My attempt at a Scotch Ale

[meadsupporter]

My attempt at a Scotch Ale:


Thoughts/ tips are appreciated


Anyways this is what I have floating around my head at the moment:



Extract batch 5 Gallon


9 LBS DME

12 ozs crystal 60 L
6 ozs Carared Malt
2.6 ozs Chocolate Malt
2.6 ozs Roasted Barley
4 ozs Peated Malt
4 ozs maltodextrine [at 60 min boil]


2.0 ozs East Kent Goldings at 60 Min Boil
No Flavour or Aroma additions

Scottish Edinburgh Ale Yeast WL028


I know I'm trying [sort of] to stay true to style. Should I add more hops? Less hops?




Your thoughts ?

 

[mikeysab]

Lose the peated malt. The rest looks decent.

 

[Poobah58]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^
What he said. Let the yeast give you that Scottish taste...

 

[ghpeel]

I wish I could find the guy who started telling everyone to put peated malt in Scotch Ales and tell him to STFU.

 

[FarmerTed]

I wouldn't put peated malt in there either, but I was on the east coast a week ago and got to have some Founders Dirty Bastard. It says on the carrier that it has peated malt in it. It's a damn good beer (really wish they sold it in Colorado). It didn't taste all that smoky to me, so I'm guessing they put a tiny amount of it in there, like under 0.5% of the grain bill. Hell, a lot of brewers also use Cal Ale yeast to make Scottish ales , and that isn't all that Scottish if you ask me, but if the beer tastes good, what's the big deal? In the end, it's all about taste. Anyway, a small amount of the peated malt may work for you, or it could taste like total crap if you end up with a Laphroig-like beer (I like Laphroig, but it wouldn't be a target for me in a beer). If you have some of the malt and are dying to use it, I'd go with like half an ounce and call it good.

How many ibu's is that, and what is the O.G.? I think the DB carrier said it had 50 ibu's (maybe 40). It was good. You're probably going to have to age it for a while, so over-shooting a bit on the bitterness probably won't hurt you. I'm guessing you're around 30 or so, though, which oughta be right in the proper range.

 

[HomebrewMTB]

In Brewing Classic Styles, Jamil has two recipes for Scottish Ale. One uses a lot of specialty malts and Chico yeast, the other is more "traditional" using straight base grain with a touch of roasted barley with Scottish yeast. The traditional method includes boiling down a gallon of wort separately to create the caramelization. It sounds like you're going toward the first method although neither use peat. You can add the peat smoked malt if you want but just realize it won't be true to style. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Brew what you like.