and so the Scottish succession begins...

Been wanting to do this for a while now. I have been really into low gravity ales lately brewing milds and bitters. So I figured it was a good time for a succession of shilling ales leading up to a wee heavy.

The plan is to start with a 60/- then pitch a 70/- onto the yeast of that, and so on... Plus harvest and wash some yeast from the 60/- to save for later as it is difficult for me to get good liquid yeast and I am a skinflinty bastid'. Bit o' the Scottish runnin' in these veins + the yankee...

I have done an 80/- and a Scotch ale but never a full procession. For this one I am going to scrap the previous recipes I made and try the most simple "allegedly" traditional method. That being simply to use Marris Otter and a bit of roasted barley for color. Caramelizing the first gallon of runnings then a 120 minute boil for a malty thick brew. Then just a bit of Goldings for balance. Ferment her cool in my basement at about 60-62F then condition cold as I can (hopefully low 50's) for a few weeks.

Starter of Wyeast 1728 is going...


I realize with a starting gravity of only 1.031 I could probably get away without a starter, but what the hell...

Now it is just a matter of scrounging some time to brew. Wife owes me one the way I see it. Had the kids all alone for 4 days last week when she went to a conference. :cross:

I need a break!

So anyway here is the recipe for the 60/-.

With a 75% efficiency (I think, been creeping upwards lately since I bought a new drill)

6 lb. 4 oz. of Marris Otter
2 oz. roasted barley

Mash at 155F for 60 minutes

Collect one gallon and boil down to 1 quart in a separate pot. Collect rest of run-off and sparge.

Boil for 2 hours (120 minutes) adding 21 g (.75 oz) of Golding pellet hops at 60 minutes.

3 g Irish moss at 15 minutes.

Cool to the mid 60's and pitch decanted starter.

Ferment at (hopefully) 62F for 3 weeks. Rack to keg and condition cold (low 50's or maybe in the kegerator) for 2-3 more weeks. Force carb for a week at 1 volume to start. Maybe raise it higher to taste. I am still trying to work out the "perfect" carbonation for these styles that is close to authentic.

Depending on how this turns out I may or may not add some crystal to the following batches. I was going to originally but decided to try the simplest grain bill and see how it goes. Kind of liking things simpler these days.

Zymurgrafi said:

I realize with a starting gravity of only 1.031 I could probably get away without a starter, but what the hell...

Click to expand...

Heh, I'd call a 60/- a starter in itself

The crystal additions (and various other specialty grains) will give you some of the same profiles that you get from the decoction. A lot of people choose to simply modify their recipe with crystals in lieu of going through the decoction process. I think it's a matter of preference though, once you get the right amount of specialty grains dialed in, most people can't tell the difference between a decocted beer and a non-decocted one.

BTW, I'm getting into the easy drinking, high flavor scottish beers myself. I'm not a fan of the big, peat-flavored ales, but the 60 and the 80 are tasty little guys I need to cut down a little on cost too. I'm used to doing 1.060 high hopped pale ales, and the cost per batch is getting a little out of hand. I like the idea of a 6 pound grain bill instead of 12

MikeRLynch said:

BTW, I'm getting into the easy drinking, high flavor scottish beers myself. I'm not a fan of the big, peat-flavored ales, but the 60 and the 80 are tasty little guys...

...I like the idea of a 6 pound grain bill instead of 12

Click to expand...

Well, in my opinon (and others as well) peat smoked malt does not belong in a Scottish or Scotch ale! It belongs in Scotch whiskey, period.

Yeah, I was tempted to actually do 10 gallon batches and end up with about 30-40 gallons by the end of the run.

We'll see how I like the results this time.

Sounds cool -- keep us posted on the upcoming recipes!

Okay, first batch, the 60/-, in the fermenter.

Did not go quite according to plan. Had some trouble hitting my mash temp with this small grain bill. My mashtun is a 48 qt. "ice cube" cooler. Next time I will try preheating, using a "floating top" to reduce dead space, and using a slightly higher water to grist ratio thanks to some HBTadvice. I used my usual 1.25 qt./lb. this time.

I wanted a mash temp of 155 and I got 149. I won't go into the details but I tried unsuccessfully to correct it. May be a bit thin in the end. Though with the caramelization I do not know. We shall see.

Talking of which...

Here it is 1 gallon of first runnings boiling on the stove. I decide to boil on the stove and use a smaller heavy bottomed pot (SS with encapsulated AL) so it would no be too hot and not scorch. I have tried this technique with my propane burner in a thinner pot before and had some wicked scorching.
Here it is about an hour later (okay maybe I will use the heavier pot on the propane burner next time !) reduced to about 1 quart.

and here we have a little over quart of thick syrup wort. yum.

My preboil gravity was a bit high at 1.026 (should have been 1.023.) and I am not sure if that is to do with the caramelization which the brew software does not allow for or my ever increasing efficiency. Perhaps a combination of the 2 as I have been seeing my efficiency climb the last few brews.

I collected 7.50 gallons (least I thought I did???) after the intial first runnings so I would have a grand total of 7.75 to get me through the 2 hour boil. I started the boil as I was waiting for the caramelization to finish. When I measured after adding the quart I had 7.50??? I do not think I evaporated a quart in the time it was coming up to boil but who knows.

I boiled for 2 hours as planned, but tried to maintain a fairly easy boil/simmer so as not to end up too high of a SG. I was pretty much on target volume wise and about 4 points too high @ 1.036. Slightly over the mark for a Scottish light. So I added 1 qt. of boiled/cooled water I had waiting knowing I may be high. OG ended up being 1.033. Not too bad. Should have been 1.032.

I had crash cooled the starter and decanted about 1 qt. off. I poured some into the brew pot right before racking and then dumped the thick slurry into the carboy. It was cooled to 64F. Set it down in the brew room in a tub of water and closed the door. Closing the door will make the ambient about mid 50's which will hopefully maintain a nice cool 62F Ferment. Then when initial ferment cools down it will bring it down in the mid fifties for a nice cool malty conditioning.

Notes so far:
This is certainly going to be a learning experience. I am finding that I am "flying by the seat of my pants" in many regards. Brewing software can not help me. I realized the color would be darker than anticipated by the software, so I shot for the low end of SRM for style. The result from the caramelization was a nice bronze to chestnut color. Actually more what I was hoping for.

Gravity is another area that I am finding I will have to make changes on the fly. Pre-boil I think will always be a bit off due to to heavy concentration of the caramelizing. Not a good time to try and get a handle on efficiency! Plus the long 2 hour boil is another factor I am not used to.

Perhaps too many new variables... Ah well, so far so good.

Fermentation is going alright if a bit slow. It is rather cool after all. It was spot on temp wise but I kept fiddling with it last night. The ambient temp was about 54F with the door closed on the brew room. Tub of water had the aquarium heater in it and was reading 58F. Fermenter itself was at 60F. I opened the door at about 11 pm and fiddled with the heater. Should have left it alone. It was 66 on the fermenter this morning. 70F in the water bath. Added some ice, closed the door. Will watch closely.

Still not a very active fermentation. Minimal to no airlock activity. A few bubbles yesterday. None today and actually pressure has reversed. A 1/2" thick crust of yeast floating on top formed yesterday afternoon. Has not really increased too much. Pretty much just yeast and break, no foam or bubbles Not much motion inside. Patience.

More pics for posterity.

So here is the fermentation so far.

It is not a great shot. My camera is suckin' harder all the time! Especially batteries. It would appear that it has already reached high krauesen but the residue on the glass is just from getting rocked. As I said, it is just a crust of yeast/break and not really any bubble/foam action. I have managed to bring the temp back down to about 63F. Still watching it. Ambient temp and water bath temp are now 55F with the door closed. I unplugged the heater for the time being. Hopefully it does not drop...

On another note...

The hydro sample I neglected to dump is fermenting nicely

Day 3:

Ferment is going nicely. I missed the exact time it "took off" but I estimate it was somewhere between hour 28-35. It was pretty nice and active all yesterday churning and frothing and bubbling vigorously. I am glad now that I made a starter despite its low SG. I think considering the cool ferment temp it was a wise idea. Have been able to maintain about 61F after my initial slip-up the first 12 hours or so where it got up to 66F.

It is slowing back down today. The temp is starting to slide down as the vigorous activity is declining. I am taking steps to maintain it at 61F or so. The ambient temp is 54F the water bath is 58F which is where the fermenter is headed towards. I opened the door to the room as it was at 62F ambient when I checked it last week with the door open. I will nudge the aquarium heater up a bit at a time if necessary too.

Then it is just waiting. After about 3 weeks I will rack to keg, purge air and then keep it in the brew room with the door closed to condition in the mid 50's. Wash the yeast and then it is 70/- time...

Day 17 ( I think?):
Took a reading today and Ernest's' 60/- is done at 1.010. Have been dropping the temp slowly over the last few days by closing up the room. It has been at about 56F.

Sample was nice and clean and clear. Nice auburn to amber color. Smooth and very drinkable. Does not stand out in any way in particular. Malty but not sweet. Balanced and kind of unremarkable at this point.

Going to keg and wash the yeast in the next day or so. Not exactly 3 weeks but I am going by "feel" here. It seems done. Then I will let it cold condition for a few more weeks. Then the hard part. Finding time to brew the next round of Charles' 70/-

This project is going to take me a while. Kind of want to brew some Bitter ol' Woodchuck APA right now too. Very doubtful I will get a double brew day. I suppose this project takes priority so the yeast does not sit too long.

Sounds like fun. And it also sounds like you ran into the same troubles I had with my Scottish Light a few months back. could not maintain a 155 mash temp for the life of me due to the rediculous amount of head space in my cooler MLT. But the beer came out great!! And I'm looking forward to making more lighter ales like that and milds. Cheers.

Very nice writeup, Zym! I, too, have been going "overboard" with my beers lately, love IPAs and APAs too much, and neglect the weaker styles. I think "Death By Scottish" should be on my plate soon!

Okay, looks like it is on once again. Hopefully it won't take all day or the wife may be less understanding the next time.

Where things stand. Ernest's 60/- has been kegged and is sitting in a cool room in the low 50's. Yeast has been washed and I repitched some of it into a new starter which is currently on the stir plate.

Reviewing my process to try and improve somethings that did not go quite right last time. Like not being able to achieve my mash temp...

I will be shooting for 1 point higher on temp this time @ 156F. I figure I will want some slight changes other than gravity so I am adding a tiny tiny bit more roast barley for a little more color. Like a 1/4 oz. Also, I will attempt to reduce the first runnings this time on the propane burner still using the heavier bottomed pot. Hopefully that will reduce the time it takes without scorching it.

Other than that process should all be same.

I will post the recipe for Charles' 70/- later. Got to get going on this. I wish I could just transfer the recipes from my software but I am an idiot.

Scottish ale #2 on the way...

SUB_zero said:

More pics for posterity.

On another note...

The hydro sample I neglected to dump is fermenting nicely

Click to expand...

Well you've got something brewing in the hydro tube! Classic! :rockin: Aren't you going to let us know how it tasted?

Anyway I'm interested in the serious side of this thread as one of my next brews is going to be a Wee Heavy. This has has me thinking of doing a 70/ first though!

Keep us posted on your progress Sub zero, and thanks.

Schlante,
Phillip

MVKTR2 said:

Well you've got something brewing in the hydro tube! Classic! :rockin: Aren't you going to let us know how it tasted?

Anyway I'm interested in the serious side of this thread as one of my next brews is going to be a Wee Heavy. This has has me thinking of doing a 70/ first though!

Keep us posted on your progress Sub zero, and thanks.

Schlante,
Phillip

Click to expand...

Actually tasted okay considering it was left open to the air for the first 12 hours or so. I wrapped some plastic wrap over it and decided to let it go along with the rest. Tasted it on Saturday at brew day. It was alright. Will I be using open fermenters? No.

Okay, well, my software still will not cooperate so here is the bare bones recipe.

Charles' 70/-

80% brewhouse efficiency (fairly certain it is this high now. Hard to tell with these batches but others have bared that out.)

7 lb. Marris Otter
2.25 oz. Roasted barley


.23 g Kent Goldings @ 60 minutes
3 g Irish moss @ 15 minutes.

Single step mash @ 156F for 60 minutes.

Collect one gallon of first runnings. Boil to carmelize down to one quart.

Collect 7.50 gallons of additional wort.

Boil for 120 minutes (2 hours)

Chill to low 60's and pitch a quart of Wyeast 1728 starter from yeast harvested from initial batch of 60/-

Ferment @ 60F for 2.5-3 weeks. Crash and cold condition for a further 2 weeks.

Took me a few days to "recover" before posting this next installment. it was another LONG brew day.

Alright as stated I attempted to compensate for the small amount of grist in my tun this time around. I used a floating top made from a scrap of 2" extruded foam insulation left over from my fermentation chiller wrapped in aluminum foil. I also used a higher water to grist ratio this time going with 1.40 quarts per lb rather than 1.25 like i did last time. I also preheated the tun with boiling water bringing the temp to 90F (let it cool a bit) and plugged that number into my software for the room temp. I then used 2.50 gallons of water @ 170F.

The result? I still missed by 6 degrees.

Using the step mash calculator on the Green Bay Rackers site to determine how to raise it.
I added 1 qt. of boiling water and it raised the temp to 153F

I added .60 qt. of boiling water and got NO CHANGE!

Then I got frustrated and pulled 1 qt. of wort off and boiled that. Rose to 154.5

Boiled another 2 Qt.s and it shot up to 162F!!!

Added one ice cube and stirred. FINALLY stabilized at 156!

SHEESH!

Thinking a smaller tun might be worth it for these smaller beers.

Now for the caramelizing. It took an hour last time to caramelize the first gallon so it held up the whole show.

I decided to use the same heavy bottom pot this time but on the propane burner instead. It seemed to go faster (sadly I was distracted and did not time it) however I had lots of boil overs.

For sh!ts and giggles I took a gravity reading of both the caramelized wort and the wort collected after to see.

Regular wort was 1.021. Caramelized wort was off the hydrometer. OVER 1.170! Basically I made my own LME it was so thick.

Combinded they gave me a preboil gravity of 1.029. Should have been 1.026!

Like I said earlier, flying by the seat of my pants here.

The boil was fairly uneventful. I did not boil too vigorously considering how high I already was gravity wise.

Chilled it down nice and quick. Was helpful that it was in the single digits outside.

Still trying to work out the numbers here. I was left with 5.25 gallons so a quart short. I put one quart in the fermenter of boiled and chilled water as my gravity was @ 1.042.

I had WICKED siphon problems. Thinkin' I may get over my fear of plastic and buy an auto siphon! Eventually I will get a weldless spigot for my keggle but the autosiphon is looking good right now.

I added at least a quart of water trying to start/restart the siphon!

Twas fine as my OG ended up being only one point high at 1.039, but man what a mess.

I poured the whole quart of starter (approx. a quart I do not have an exact measure on that) and I ended up with 5.25 gallons in the fermenter?!

Still trying to figure it all out. I measured the amount left in the kettle and it was about a half gallon along with trub and hops.

This brings us to day 2 of the 70/- (Monday. Pitched Saturday night)

Fermenting slowly again but surely. Temp is a bit lower at 57F. I tried to keep it down so it did not take off again like last time but it has made it a bit slower and cooler. All Sunday I had mostly just a slowly forming layer of yeast then slowly the kraeusen builds. Bubbling nicely.

No hydro sample ferment this time

Update.

Temp got a bit away from me yesterday morning (day 3) up to 64F. Temperature here has been unseasonably warm but it is back to normal now. Anyway, I corrected it with some ice in the water bath. It is now steady at 60F


Unfortunate news for my 60/-. Sadly, do to my consumption out pacing my production, my 60/- won't be getting as long a cold conditioning as I had planned. Put it on gas yesterday as I am running dangerously low on beer.

I will let it carb at serving temp at least so as not to rush it too much.

Any updates?

Zymurgrafi said:

Actually tasted okay considering it was left open to the air for the first 12 hours or so. I wrapped some plastic wrap over it and decided to let it go along with the rest. Tasted it on Saturday at brew day. It was alright. Will I be using open fermenters? No.

Click to expand...

scots fermented in open containers back in the day, no reason you can't either. cool project!

lordbeermestrength said:

Any updates?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the interest. I will certainly keep updating. The posts will be rather far apart by the nature of this beast. Lots of waiting time.

I did tap the 60/- before I had hoped to.

Tastes great. It is still not quite fully carbed has no head and is a bit cloudy since it did not get its full cold conditioning. Other than that it is smooth and malty and very clean. I have heard that the kettle caramelization can be perceived as diacetyl but I do not taste it. I am extrememely sensitive to diacetyl I will mention and not at all fond of it. I think the key here is a slow cool ferment. I am guessing that people get that perception when the Scottish yeast ( or others) are fermented warmer (normal ale temps) along with the kettle caramelization. Purely speculation I suppose, but that is my theory.

Once it gets where I want it I will be sure to post a pic of a pint.

I am really looking forward to, and hope that I have the self control to, have all the series available to do side by side comparisons at some point. I suppose I will have to bottle a few of each from the keg and set them aside so I do not drink it all up.

Do keep us updated, and exercise some patients, make that bier last. I'm sure the side by side by side by side comparison will be worth it. I brewed my first batch on new years day 2008 and brewed my 11th batch this weekend. I'm completely floored at how good a brown and an Old Peculier clone are 8-9 months after I brewed them. Had a member of my HB club tell me my Scottish 80 might be the best bier he ever tasted. It was simply amazing and complex at 6-7 months in the bottle. Point being put some aside to taste all at once in 6-12 months. Then you'll know exactly how good of a brewer you are!!! I'm sure you'll be pleased!

I know a Wee Heavy is one of my next biers, but I'm thinking of brewing a lighter Scottish before it so I can use the yeast cake for the WH. My grain bill looks like this;
Base Malt
.75# Crystal 40
.5# Honey Malt
.5# Crystal 120
.5# Aromatic

Thoughts?

I'll skip any further description as I don't want to further hi-jack your thread, just trying to have a little discourse on the proper crafting of Scottish biers!

Schlante,
Phillip

You mentioned your big mash tun and small batches being hard to maintain temps. If you have the capacity, why are you choosing to brew individual batches rather than say a larger batch, pulling off the 1st runnings for your big beer and then using the subsequent runnings for a smaller beer? Just curious, as I've had good success doing that. I'm not nutz about the really high alcohol beers, but brewed some and I think the second runnings which ended up with a 1.040 sumthing OG were the best beer I've made. These were scottish ales - a 120 shilling and a two penny. Seems it would also give you better yield for the time invested.

alewyfe normally I would do that. This is a bit of an experiment to me so I make only 5 gallons of each. Plus I will have 15 gallons of Scottish ale and 5 of Scotch strong ale by the end. Figured that might be too much. However now I think it would have been better to do 10 gallons of each. I am running low on the 60/- and it is excellent. I am using great restraint until I have some time to bottle a 12 pack or so from the keg. That way I will have some left to compare to the others when they are ready.

MVKTR2,

There are 2 schools of thought on brewing Scottish ales. One being what I am going for simple grain bill with long boil and caramelization for character. The other being a grain bill that mimics the caramelizition by using specialty malts. I have done that before and it works fine. I think you may want to lower the amount of C120 or drop it altogether. It will give you raisiny burnt sugar flavor at that amount. I am not familiar with honey malt. Aromatic malt I would suppose is like a biscuit malt? If so that would be a nice addition.

When I used specialty malts I believe I used some medium crystal (55-65 L) some munich malt and a bit of roasted barley. Still fairly simple. Check out Jamil Z's recipe for a shilling ale if you want to see one that utilizes specialty malts. It is an award winner apparently.

Okay, it has been a bit of a while since my last update. I have not abandodned this project but there has been some lag time between brews. My overall pipeline is deficient and I have not had much time to brew so I am aiming to brew some big batches to restock. Just did 10 gallons of Bitter ol' Woodchuck APA and I am aiming to do 10 of an ordinary bitter this week sometime... This weekend though should see the return of the Scottish brewing.

It better, I got a starter going today from the harvested yeast! Pitched some yeast I washed from the 60/- into a pint of wort that I thawed. I will add another pint later to step it up. This will be for Bompa Bristle's 80/- ale. I'll try and get the grains weighed today and other stuff set up. Perhaps I will do a 10 gallon batch this time... Hmmmm. Maybe not though, that would throw off the project some. I suppose it is better to keep the variables the same for comparisons sake. I will post the recipe when I am closer to brew time. Should be the same mostly. Just more MO and maybe a touch more roasted barley for some deeper color. I did bump it a touch in the last one.

Other news...

Charles's 70/- was racked to keg on the 11th. I just put it in the kegerator last night and put on the gas. Prior to that it has been sitting in my cold room in the low to mid forties F. I temporarily took the gas off the 60/- to do this. I am trying not to drink any more 60/- until I bottle some to save. It is hard because it is really tasty.

Oh, and here it is. Not the best shot but here ya go. The first of the series. Ernest's 60/-



It has cleared greatly since I first tapped it (prematurely). It is really tasty. Very nice and malty. Slightly sweet and toasty. Kind of like my favorite cereal (since I was a kid) grapenuts. Or like chewing on malt.

I am really pleased with this. It is a really easy drinking pint. I will certainly do 10 gallons at a time in the future as it is a bit more work with all the time and the caramelization process. Could use a bit more body but as mentioned earlier I did have trouble achieving and maintaining the mash temp I was aiming for.

Zymurgrafy - nice series of posts. I'm getting ready to do a series also but only a 60/- and then pitch an appropriate amount of slurry into a wee heavy.

I've brewed a lot of lower gravity beers the past few years and found building a second, much smaller tun was the way to go. I have way more consistent mash temps with the smaller volume but I did have to insulate it with foil bubble wrap and throw some towels on top.

What are you finding is a good volume of CO2 and what temp are you serving yours at? I had been bottling previously and shooting for around 1.2-1.5 volumes but have since switched to kegs.

GT

Got Trub?

I keep my kegerator as warm as I can with the regular thermostat which is about 40F. Some day I think I'll get a temp controller to have it at up around 50-55F. I currently keep my English/Scottish ales around 1.8 volumes. I realize that is on the higher end for these styles but it works for me right now. I tend to think I would enjoy a lower carbonation if I were able to keep and serve the beer at a warmer temp. So for now it is 1.80 volumes or so. That translates to about 6-6.5 PSI on the regulator at the temps my fridge will hold.

That beer looks tasty.

Zymurgrafi said:

Well, in my opinon (and others as well) peat smoked malt does not belong in a Scottish or Scotch ale!

Click to expand...

AMEN!!!

Even recent BJCP judges have been duped into thinking these beers should have peat in them and it just isn't so. Scottish Heavy, if it has the flavor, arrives that way naturally and without the peat.

Anyway...I know it's an old thread but I had to praise this.

Zymurgrafi said:

Got Trub?

I keep my kegerator as warm as I can with the regular thermostat which is about 40F. Some day I think I'll get a temp controller to have it at up around 50-55F. I currently keep my English/Scottish ales around 1.8 volumes. I realize that is on the higher end for these styles but it works for me right now. I tend to think I would enjoy a lower carbonation if I were able to keep and serve the beer at a warmer temp. So for now it is 1.80 volumes or so. That translates to about 6-6.5 PSI on the regulator at the temps my fridge will hold.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I have a keezer with a controller and will raise the temp for these. When I get more organized I hope to be brewing beers for the seasons so I can be drinking warmer English/Scottish styles in the winter and cooler lagers etc in the heat of summer. I'll also need to make some shorter beer lines to balance the system for those lower pressures. Sigh... It never ends.

GT

BigNastyBrew said:

AMEN!!!

Even recent BJCP judges have been duped into thinking these beers should have peat in them and it just isn't so. Scottish Heavy, if it has the flavor, arrives that way naturally and without the peat.

Anyway...I know it's an old thread but I had to praise this.

Click to expand...

I had a scottish ale that was just released at a fairly well known Portland brewery and I swear it had a touch of either peated or rauch malt in it. NOT good. Didn't even finish drinking it.

Zymurgrafi said:

This weekend though should see the return of the Scottish brewing.

Click to expand...

Okay. So life happens and I did not get to it that weekend. Spent most of that weekend in the hospital with my daughter as she had a wicked case of croup and could not breathe. Several other less serious ailments going around the house as well...

But, I have returned. Bompa Bristle's 80/- ale is happily chugging away at 60F in the basement. Got to brew it on Friday (plus 13 gallons of other beers last week!!). Went much smoother this time around. With 9 lb. 2.5 oz. grain bill, the floating lid, a higher water to grist ration and a much higher strike water temp I actually had to cool it down a few degrees this time. I am thinking the grain weight was probably the biggest factor in having an easier time. It must be at the lower threshold of weight my system can take.

So. Recipe and changes this time around.

9 lb. of Marris Otter
2.5 oz. of roasted barley.

28 g of Golding hops.

Mash temp I went for 158F this time to give it lots of chewiness. I actually ended up with 61F after using a strike temp of 182. So I poured some cool water in and stirred until it cooled. Ended up with 159. Left it there as I figured it would drop some and it did. Was reading 156F to 158F at the end of the hour depending on the part of the tun I took the temp from.

Caramelized again as usual. Cold temps outside (single digits I did not write down the exact temp) made the reduction happen much quicker. I ended up reducing to 1.125 quarts. Had one nasty boil over too as I got a bit impatient at the end and messed with the nice boil i had going. Then left it... Not sure how much was lost there but I achieved my preboil gravity and was not over as I had been in the past. OG ended up being

Volumes were all spot on and transfer was much smoother with the auto siphon.

Got a bit of good reading material as I gear up for the final installment. Scotch Ale #8 in the Classic Beer Style Series by Greg Noonan. I highly recommend it.

Here is the book with a recent glass acquisition

Okay so it is my 70/- and not a wee heavy. Notice any similarities to the book...

Where would one go about buying glasses like that?

Zymurgrafi said:

So. Recipe and changes this time around.

9 lb. of Marris Otter
2.5 oz. of roasted barley.

28 g of Golding hops.

Click to expand...

Quick question... from some of what I've read, Scottish brewers prefer Golden Promise to Maris Otter. Is there a reason that you are using MO instead?

Just curious...

Well that did it, I saw this thread and I just had to brew your 70/- recipe. I really wasn't planning on brewing, but sometimes plans change I almost had to call this an 80/- because I got close to 80% efficiency! I'm used to getting 75%. Now comes the waiting game . . .

P.S. A tip to anybody boiling down the 1 gallon to 1 quart: use a huge pot to do it. I used Fermcap + an 8 quart pot, and it was still trying to boil over when it was at 1 quart.