Looking for some suggestions for a Scottish ale.

[bulldogbrewhaus]

My father is a big fan of Scottish ales. He loves Belhaven, but also wee heavies. I was wondering if anyone had any tried and true Scottish ale recipes. I browsed the recipe database and nothing caught my eye. I actually talked him into brewing this one with me, so I am pretty excited about this. Thanks in advance. Cheers.

 

[motorneuron]

I really liked this recipe, except that I found it too peaty. If you don't want to make it peated, just make it without (it's only 4 oz, and Scottish ales haven't had peat in them since maybe like 1750): https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f65/walkers-gruagach-80-a-148886/ Take note of the caramelization technique--that is important for getting authentic flavor. Note: some other people really like the level of peat, so don't take my word for that; I just mean it would work without the peat if that's not what you want.

 

[bulldogbrewhaus]

Thanks, looks good.

 

[sniperd]

Assuming you are doing AG, take a look at higher pre-boil volumes and boiling down to get a more 'syrup' feel. I'm a big scottish fan myself. Also, be careful with putting in smoked malts. My understanding is most scottish don't have any, but it's an easier way to mimic the scottish flavor w/o the extended boil. My favorite commercial beer is the Belhaven Wee-Heavy on nitro, and is in fact why 2 of my 4 taps are nitro taps. Also, if you want to add some kick, look at using lyles golden syrup. Austin Home Brew has the Belhaven Wee-Heavy kit, it's good but not enough body compared to it on tap, but very close to what you get in a bottle. Good luck!

 

[solbes]

If this is all grain, I would use Golden Promise as a significant portion of the base malt (> 60%). I did a quasi decoction mash where I boiled 1.25 gallons of the mash down to 1.5 L on the stove top, stirring constantly. Return this to the mash and still do a long boil (80-90 minutes). That is where you should get most of your color and carmelization from. You can cheat a little by adding few ounces of roasted barley and C120. No peated or smoked malt in mine.

 

[bulldogbrewhaus]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I am doing all grain. I had read somewhere before that doing a satellite boil is the way to go. I think I will avoid the peated malts on this one.

 

[924RACR]

Consider the Oskar Blues Old Chub clone... very very tasty, only smoked malt, not peat, but I'd easily go either 50/50 with peated or 100% with peated. Our next batch will use peated instead of smoked...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/oskar-blues-old-chub-clone-byo-303487/

Not hard to make, and truly wonderful, ages well too...

 

[bulldogbrewhaus]

Old Chub is a really good beer. I am a fan of nugget hops. I have read elsewhere that OB uses Cali Ale yeast exclusively. How do you think this would do with a scottish ale yeast? Lots of choices here, decisions decisions....

 

[bulldogbrewhaus]

Consider the Oskar Blues Old Chub clone... very very tasty, only smoked malt, not peat, but I'd easily go either 50/50 with peated or 100% with peated. Our next batch will use peated instead of smoked...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/oskar-blues-old-chub-clone-byo-303487/

Not hard to make, and truly wonderful, ages well too...

Old Chub is a really good beer, and I am a fan of nugget hops. I have read elsewhere that Oskar Blues uses Cali ale yeast exclusively. How do you think this would do with a scottish ale yeast. Decisions decisions....

 

[motorneuron]

California and Scottish ale yeasts aren't that different, in part because both tend to be tolerant of very low-temperature (for an ale) fermentation and are often used at those low temperatures. Scottish strains can often go down to 55F, or in other words, lager temperatures, and traditional fermentation was fairly slow. As a result, the fermentation profile is very clean (again, for an ale); this is in stark contrast to the relatively high-temperature fermentation of most English ales. And as we all know, your typical California/American yeasts are also fermented cool (though usually more like the low 60s) and produce clean, minimal ester profiles. So I wouldn't worry too much about that difference. In my experience, the biggest difference you might see is that the Scottish strains tend to be poor attenuators, which is part of what leads to the sweetness of Scottish styles. Meanwhile, the most common American strains are pretty good attenuators (exactly what you want for a dry west coast IPA). But part of the sweetness of Scottish beers is also due to the grain bill and the caramelization of the wort, too.

Bottom line, if you ferment cool, as you should for the style, there won't be a big difference.

Edit: although actually, the only White Labs Scottish strain says it won't work well below 62F: http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/wlp028-edinburgh-scottish-ale-yeast?s=homebrew Odd. I guess I was thinking about both what I've read about tradition, and also my experience with the Wyeast strain (http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=143), which does definitely work down to 55F.

 

[bulldogbrewhaus]

Bottom line, if you ferment cool, as you should for the style, there won't be a big difference.

Interesting. Slow and low like a good barbeque. I recently did a German Alt with Wyeast 1007 and fermented for about 5 weeks at around 58-60deg. It came out really well. So it seems like satelite boil, low and slow fermentation, and a small amount of peat/smoked malt should do the trick. Not sure which yeast I'll use, might depend on what my LHBS has in stock.

 

[motorneuron]

Yeah, it's a bit like kolsch or alt, in that it's ale but fermented cool, so it becomes quite lager-like.

I'd say the key features of Scottish beer broadly speaking are maltiness, residual sweetness, and clean fermentation. The smoke/peat thing is just something that people like to do for fun, but isn't actually present in most authentic Scottish beers. But because they tend to be dark, I think smoke (including peat) complements the flavors, and anyway it's fun to brew something smoky once in a while, so this ends up being the style in which homebrewers do it. Of course you should add smoke if you want, but don't feel like that is the core of Scottish beer.

 

[924RACR]

I couldn't imagine a Scottish yeast ruining it!

What he said ^ about smoke or peat... I just happen to love those flavors, even if not traditional they roll in very naturally anyway, so works for me...

Also did a killer Wee Heavy, using peated malt, which is why I love the idea of the same in the Old Chub.

May actually double up and do a parti-gyle here before long, 5 gal of Wee Heavy backed up by 10gal Old Chub; experience to date indicates it won't be hard to get rid of...