Highland Brewing Gaelic Ale

[david_42]

Cool, much like Stiffy with less hops.

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

Racked this to secondary last night. Tastes a little more bitter than I was expecting, but it's always hard for me to say before it's carbonated. I was actually a little worried because I realized after brewing I hadn't bumped up my hops to account for the fact that I was using whole leaf. The malt flavor was really nice...it's definitely going to be drinkable!

And now that I have a dedicated beer fridge, this one will be kegged in a couple of weeks.

 

[Dude]

Racked this to secondary last night. Tastes a little more bitter than I was expecting, but it's always hard for me to say before it's carbonated. I was actually a little worried because I realized after brewing I hadn't bumped up my hops to account for the fact that I was using whole leaf. The malt flavor was really nice...it's definitely going to be drinkable!

And now that I have a dedicated beer fridge, this one will be kegged in a couple of weeks.

So what's the final verdict?

Thanks to Walker, I had a chance to revisit how this stuff tastes. I have to say this is an out-freaking-standing beer. I'm glad I got to try it again because it is still high on the priority list to brew. I had one the other night and you know what it kind of reminded me of? What Fat Tire used to taste like. Bready, thick, smooth, a beer you could just drink all freaking night long. I long to brew a beer like that.

So anyway, what would you change in the recipe?

 

[Walker]

So anyway, what would you change in the recipe?

I had some of BG's Gaelic. Color was good, but it was a little too sweet. I think he said that he would just reduce the amount of crystal if he brewed it again.

 

[Dude]

I had some of BG's Gaelic. Color was good, but it was a little too sweet. I think he said that he would just reduce the amount of crystal if he brewed it again.

So only a half pound of each?

What about dropping the mash temp? BG, what did you mash at?
I definitely noticed that the real thing is a really dry beer.

 

[nosnhojr]

Gaelic Ale--Highland Brewing--EXTRACT

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 5.50 Wort Size (Gal): 5.50
Total Extract (Lbs): 8.25
Anticipated OG: 1.057 Plato: 14.12
Anticipated SRM: 14.5
Anticipated IBU: 30.8
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
60.6 5.00 lbs. Briess DME- Gold America 1.046 8
18.2 1.50 lbs. Munich Malt Germany 1.037 8
12.1 1.00 lbs. Crystal 40L America 1.034 40
6.1 0.50 lbs. Crystal 60L America 1.034 60
3.0 0.25 lbs. Special B Malt Belgian 1.030 120
Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.50 oz. Chinook Whole 13.00 25.5 60 min.
0.75 oz. Willamette Whole 5.00 2.5 5 min.
0.75 oz. Cascade Whole 5.75 2.8 5 min.

Yeast
-----
???

Hey guys,

I brewed this today, but upped the DME to 7 lbs, cut the Crystal to 1/5lb each, upped the Chinook to 1oz, and cut the aroma hops to .5oz each. Fermenting at 68F using Wyeast 1056.

I've been undershooting OG consistently, but with 7lbs of DME I hit 1.058 (which is what BeerSmith computes). With the original BYO recipe, I would've come in around 1.043, I think.

Any idea why BeerSmith and Promash (Dude's recipe) differ so much on the amount of DME?

 

[Dude]

Any idea why BeerSmith and Promash (Dude's recipe) differ so much on the amount of DME?

It depends on the brand. I always use the "generic" option, so I'm sure they differ quite a bit from brand to brand. I've noticed it also makes a big difference if it is LME or DME as well.

Richard, save me some for April--I'm hoping to brew it in the coming weeks--I'll bring some of mine down as well.

 

[nosnhojr]

It depends on the brand. I always use the "generic" option, so I'm sure they differ quite a bit from brand to brand. I've noticed it also makes a big difference if it is LME or DME as well.

Richard, save me some for April--I'm hoping to brew it in the coming weeks--I'll bring some of mine down as well.

Definitely! My "Martin Luther Maibock" should also be ready to sample. That one should be "interesting", since Boston swapped hops on me while I wasn't looking.

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

So only a half pound of each?

What about dropping the mash temp? BG, what did you mash at?
I definitely noticed that the real thing is a really dry beer.

Guess I missed this! I would say 1/2lb of each would be about right. I generally try to follow the directions, but I'm not positive I mashed at 150F. I'd have to check my notes on my laptop.

FWIW, I thought the hop profile was pretty dang close.

As far as April goes, I think my Doppelbock will be ready so we can have a GRABASS lager tasting (if I don't drink it first). I'm going to whip something up in March for the occasion, as well. Maybe I'll do my second revision of the rye PA.

 

[Dude]

Guess I missed this! I would say 1/2lb of each would be about right. I generally try to follow the directions, but I'm not positive I mashed at 150F. I'd have to check my notes on my laptop.

FWIW, I thought the hop profile was pretty dang close.

As far as April goes, I think my Doppelbock will be ready so we can have a GRABASS lager tasting (if I don't drink it first). I'm going to whip something up in March for the occasion, as well. Maybe I'll do my second revision of the rye PA.

Sounds good. I'm also going to do a 10 gallon batch of my Red Eye Rye and bring along a 5 gallon keg of it for you NC guys to keep and maybe fight over.
Provided we don't drink it all after the fest!


Good info too Baron--I'll update the recipe here so we know the suggested changes. If you mashed at 150°, I don't think we should change that. The beer is pretty dry IMHO.

 

[Dude]

Updated recipe:

Gaelic Ale--Highland Brewing--AG

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 5.50 Wort Size (Gal): 5.50
Total Grain (Lbs): 10.75
Anticipated OG: 1.054 Plato: 13.38
Anticipated SRM: 13.9
Anticipated IBU: 31.3
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
55.8 6.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) Great Britain 1.038 3
27.9 3.00 lbs. Munich Malt Germany 1.037 8
9.3 0.50 lbs. Crystal 40L America 1.034 40
4.7 0.50 lbs. Crystal 60L America 1.034 60
2.3 0.25 lbs. Special B Malt Belgian 1.030 120
Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.50 oz. Chinook Whole 13.00 25.9 60 min.
0.55 oz. Willamette Whole 5.00 2.5 5 min.
0.55 oz. Cascade Whole 5.75 2.9 5 min.

Yeast
-----
???

Single Infusion Mash @ 153° for 60 minutes

I think I am going to use the Wyeast 1728 (but I think an authentic gaelic is prolly closer to 1056). At any rate, this is coming up soon. I'll be updating the recipe in my sig in a few minutes.

I'm calling this Mc"Craic"en's Irish Red.

 

[Cheesefood]

Ewwww.......

Garlic Ale?

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

Gotta love that highland gaelic!

 

[elkdog]

BUMP. Dude, how did this turn out?

 

[J-ROD]

BUMP. Dude, how did this turn out?

yeah what he said....I'm in love with this stuff and want to give this a try.

 

[elkdog]

I tried this one last fall, as a pm. I'm doing AG now, and I think I would probably up the munich a little bit, and mash a little higher- maybe 156. The Speical B could probably come up just a bit, too When I had the real deal, it was considerably more full-bodied and sweet than what I brewed. What I brewed was really, really good, but as a clone it was a bit off. This recipe is at least in the neighborhood, and I wasn't too worried about an exact clone, so take that as you will.

 

[J-ROD]

I tried this one last fall, as a pm. I'm doing AG now, and I think I would probably up the munich a little bit, and mash a little higher- maybe 156. The Speical B could probably come up just a bit, too When I had the real deal, it was considerably more full-bodied and sweet than what I brewed. What I brewed was really, really good, but as a clone it was a bit off. This recipe is at least in the neighborhood, and I wasn't too worried about an exact clone, so take that as you will.

Thanks for the information. I will be giving this a try sometime soon.

 

[tennesseean_87]

Thread resurrection! I missed the boil for 90 minutes part, and I collected a bit too much sparge water, so that even though I hit my efficiency dead on I only came in at 1.050. I mashed higher (around 155 fro most of mash) and will see if I can keep it around 65 for the ferment and see how Gaelic Lite is. I'll make sure to correct those mistakes next time around, since I already have ingredients for another batch (probably fall or winter).

 

[kem411ocd]

So I'm looking to brew the Gaelic as my first "not out of a box" beer. I'd like do a partial mash version of this, but really dont know how to convert the AG version to a partial mash recipe. Would anyone be willing to take a minute and spell it out for me?

 

[tennesseean_87]

So I'm looking to brew the Gaelic as my first "not out of a box" beer. I'd like do a partial mash version of this, but really dont know how to convert the AG version to a partial mash recipe. Would anyone be willing to take a minute and spell it out for me?

Get BrewTarget or some other software. Enter in the recipe given, then cut out some of the base malt (half of it?) until you have an amount of grain you can mash in your pot or whatever. Then add back DME (light, golden light, whatever) until your gravity numbers hit what they were before you cut out the base malt. There are also ways to calculate how much DME or LME you need, but I forget the numbers, and they are vary based on your efficiency (1 lb 2-row=.75 lbs LME=.6 lbs DME, or something to that effect.)

OG: 1.056

2.5 lbs DME
2 lbs 2 row (I cut this down more than half since vienna and munich are also base malts)
3 lbs munich
1 lb vienna
8 oz c40
8 oz c60
4 oz Special B

Do hops like normal.