Wee Heavy Kiltlifter Wee Heavy (AG)

[ohiobrewtus]

Recipe Type

All Grain

Yeast

WLP028

Yeast Starter

2 qt.

Batch Size (Gallons)

5

Original Gravity

1.079

Final Gravity

1.016

Boiling Time (Minutes)

60

IBU

28.5

Color

16

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

7 @ 66

Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

14 @ 66

This is not a clone of the Kiltlifter beer that is available commercially in the Pacific NW. At the time that I named this beer I was not even aware that a commercial beer of that name existed. I have never tried the commercial version(s) so I cannot compare them to this. It might be close, if you brew it and it is somewhat similar please let me know.

Click here for HBT user reviews of this beer in posts #3, #12 and #42.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.82 gal
Estimated OG: 1.080 SG
Estimated Color: 16.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 28.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.75 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 82.86 %
0.56 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3.97 %
0.25 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 1.76 %
0.25 lb Peat Smoked Malt (2.8 SRM) Grain 1.76 %
0.19 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 1.32 %
0.09 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 0.63 %
0.09 lb Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM) Grain 0.63 %
1.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 21.4 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (15 min) Hops 3.5 IBU
0.25 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (15 min) Hops 1.6 IBU
0.75 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (5 min) Hops 1.9 IBU
1.00 lb Lyle's Golden Syrup (0.0 SRM) Sugar 7.05 %
1 Pkgs Edinburgh Ale (White Labs #WLP028) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 13.18 lb
----------------------------

Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge

Step Time Name Description Step Temp

60 min Mash In Add 16.48 qt of water at 170.1 F 154.0 F
Sparge 1 Add 10.00 qt of water at 170.0
Sparge 2 Add 10.00 qt of water at 170.0

 

[explosivebeer]

This sounds like a great recipe OhioBrewtus. I'm thinking of bumping it up a notch, making a strong wee heavy, and then parti-gyling a scotch ale from the 2nd runnings. Do you have any suggestions or input for this idea?

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Technically this is a Strong Scotch ale by BJCP style parameters. You could partigyle this and get something like a Scottish Light 60 or a Scottish Heavy 70 out of the second runnings.

The only thing that some people didn't like about this beer is the hint of smoke. It's within style guidelines and I think it works very well with this beer, though.

I can only take partial credit for the recipe. This is one of the few that I didn't come up with on my own. It's mostly AHS's Belhaven Wee Heavy kit. I think I made a few changes to it, but it's been so long that I can't remember.

 

[explosivebeer]

Technically this is a Strong Scotch ale by BJCP style parameters. You could partigyle this and get something like a Scottish Light 60 or a Scottish Heavy 70 out of the second runnings.

The only thing that some people didn't like about this beer is the hint of smoke. It's within style guidelines and I think it works very well with this beer, though.

I can only take partial credit for the recipe. This is one of the few that I didn't come up with on my own. It's mostly AHS's Belhaven Wee Heavy kit. I think I made a few changes to it, but it's been so long that I can't remember.

Thanks for the info. I'll let you know how it turns out if I end up using this base recipe.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

Thinking of doing this this weekend, would taking out the Golden Syrup drop this down to a 70/-? Where did you pick up the syrup?

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Most online shops carry Lyle's Golden Syrup. I would highly recommend leaving it in there. I tried it without it and it's been a while so I can't tell you exactly what it was that was missing, but it wasn't anywhere near the same beer without it.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

Yeah, not sure I can get it by Saturday though if I ordered online.

Edit:
Never mind...I found it locally. Thanks.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

So I did this guy about 3 weeks ago. Came in about 10pts shy at 1.068 for an OG. Not sure what happened. Anywho, just pulled a sample, sitting at 1.023. And yeah, that peat smoked malt is totally there. It's not overwhelming, but I could see backing off a bit on it next time. I'll probably transfer it and let it sit for another 3 - 4 weeks while I empty out some kegs and see how it is then.

 

[Talloak]

I made this back in May. I let it sit in the primary for about 14 weeks as I took the summer off from brewing. I bottled it about 4 weeks ago. When I transfered to the bottling bucket, the yeast cake was so thin and clean and firm I was amazed. They had really cleaned up after themselves. Very surprised, and I usually use US-05 which cleans up after itself pretty well. I used WYeast 1728 in this batch of Scotch Ale. I took a hydrometer reading and tasted that sample, I could have drank the whole batch just as it was, no problem.

I tried one bottle about 1 week ago and it was really, really good. But the syrup was present and I didn't pick up much smoke, which is good. I am going to let them keep conditioning for another 3 or 4 weeks at least before I try another.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Excellent, keep us updated.

I need to brew this again sometime soon. It's been way too long.

 

[Jmiltime]

The peated smoke flavor should mellow out with time. I recently kegged a recipe that had 6oz of peated in it. It was overwhelming after about 5 weeks but has now been about 8 and I think it's almost perfect. Balanced out very nicely. I will probably go with 3-4oz next time, but it is a very nice flavor to have in a scottish ale. Give it a few more weeks and see what you think.

 

[JCourtland]

I got all the supplies, I'm going to brew this this weekend. I just have one question. When do you put in the Lyle's Golden Syrup.
Cheers,
Jeremy

 

[ohiobrewtus]

I got all the supplies, I'm going to brew this this weekend. I just have one question. When do you put in the Lyle's Golden Syrup.
Cheers,
Jeremy

I'd wait until the last 15 minutes or so of the boil to add the Lyle's.

 

[mojotele]

I adapted this recipe to a partial mash, and I'll be trying to brew it next week. My LHBS doesn't have "Black Barley," so I subbed Roasted Barley. Between that and the changes needed to do a partial mash, I hope it will come out pretty similar! I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the recipe!

 

[Talloak]

Update: I made this back in May, and bottled it sometime during September. The flavors are starting to meld together like I had hoped. I have about 20 12 oz bottles left, plus 6 22 oz bottles. I am just going to keep aging them. Its a pretty damn good Strong Scotch.

 

[mojotele]

Just cracked one open after bottle conditioning for 3 weeks, and this beer is fantastic! Very malty, as it should be, but it isn't sickeningly sweet - in my opinion, it is just sweet enough. I cut the amount of peated malt in half, and I can't detect any smokiness at all. I'll have to use the full amount next time. I'll post my partial mash version later.



Here's my partial mash recipe:

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 4.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.081 SG
Estimated Color: 17.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 27.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 66.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------

4.00 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM)
3.30 lb Pale Liquid Extract [Boil for 5 min]
1.00 lb Lyle's Golden Syrup [Boil for 15 min]
2.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
0.56 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)
0.25 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM)
0.19 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM)
0.13 lb Peat Smoked Malt (2.8 SRM)
0.09 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)
0.09 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
1.30 oz Goldings, East Kent (pellet) [5.00 %] (60 min)
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent (pellet) [5.00 %] (15 min)
0.28 oz Fuggles (pellet) [4.00 %] (15 min)
1.08 oz Fuggles (pellet) [4.00 %] (5 min)
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min)
1 Pkgs Edinburgh Ale (White Labs #WLP028)

As I said, I cut the peat smoked malt in half. I will use the full amount next time. I also used the late extract addition method to boost hop utilization.

 

[CarbonatedColon]

How long does this Wee Heavy (Extract version) need to spend in the primary and the secondary?

Also - I am very new to brewing and I'm not questioning the recipe. The amount of hops seems high for a Scotch Ale .... how did this turn out as far as hop bitterness?

 

[ohiobrewtus]

This beer doesn't need to spend much more time in primary/secondary than most other beers - 4 weeks or so should be plenty.

IBU range as listed in the style guidelines are 17-35, so this falls right about in the middle. The bitterness is barely perceptible.

 

[ThreeTaps]

I'll be brewing this next month (maybe in a couple weeks if I can manage it). It'll be my biggest one yet! Perfect for setting aside in the primary for a month, then letting them bottle condition for 1-2 years. I've been wanting a good beer to celebrate my Master's graduation in June of 2012, so this will be it.

In all reality though, I'll probably have this one consumed (minus a sixer) by the end of this year, then make another batch. Hah.

 

[mojotele]

This one tastes very good with only a few months of bottle conditioning. The flavor definitely needs time to evolve, though. I drank a few after three weeks and it was rather sweet, probably because some priming sugar was left over. After a month or so, it was just right.

 

[nigel31]

Any suggestions, mojotele, on mash temp? I understand that wees are usually mashed "high" to create more unfermentable sugars (or a less fermentable wort, perhaps). I'll be doing this one as my first partial mash next week (ingreds. arriving later today) and was just looking for some final guidance/ideas/tips.

Big thanks,
Nige

 

[ArizonaDB]

Any suggestions on a dry yeast that would work well? I use primarily dry yeast, not only for its ease of use but also its price point.... CHEAP. I was thinking either SafAle S-04 or Danstar Manchester might work well. Anyone ever used a dry yeast on this recipe?

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Any suggestions on a dry yeast that would work well? I use primarily dry yeast, not only for its ease of use but also its price point.... CHEAP. I was thinking either SafAle S-04 or Danstar Manchester might work well. Anyone ever used a dry yeast on this recipe?

There are certainly many styles that take dry yeast very well, but I'm not sure that this is one of them.

 

[nigel31]

I'm unsure as well. I know that Nottingham and Windsor are pretty generic yeasts, but to really get the big up-front maltiness that a wee heavy demands, I can only recommend using one of the liquid versions (WLP028, Wyeast 1728) and even a basic yeast starter. But really, with a brew of this gravity and characteristics, one should use a big starter (at least a gallon with 2 vials or 2 gallons with one vial).

You don't do starters, ArizonaDB? For most ales, a dry yeast can work well enough. I say "well enough," because they may not be optimal but, at lower/common gravities, can "do the trick." With an 8% or larger brew, though, the right amount of healthy/viable yeast is really needed for flavoring and a proper/fast/complete fermentation cycle. Homebrewing--and certainly fermentation--is not, in my opinion, the place to be cheap. Save money on this or that, but not where fermentation's concerned. Fermenatation's pretty much EVERYTHING.

 

[mojotele]

You should really go with the Edinburgh yeast on this one. I know it is considerably more expensive, but the good thing about this yeast is it is a rather versatile ale yeast. If you wash the yeast you can reuse it for many different styles which brings the overall cost down.

Also, I know this is very late for nigel, but I followed ohiobrewtus's instructions for mashing and mashed at 154*F.

 

[nigel31]

Thanks all the same, mojo.

The man's right, though: one can wash their own yeast--I'd wholeheartedly planned on actually doing it with this batch of WLP028 (Edinburgh), but wasn't able to get mason jars (or a reasonable substitute) in time, so I'll do it next time around.

That all said, the liquid yeast is still only $6 for 50 bottles' worth (vs. $1.50 or $2 for the dry yeast). Spend the extra money and get something that'll really make a brew great and truer to style with all that maltiness and character. $6 can barely even get you lunch these days! Save up and get the good stuff to make your own stuff great.

 

[casey914]

Any ideas on making this one a extract based beer?

 

[binaryc0de]

I'm not sure that you could brew this beer as an extract brew and have it be the same beer without at least mashing some of the grains. I think the peat smoked malt and the aromatic malts need to be mashed.

 

[Erroneous]

Most online shops carry Lyle's Golden Syrup. I would highly recommend leaving it in there. I tried it without it and it's been a while so I can't tell you exactly what it was that was missing, but it wasn't anywhere near the same beer without it.

Sorry to bring up an old post, but do you think table sugar would suffice instead of Lyle's? From what I can tell everything describes it as adding fermentables without flavor. Also, from what I gather on their site it is basically sugar that has been refined to some extent.

 

[jacobezzell]

I want to use up some hops I have in the freezer for this, not sure which to use. I have Magnum, Saaz, Tettnang, and Target. Tried to use BeerAlchemy to guess on IBUs but not coming close to what is stated in the recipe. I get 54 by putting in the fuggles and goldings, but what's listed is 28.5? So maybe just throw in 0.5oz of magnum at 60 and 1oz of saaz at 10?

 

[Demaskee]

Making a partial mash version of this today. Very stoked; it's my biggest beer yet.

 

[Surfanarchist]

Subscribed. Im going to brew this one.

 

[badmajon]

I made this one a few years ago. Holy crap great beer and damn did I get drunk.