Caledonian 80/-

[krkelly]

What kind of beer is this exactly? It could afford to be a bit stronger, since it's only 4.1 ABV. The ingredients are posted on the website, but would it still be hard to reproduce without the full details of the recipe?

Here's how they describe it:

A russet brown coloured beer with a malty, fruity aroma. Smooth and creamy, very easily drinkable. Good balancing dryness with clovery spiciness in a softly hoppy finish.

And here's the ingredients:

Malts: Golden Promise, Amber, Black, Crystal and Wheat.
Hops: Fuggles, Golding, WGV

I find it rather tasty and easygoing so I'm curious about it.

 

[Nugent]

It's actually considered a heavy Scottish ale. North America has kind of re-defined 'strong' or 'heavy' beers. The recipe below is from Graham Wheeler's book Brew your own British Real Ale at Home (2009). It's all in metric so you'll need to convert it if you use US weights.

Caledonian 80/-

OG: 1042
FG: 1010
ABV: 4.2%
IBU: 35
SRM: 13

Mash at 66C for 90 mins; boil for 90 mins

For 5 gal.

3.25 kg UK pale malt
0.18 kg medium crystal
0.11 kg wheat malt
0.03 kg chocolate malt

26 g Fuggles - start of boil
22 g Goldings - start of boil
16 g Goldings + 3 g Irish moss for last ten

I drank this in Scotland when I was there in the summer. It is pretty malt focused, and I liked Caledonians Deuchars IPA more.

Let us know how it works out if you choose to brew it.

 

[krkelly]

Nugent, you are awesome! I will brew it one day, but I'm so new at this I can't say when I'm like a kid in a candy store discovering new beers lately.

Couldn't it be goosed to a higher ABV with a bit of sugar? Even 4.8% or so would do.

 

[Nugent]

No worries. Question: can you get 80/- in Ontario? If so, I'm jealous.

You could just add another two lbs. of base malt to bring it up closer to 5% ABV.

Turns out I plugged the recipe into Beersmith already. Here ya go:

8.50 lb ESB Malt (Pale Malt) (4.0 SRM) Grain 92.29 %
0.40 lb 60 deg. L - Crystal/Caramel (60.0 SRM) Grain 4.34 %
0.25 lb Wheat Malt (2.0 SRM) Grain 2.71 %
0.06 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 0.65 %
1.00 oz Whole - Willamette [5.10 %] (90 min) Hops 18.7 IBU
0.80 oz Whole - Goldings [5.00 %] (90 min) Hops 14.7 IBU
0.50 oz Whole - Goldings [5.00 %] (10 min) Hops 1.8 IBU
1 Pkgs Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) Yeast-Ale

The ESB malt and Willamette are the closed ingredients to those from the UK.

Also, if you're an extract brewer, use pale extract and steep the rest. All three of those specialty malts can be steeped for flavour and character. I say go for it!

 

[krkelly]

No worries. Question: can you get 80/- in Ontario? If so, I'm jealous.

Yes, I can get it from the LCBO in 500ml cans. I think I'll get some more, since I just got one to try it.

You could just add another two lbs. of base malt to bring it up closer to 5% ABV.

Turns out I plugged the recipe into Beersmith already. Here ya go:

8.50 lb ESB Malt (Pale Malt) (4.0 SRM) Grain 92.29 %
0.40 lb 60 deg. L - Crystal/Caramel (60.0 SRM) Grain 4.34 %
0.25 lb Wheat Malt (2.0 SRM) Grain 2.71 %
0.06 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 0.65 %
1.00 oz Whole - Willamette [5.10 %] (90 min) Hops 18.7 IBU
0.80 oz Whole - Goldings [5.00 %] (90 min) Hops 14.7 IBU
0.50 oz Whole - Goldings [5.00 %] (10 min) Hops 1.8 IBU
1 Pkgs Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) Yeast-Ale

The ESB malt and Willamette are the closed ingredients to those from the UK.

Also, if you're an extract brewer, use pale extract and steep the rest. All three of those specialty malts can be steeped for flavour and character. I say go for it!

This is great information. I was considering buying Beersmith, but I'll wait to see how I do with my brewing. I have a lot to learn, but I of course I have a lot of incentive. I see quantities of good beer in my future

Thanks for the encouragement