Scottish Ale Question

[MerryMonk]

I have read on here a couple of times that sometimes in traditional scottish brewing that they will take a gallon or so of the first running and boil them in a second pot for a bit to intensify the caramel taste. Can anyone on here who has experience with this kinda give me a rundown on this procedure? How long do I boil the runnings? How much runnings should I boil? Thanks ahead of time for any info!!

 

[Walker]

I've done this. I took about a quart of wort and cooked it down in a small saucepan, then added it back to the kettle later.

It was a bit of a pain and I had to closely watch it to make sure it didn't burn.

Since what it gives you is a caramel flavor, I decided to not do it anymore and threw in some Melanoidin malt and a little more crystal to get the flavor. I'm considering adding some aromatic malt next time.

 

[DrinksWellWithOthers]

I just did this for Scottish 80. I took 1.5 gallons of my first runnings and boiled them down as far as I could go for about 90 minutes. I used my electric stovetop so that's probably why it took so long. I ended up getting a final volume of about 2 quarts. The beer is still fermenting but the syrup tasted pretty good.

 

[flyangler18]

I do this for all of my Scottish ales - 98% Pale Malt and 2% Roasted Barley as the base recipe (adjusted for gravity), then boiling down a gallon of the first runnings by 50% - 75%. I add this portion back to the kettle at the tail end of the boil.

You'll need to adjust your sparge volume slightly to compensate for the reduced first runnings.

 

[passedpawn]

I'd just add melanoiden malt. This should give you exactly the same effect.

I just made an oktoberfest and it is beautiful in color and flavor. Both these qualities were produced by the munich (and some vienna) malt I used. These both are rich with melanoidens. The melanoidens in these malts were produced by the malster just so I could skip the decoction step.

Read here for a great description of melanoidens and their sources. There is also an excellent Brew Strong podcast ("Melanoidens") on the Brewing Network regarding this.

 

[mummasan]

I have done this twice - once with a scottish ale and once with a southern english brown. Both times it helped make a great tasting beer. I took 1.5 gallons and reduced to about half, added to my wort, then boiled for 60 minutes. It made my brew day take alot longer but it was worth it.

Collect extra runoff from the mash, and expect a higher OG.

 

[thisjrp4]

This sounds pretty cool. Do you need to mash extra grain or just collect extra wort?

 

[jsullivan02130]

This procedure is covered in Brewing Classic Styles, both the book and the Jamil Show podcast for Scottish Ale. The net result is that you're better off just adding some crystal malts. Boiling down the wort gives you a toffee, buttery taste (often mistaken by competition judges for diacetyl).

If you do want to do it, assuming you're going for authenticity and not gold medals, just take a gallon of first runnings, boil the crap out of it, then add it back to you kettle.

 

[R2-D2]

Today while at the local homebrew store looking for WLP028 for a Scottish Ale, a kind gentleman suggested I try boiling down 1 gallon into syrup as discussed in this thread. He said he has done this many times and it will add that extra level of roasted malt taste that isn't there without doing this method. I'm going to give it a try this week.

 

[HDChef]

I'm brewing a Scottish Ale tomorrow. The grains are already crushed, and if I didn;t already have crystal malt I would try reducing the first runnings. I'll definitely try that next time!

 

[rico567]

I'd just add melanoiden malt. This should give you exactly the same effect.

I just made an oktoberfest and it is beautiful in color and flavor. Both these qualities were produced by the munich (and some vienna) malt I used. These both are rich with melanoidens. The melanoidens in these malts were produced by the malster just so I could skip the decoction step.

Read here for a great description of melanoidens and their sources. There is also an excellent Brew Strong podcast ("Melanoidens") on the Brewing Network regarding this.

Thanks- this seems like a no-brainer, then. Why should I mess around with a decoction / reduction when these are available? I'll use these in my next batch.....

 

[mysterio]

I have done the reduction step a few times for Scottish ales, in my experience you REALLY have to boil it down, about 4 or 5 L of first runnings down to about a pint of thick syrup. I've tried just reducing it by half and there was no noticeable effect.

 

[flyangler18]

Why should I mess around with a decoction / reduction when these are available?

For the experience. In the case of Scottish ales, I find the flavors generated by the reduction to be deeper and richer than those contributed by speciality grains.

YMMV, of course.