4th Batch

[mblakely]

Just finished brewing my 4th beer. I decided to try a Wee Heavy Scotch Ale, with the hopes it will be in its prime around January or Febuary. I added ingrediants to a Scotch Ale Kit from Coopers. It should end up to be a 12% brew. I have bought some 7oz Coronita's (small corona's) to use to bottle this BIG beer. I have not been able to find any Wee Heavy's here, so I thought I would post my recipe and see what you all think of it.

Steep @ 150-160 for 20min
8oz Crystal 60L
1oz Roasted Barley
4oz Chocolate Malt

Boil for 60 min
3.5 Cooper Amber LME
5lb Laaglander Amber DME
3lb Laaglander Extra Light DME

Hops
1oz Kent Golding Pellets @ 5.7% for 60min
1oz Fuggle @ 3.3% for 60min
1/2oz Fuggle @ 3.3% for 20min

Add
1 Tsp Irish Moss @ 15min
6Tsp Yeast Neutrient

Yeast
White Labs WL028 Edinburgh Ale

What do you think?

Oh, thinking of bottling with the special de-oxygen caps(???) anyone used with any luck?

Cheers
Matt

 

[sirsloop]

I dont know if you'll get quite to 12% with the 8# of Laagerlander DME and 70-75% attenuation on the yeast. Laagerlander is not as fermentable as some other DME's and will result in a sweeter beer. My guess is that it'll putter out somewhere around 10%

Even if you had 11.5# muntons DME... you'd need to have a high gravity yeast with like 80% attenutation to hit your 12% mark.

regardless... it'll be a pretty sweet bock style beer, and 9-10% ABV is PLENTY.

 

[Exo]

I think you'll be happy with yer beer. I just brewed a Wee Heavy yesterday...with the same yeasties. It's in the primary boiling away right now.

 

[the_bird]

(nitpicker alert! nitpicker alert!)

Technically, you are steeping, not sparging. Sparging is the process of rinsing the grains, usually after they have been mashed (which you aren't doing).

Looks good, though. If what the other (more expert than I) say is right about the yeast, you might consider re-pitching with something else if fermenation stalls out. I'm still trying to get a sense of how to properly balance a recipe, I'll be curious to learn how this amount of hops (which seem to generally have low AA%) balances against the large amount of extract. I might have been inclined personally to hop it a little more aggressively, especially since this will be cellared for a while, but I'll be curious to hear how it turns out.

 

[cweston]

If what the other (more expert than I) say is right about the yeast, you might consider re-pitching with something else if fermenation stalls out.

I think the main issue with FG is all that Laaglander DME. No matter what yeast strain you use, you're still going to get a very high FG because the Laaglander has an extraordinarily high proportion of unfermentable sugars.

Not that that's necessarily bad. I do question whether this beer is going to be peaking in January though: I'd say more like several months to a year.

 

[mblakely]

My appologies on the terminology, you are correct, I will edit. Thank you.

The low AA% Hops was intended because of the style of beer. I was aiming for a more malty pressence. But because of the Higher Alcohol I was worried about the balance of hops, so we will see.

Exo- Interesting Recipe! What are your thoughts about dry Hopping? I was also consitering dry hopping, but wanted the style of beer to show.

I did do a starter with the yeast, but will keep an eye on it and possibly re-pitch. We are having some hot weather so even in my basement it is a few degrees higher than normal.

 

[the_bird]

That's interesting. So that means that if I wanted to make a beer with some residual sweetness (which I'm planning right now), I could use Laaglander - maybe a little bit more than I would otherwise - and it would give it to me? I've already purchased all the ingredients for my mocha stout (not that they wouldn't get used in something else), but I'm planning on using a half pound of lactose to provide the sweetness and mouthfeel. Could I just use Laaglander DME instead?

 

[Exo]

Exo- Interesting Recipe! What are your thoughts about dry Hopping? I was also consitering dry hopping, but wanted the style of beer to show.

I dunno, I think I'll make that decision when I rack to secondary. I think the 1.5oz of aroma added will take care of what I want. I really don't want this beer to be to hopped up. I want the malted smoky aroma with a hint of hops in there. I edited and moved my hop schedule all over the place. I didn't want it to bitter, wanted to balance things out...etc. etc. If/when I make another Wee Heavy I might re-adjust things a bit more.

 

[cweston]

I dunno, I think I'll make that decision when I rack to secondary. I think the 1.5oz of aroma added will take care of what I want. I really don't want this beer to be to hopped up. I want the malted smoky aroma with a hint of hops in there. I edited and moved my hop schedule all over the place. I didn't want it to bitter, wanted to balance things out...etc. etc. If/when I make another Wee Heavy I might re-adjust things a bit more.

Besides, the aroma you gain from dry-hopping would be gone by the time you're drinking this one anyway. I think you're on the right track with the malt/hops balance.

 

[mblakely]

I suppose that I will wait and see what it tastes like at secondary (clearing) and make my decision also. I do think that I would still use a low AA hop and just use a wee bit. I know that time will help to mello the alcohol, but I did want this to be a balanced beer that could be enjoyed.

I am using a fairly limited HBS, and sill learning about the products. It seems that Laaglander is the DME of choice there. I am going to be moving to a bit of a larger town and hope to find some better HBS there.

Matt

 

[mblakely]

OK. So my first error that I have noted so far is that I did not take a OG reading at the beginning. Fermentation has slowed. I am wondering, with a beer of this strengh, should I repitch the yeast. I did use a starter, but not confident with it. It had a fairly good bubbleing in the air lock. Will it hurt to rePitch?

Cheers
Matt