Kettle Caramelized Wee Heavy

I'd like to make a Wee Heavy using primarily kettle caramelization, my planned grain bill is something like 20 lbs British pale and 4 oz roasted barley. What is the appropriate amount of first runnings to caramelize, and do you take it to normal carmelization temperature, i.e. 180°C? I've got BCS but the details are a little slim.

Most people just boil the pi$$ out of a gallon, on my next wee heavy I'm going to try getting the kettle red hot prior to draining into it and boil the whole thing a long time. Your grain bill looks good, what yeast you using?

Brew on my friends

Probably White Labs WLP028 Edinburgh Ale or Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale like JZ recommends in BCS. I'm also planning on doing a 120 minute boil.

fwiw, I just did a 70- Schilling, used the Wyeast 1728, as a "starter" for a wee heavy. I boiled 1 gallon of wort down to just over 1 pint, i plan to do about the same for the wee heavy, and do a 90 min boil.

let us know how yours goes, i've got about a month before i brew my wee heavy.

NotALamer said:

Probably White Labs WLP028 Edinburgh Ale or Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale like JZ recommends in BCS. I'm also planning on doing a 120 minute boil.

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Either of those sound good, I've used both and noticed no real difference. I have plans to culture yeast off some juniper berries for the next one but haven't started this yet either, so many brews, so little time.

Keep on brewing my friends

For a wee heavy I would recommend boiling down 2 gallons to a thick sticky syrup, then add the rest of thw wort on top and boil for your desired time. IME 1 gallon is fine for a scottish ale like an 70 but not for a wee heavy.

Do you just collect the first runnings, and while boiling down keep the Mash in the MTL at mash out temp (170ish)?

I'll probably empty the first runnings into a smaller pot to caramelize them and continue mashing out into my regular boil pot while the first runnings cook.

A kind word of caution. I just finished up a Wee Heavy which I mashed at a slightly higher temp, caramelized 1.25 gallons of wort, & did a 2 hour boil. Anticipated FG was 1.024 actual FG was 1.030. Also there is a rather strong alcohol presence in this 8.5% abv bier at about 3 months. I fermented in the 62-66 degree range and pitched a 1-gallon starter of Edinburgh yeast. All that's to say I think i created too many long chain sugars in my wort by tripling my 'caramelizing' efforts. This obviously caused a bump in FG & I feel it stressed the yeast who were trying to eat these complex sugars resulting in the higher alcohols.

If I had it to do over again I'd mash at 152 rather than 155 for my initial step of 30 mins, reduce the long boil to 90 mins from 120, and caramelized runnings as stated above. The alcohols will tone down/disappear with time so no worries there, but the initial tasting is quite cloying. On the good side the caramel & burned sugar flavors are out of sight with quite a complex maltiness to be so young!

Good luck & Schlante,
Phillip

What was your mash schedule?

IIRC i mashed at 155 for 45 mins (enough for 90 plus % of conversion to be complete),158 got 20 mins, 169 mashout 10-15 min. Not that i have done this a ton of times but i`m comfortable enough with my process to say my FG being 5 points too high is caused by combined effects not one... just too many long chain sugars.

On a positive note the alcohols have died down significantly!

Schlante,
Phillip

I think I might caramelize 1.25 gallons and boil for 120 but mash at 154 for 90 mins. Did you caramelize the first runnings to a certain temperature or volume or what?

MVKTR2 said:

but the initial tasting is quite cloying. On the good side the caramel & burned sugar flavors are out of sight with quite a complex maltiness to be so young!

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Definitely will improve with time. I'm still drinking a Wee Heavy I brewed over a year ago. And it's just now really starting to come together. The cloying sweetness is finally gone, as is the alcohol flavor. It's damn tasty! It just took a long time to get there, and will undoubtedly continue to improve.

NotALamer said:

I think I might caramelize 1.25 gallons and boil for 120 but mash at 154 for 90 mins. Did you caramelize the first runnings to a certain temperature or volume or what?

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I simply boiled the crap out of the first runnings. Boiled it down from 1.25 gal to less than a quart... I was making syrup at that point! I think your process as stated before time, temps, & caramelization should prove a good combo. Good luck.

jacksonbrown said:

Definitely will improve with time. I'm still drinking a Wee Heavy I brewed over a year ago. And it's just now really starting to come together. The cloying sweetness is finally gone, as is the alcohol flavor. It's damn tasty! It just took a long time to get there, and will undoubtedly continue to improve.

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I'm really loving my recipe and the super complex sugars in the flavor profile it's just those last few points of gravity that are bothering me! If I'm off one way or the other it's usually a few points too dry from my modus operandi of mashing most everything at 151 degrees! Thanks for the encouragement and I'm a patient sort wasn't planning on drinking this till winter giving it a good 6-7 months. Even put oxygen caps on a few to save long term.

Schlante,
Phillip