Scottish Ale - Cold Conditioning TIme?

[MrBJones]

I'm thinking of brewing Jamil's 70/- Scottish Ale tomorrow. He says cold conditioning for "a few months" at 40º will improve the beer. Does he mean to put it in the cold immediately after bottling...that it should be at that temp as it carbs? Or does he mean that it should be put to that temp after a couple weeks of room-temperature (65-72) carbing?

In any case, that's a long time to have my freezer tied up. What would the result be if the cold conditioning time was shortened (say to a month), or if all conditioning was done at 65-72?

 

[LLBeanJ]

If bottling it would be after carbing at room temp for a few weeks.

It'll be plenty drinkable once it's had a few weeks in the bottle to carb and then another week to chill, but it will improve the longer it lagers, at least up to a point. Lagering in the bottle for a couple months should yield a better beer than one that has only lagered for a week, which is true for many styles, actually.

Edit to ad: "lagering" = cold conditioning in the fridge

You can condition at room temp, but it will take longer. The point is to cold condition to drop the yeast to provide a crisp, lager-like flavor profile. This would be the opposite of "aging," which would be to condition at room temp or celler temps to allow flavors to meld over time (think big stouts, Wee Heavy, barleywines, etc.). Scottish ales don't really need to age, as the grain bills are typically small and simple.

 

[MrBJones]

Edit to ad: "lagering" = cold conditioning in the fridge

You can condition at room temp, but it will take longer. The point is to cold condition to drop the yeast to provide a crisp, lager-like flavor profile. This would be the opposite of "aging," which would be to condition at room temp or celler temps to allow flavors to meld over time (think big stouts, Wee Heavy, barleywines, etc.). Scottish ales don't really need to age, as the grain bills are typically small and simple.

Could this be accelerated with a normal cold crash, down to 32-ish for a few days..or would something be lost from doing so?

 

[LLBeanJ]

Could this be accelerated with a normal cold crash, down to 32-ish for a few days..or would something be lost from doing so?

Yes, that would help, but I don't think it would really accelerate the process. It would result in less trub in the bottles, which is a good thing, but there is no substitute for time in this case, other than maybe filtering prior to bottling, but if you filter out all the yeast, then there'd be none left to carbonate. I would only consider filtering if I were kegging.

 

[MrBJones]

Thanks!

I'm going to go for it, since I can have a few drinkable ones a few weeks after bottling. And I have a Cool Brewing cooler for short fermentations over the next few months.

Jamil recommends Wyeast American Ale (1056) yeast, fermented at 65º. Would there be a benefit to going a bit lower -- maybe 60º -- for extra cleanness? Might also prevent too much attenuation?

 

[LLBeanJ]

No, I wouldn't do that. Chico @ low 60s will often result in peach flavored esters. You might consider going with one of the Scottish strains instead. I used to use WLP001 as my neutral ale yeast, but have found that I like WLP028 better. It seems to give a fuller flavor profile. I use it for all sorts of styles and really like it.

 

[MrBJones]

Just back from LHBS, they suggested Wyeast 1728 (Scottish Ale). Said it would work better, as I have a freezer/Inkbird and so can maintain a constant lower temp of 55 to 60.

 

[LLBeanJ]

That's a good choice.