 1728 and it was bubbling immediately. It's chugging along right now at 58 degrees. I'll let you know how it turns out in a couple months.

Any comments as to how these turned out? I just had a Traquair this weekend and am frantically searching for a good recipe so I can try something close or similar.

Brewed this 2 months ago. It's smooth and tasty. Caramelized runoff really does make a nearly-diacetyl taste, but with age it seems less similar. Haven't had Traqair, so can't say how close it comes, but it's definitely a winner. I'd love a more peaty aspect, but I'm not sure that's possible (anyone try some genuine Scottish turf in secondary?)

I made this and it was unbelievable. I followed the recipe to a T with the exception of addind an 1/8 lb of peated malt. Not sure it made a difference however, I really liked how it turned out.

I brewed this up yesterday as a 3.5 gallon batch. The only changes I made were to add 1.5 oz of peated malt and Palisades as my bittering hop (I had some extras I needed to burn through). The caramelization went off without a hitch. I plan on taking half and adding maple syrup and cold pressed chicory and leaving the other half as is.

I am very excited to see how this one ends up.

I'm doing this as a "teach a friend to brew day" brew and will bring the results to compare with the real thing.
Don't forget to ferment on the cool side and let rest at least a month at 40-45f

A year out and still hoarding a couple of these in the basement. Every time I crack one it is a pleasure.

I know this thread is a few months old but I've got a question.... What exactly is caramelization? I've read it a couple times when looking for scotch ales... As its one of my favorite styles. Does anyone know the basics of the scotch ale? Or strong Scottish or wee heavy... Whatever it is called these days

It is not actually caramelizing as the temperature isn't high enough but the result is the same. The first gallon of run off is boiled (concentrated) down to one pint which dramatically darkens the color and gives a , for lack of a better term, caramelized flavor that is expected in a Scottish Wee Heavy.

niquejim,

I have been planning on doing a Scotch ale for quite a while and this will definitely be the recipe. But I have a few questions.

How did your comparison to the real thing go?

Skotrat, in his recipe, uses only 1% of roasted barley. Do you think yours would be more roasty than his? I'm not a big fan of "roasty" in a beer and might reduce that a bit.

If you were to scale this to a 80/- would you reduce the roasted barley in the same proportion that the base malt is reduced?

MichaelBrock
Not sure this answers your questions, but I have made this twice using the recipe as is with the exception of an additional 1/8 pound of peated moss (both times). I have had many a' wee heavys and I think this compares. I am reluctant to compare side by side because of many things can happen to the home brew or the compared to beer. Regardless this has been a solid wee heavy twice. The color, head, flavor profile is spot on. I would use this to be a wee heavy and not try to adjust it to be anything else. There are a lot of 80's on the board to pull from.

Yeah, I decided to just go with the flow. I'm brewing this up on Sunday, as written. I like the idea of boiling down the first runnings and didn't find a recipe for a 80/- that called for it. I think some time down the road I'll scale this down and try it as an 80.

I always forget to check these pages so I'm sorry I haven't replied sooner. I use about 1% roasted barley and it does not give a roasted flavor, and I always boil down some of the first runnings for any Scottish ale no matter the strength. To me it helps give it that characteristic malty flavor that I love in those beers.
This beer is as close as you can get to Traquair House, nearly identicle when tasted side by side

This is my third brew of this recipe - still tasty! Bittering hops were my own homegrown, which is dicey as I have no idea what the alpha acids are. I tripled the hop addition and it worked out fine (though did absorb a lot of wort). Bottle conditioning now, after sitting in primary for 4-5 weeks. Super clear, super tasty.


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Going for another rebrew. Enjoyed the addition of pleated malt last time, will repeat. Perhaps cherry smoked this time.

This is such a simple recipe, but so good. I brewed this Labor Day weekend, left in primary for 3 weeks before bottling. It really is starting to hit its stride at 2 months in the bottle. I have 6 bottles I am setting aside to let them age until next year. I will definitely be brewing this one regularly.

Bump for rebrew

If you plan to rebrew you might skip the boil down step. So much more has been learned about Scottish brewing since the original post including no evidence that the Scots "boiled down" their worts. If anything, Scottish boils were the same or even shorter than London brewers.

On the other hand Traquir House is a provincial brewery who may not have followed the practices of the bigger players in Edinburgh.

Hmm, thanks! Would certainly save me some time and management.