Caledonian 80' - Rebus/Rankin Ale

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GordonT

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2010
Messages
156
Reaction score
17
Location
Victoria
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Wyeast Scottish
Yeast Starter
smack pack
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
none
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.5
Original Gravity
1073
Final Gravity
not done yet
Boiling Time (Minutes)
90
IBU
5
Color
Walnut
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
7
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
7
Tasting Notes
not tasted as it is still in primary
Caledonian Brewing is an Edinburgh brewery that produces two of my favorite beers; Caledonian Porter and Caledonina 80 Shilling. One of my favorite authors also has a hero who always drinks Caledonian 80' so this beer was partially brewed as a tribute to Rebus.

Currently this beer has an OG of 1043 which to my mind is far too low for a beer called 80 Shilling. So I bumped it up closer to what the original would have been. During the research into this beer I was able to get some advise from one of the owners of a now defunct New York brewery that had been dedicated to well done Scottish beers served from barrels. Along with his suggestions I was also able to get some information from the actual brewery.

This is my best attempt and it appears, so far, to be very nice.

13 lbs Hugh Bairds
1.65 lbs Crystal 30
1.1 lbs Brown malt
.5 lbs wheat malt
2 oz chocolate malt
.75 oz Fuggles in the boil - 90 minutes
.5 Fuggles at 5
.25 Fuggles at end of boil

The color is beautiful but not quite what I was shooting for. Next time I will not add the Chocolate malt but will substitute some Crystal 120 for a portion of the Crystal 30, strictly to get a colour match up.

In fermentation this has a great malty nose and a nice tan head. Should be ready for secondary next weekend, a week in secondary and a few days in the keg and I'll hoist one in honour of Rankin's hero, Rebus.

DSC018081.JPG


This beer turned out very well indeed. At a recent tasting it was the most popular beer in the English/Scottish category.

After consulting once again with my friend from a defunct Scottish brewery he confirmed that the recipe I had been discussing with him was the same as the Caledonian 80' from Edinburgh. He said that they also bumped up the malt for their in house version. Bringing it in close to an OG of 1070 - 1075.
 
looks interesting, but seems to me to be completely different from the caledonian 80/ i know of... i know UK brewers reduced their OGs in the early 20th century... but when i think of caledonian 80 i think of a 4.1% hoppy ale
 
looks interesting, but seems to me to be completely different from the caledonian 80/ i know of... i know UK brewers reduced their OGs in the early 20th century... but when i think of caledonian 80 i think of a 4.1% hoppy ale

Well this will be a hoppy ale, both in bitterness and in flavour. The main change I made was in restoring it to its 80' status. We can't let the tax man dictate our OG's even though the breweries were forced to.

The original of this would have had an OG upwards of 1075. From what I can tell of my version it will be malty (Scottish characteristic mostly removed from the 4.3 version) and hoppy. Best of both worlds :)
 
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