Help with Scottish Wee Heavy

[oceanic_brew]

I brewed a wee heavy on Nov 12, OG 1.085 FG 1.020. Wyeast Scottish Ale yeast with adequate pitch for high gravity ale using Mr.Malty


I did 10 days @ 64, 10days @ 58f, then I slowly lowered the temp to about 45 before putting it in the kegerator until sampling it yesterday for a total of 2 months

Before transferring it to the keg I sampled it a little warmer and even though I noticed it was a little "green" I thought it was very close to a couple barley wines I've made, quite nice. Now since chilling and carbonating I can barely stand the beer. It literally tastes like something I might of made when first starting to brew years ago.

Here's my dilemma, I know these ales are supposed to be aged for a quite some time but the competition I'm entering it in was only announced beginning of nov and is due on March 3 . (Very surprising considering the style)

Beyond just waiting and seeing how well the beer cold conditions I've been thinking over a few things that might clean the beer up a little faster:

1) letting the beer warm back up and krausening with another pitch Scottish ale yeast then aging a little longer before cold condition.

2) Warm the beer up to room temp, sampling as I go until I notice improvement.

I know that this beer is usually aged in cold conditions in brite tanks but I don't think two months is gonna clean it up as much as I think it needs.


Anyone have any advice or experience to set me straight.

 

[mrgoodlife]

I did a Wee Heavy around the same time as you with a couple of differences. I fermented with the same yeast at 58 for two weeks and then brought it up to 68 for another week. OG 1.102 and FG 1.021. It's now in a secondary at 56 degrees where it will stay for a couple of months. It tasted great when I racked it but I'm not going to rush it. Most of what I have read was to give this style plenty of time.

 

[oceanic_brew]

I did a Wee Heavy around the same time as you with a couple of differences. I fermented with the same yeast at 58 for two weeks and then brought it up to 68 for another week. OG 1.102 and FG 1.021. It's now in a secondary at 56 degrees where it will stay for a couple of months. It tasted great when I racked it but I'm not going to rush it. Most of what I have read was to give this style plenty of time.

I usually do the diacetyl rest but I've heard that a lot of caramelization can be detected as diacetyl anyway and none of the fermentation schedules I looked at mentioned it.

I've not read of this yeast producing unwelcome flavors for this style at the temps I used however I have read that the temp you used is the key to getting that desired smoky flavor.

Perhaps I'll warm it back up for a couple weeks and then if it isn't improving any I can attempt to clean it up with krausening. I only have two months.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

Anyone have any advice or experience to set me straight.

I brewed a Scottish Wee Heavy 2 years ago and have been aging it in a refrigerator ever since. This beer was super sweet when we first sampled it. This is one beer that ages well, the sweetness decreases over time. It was difficult sampling a bottle or two every few months to see how much the beer changed, especially after the first year when I felt the beer was ready to drink.

I pitched, a decanted, 4 liter starter made from 2 vials of White Labs WLP004 - Irish Ale Yeast™ and fermented it at 67F. The 1.082 wort finished at 1.017, giving a 77% apparent attenuation. I then filled, bottle primed and let the beer naturally carbonate at room temperature for a month. The beer, sadly there are just 4 bottles left, was then stored cold ever since.

My experience when brewing a Wee Heavy was one of patience. If I can help myself from downing all of the remaining beer, I would try to let a bottle or two age for an additional year. They say the phenols will continue to develop and the beer will improve for up to 3 years.

Next time brewing this style I would suggest brewing a larger batch than 5 gallons. I was amazed at how many sampling opportunities present themselves over the course of several years. The goal really is to have a lot of bottles on hand, once the beer has reached its peak.

 

[oceanic_brew]

I brewed a Scottish Wee Heavy 2 years ago and have been aging it in a refrigerator ever since. This beer was super sweet when we first sampled it. This is one beer that ages well, the sweetness decreases over time. It was difficult sampling a bottle or two every few months to see how much the beer changed, especially after the first year when I felt the beer was ready to drink.

I pitched, a decanted, 4 liter starter made from 2 vials of White Labs WLP004 - Irish Ale Yeast[emoji769] and fermented it at 67F. The 1.082 wort finished at 1.017, giving a 77% apparent attenuation. I then filled, bottle primed and let the beer naturally carbonate at room temperature for a month. The beer, sadly there are just 4 bottles left, was then stored cold ever since.

My experience when brewing a Wee Heavy was one of patience. If I can help myself from downing all of the remaining beer, I would try to let a bottle or two age for an additional year. They say the phenols will continue to develop and the beer will improve for up to 3 years.

Next time brewing this style I would suggest brewing a larger batch than 5 gallons. I was amazed at how many sampling opportunities present themselves over the course of several years. The goal really is to have a lot of bottles on hand, once the beer has reached its peak.

Thanks.


With all that being said I'm even more surprised about the length of time they had given us to prepare this beer. The competition is being out off by Garrison brewing here in Halifax, they pick one style each year and about 50-60 people have a go at it.

Perhaps they are testing to see if anyone can pull it off, but I'm suspecting they will have many less than perfect wee heavies.

So beyond the usual year aging method I'm pressed to try and clean this up a bit probably to the detriment of the benefits of a slow and cool age. Sucks because it's three bottles out of one batch.