Secondary Scottish 90/- with oak chips

[seanjwalker1]

Hello all. I just racked a Scottish 90 shilling O.G 1.062 to a secondary to infuse with Scotch barrel wood chips. Primary was 3 weeks at 64°, F.G 1.016 . Do I secondary at room temperature or continue at low to mid 60's? . I know that after bottling it has to be cold conditioned for a couple months, but not sure about secondary temp. Thanks!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Imagine you're in a Scottish brewery. What you think of as room temperature represents the height of summer....

No - it's a pretty good rule that for pretty much everything to do with British beer, if in doubt do it at cellar temperature (~55F)

 

[seanjwalker1]

Yeah I was thinking along that line. I took it down to my basement (mid 60's) to infuse with Scotch barrel chips in secondary for a week (2.5 gal batch, 1oz chips so a week should be enough ) then I will let warm up during bottle carbonation, then cold storage at 40° for 90 days.Thanks for your reply!

 

[seanjwalker1]

Thanks again! 2 weeks into cold conditioning after 3 weeks cold fermentation and it's already tasting good. Can't wait till 60 days in to Crack another "Taster"

 

[seanjwalker1]

Imagine you're in a Scottish brewery. What you think of as room temperature represents the height of summer....

No - it's a pretty good rule that for pretty much everything to do with British beer, if in doubt do it at cellar temperature (~55F)

5 months cold conditioning/cold storage at 38-42° it turned out to be a pretty darn good Scottish ale. Thanks for your advise

 

[Leezer]

I’d like to try something like this sometime and wondered where you got the Scotch barrel wood chips?

 

[seanjwalker1]

I’d like to try something like this sometime and wondered where you got the Scotch barrel wood chips?

I found them at Menard's. They sell them in the BBQ section as smoking chips. It's about a pound of chips, price wasn't bad. Just Google Scotch barrel wood chips Menard's. Hope this helps

 

[seanjwalker1]

I’d like to try something like this sometime and wondered where you got the Scotch barrel wood chips?

What I did was soak 1oz of the Scotch barrel wood chips for 72 hours submerged in a heavy duty plastic baggie full of Chivas Regal Scotch whiskey. Then I put the chips in a large SS ball infuser and let it soak in fermenter for 5-7 days. It had plenty of Scotch/oak flavor at that point for me. I did not use the tincture that resulted from the wood chips/Chivas Regal soak as it had a harsh tannin taste to me. I did add 1 ounce Chivas Regal to 5 gallons fermenter right before I transferred to bottling bucket. I did cold condition mine for 5 months..most brewing material recommends at minimum a 2 month cold conditioning after carbonation in bottles. Or I guess you could just let it cold condition in a secondary for 2 months..to each his own! Cheers !

 

[Leezer]

Thank you for all the info. I took a look and found those chips online, not a bad price at all. The large SS ball infuser is a great idea. I have another brew on deck already, but may try this one after that.

 

[seanjwalker1]

Glad I could help! For my Scottish I ordered a Spiced Winter ale kit from Northern Brewer. I think it came with 9 pounds of Golden Promise, 1 pound of English crystal and an Oz of mulling spices. I saved the spices for a Winter ale I brewed 2 weeks ago. I added a couple more pounds of grist, 4 Ibs Maris otter, 1 Ibs caramel crystal 80L, 1 Ibs 20L, 1.5 Ibs victory malt, 1 Ibs melanoiden, 1/4 Ibs dextrine. I used 1/2 oz East Kent goldings 60 min and 1/2 oz last 10 min. I also did a 1 gallon decoction..just take first 2.5-3.5 quarts of wort, boil it for 60-70 min to reduce it down and caramelize it, add it back to main boil at start of 60 roiling boil. I only got 1.060 O.G so some how I missed hitting my target of 1.065-1.070..but then again, 90/- shilling is usually between 5.5 and 6% so that's what I ended up with even though originally I was trying to make a Scotch barrel wee heavy. But turned out ok.

 

[Leezer]

Sounds like a good recipe, thank you! I made a Scottish ale once before and tried the boiling down decoction but it didn't work out like I hoped. It was only a 2G batch so the amount I pulled aside to boil down was small and it reduced very quickly. I added some water a couple times to extend the boiling of it, but wondered if doing that diluted the flavor since I couldn't really taste it in the beer. Was thinking next time I would keep the heat low and consider it done once it's reduced, even if done in a short time. Or, increase the quantity to boil down to start with. Plus I didn't try to add flavor with wood chips, so I'm anxious to try that too.

 

[seanjwalker1]

Just go easy on the wood chips, it can get over powering real fast. About 1 oz chips per 5 gallons, 1/2 oz for 2.5 gallons. Sometimes I do smaller 2.5 gallons batches. For a 2 gallon batch, I'd add enough grist for a 3.75 gallon batch. You can boil down 1 gallon to about 1/2 gallon, and you are gonna lose about a gallon during the boil and some during fermentation roughly bringing you down to 2 gallons. Just my humble 2 cents. Let me know how it's turns out when you do it. Cheer

 

[Leezer]

Great advice, thank you! Will let you know how it goes. Cheers!

 

[seanjwalker1]

Great advice, thank you! Will let you know how it goes. Cheers!

So did you ever get around to doing a Scottish? Mine have been chilling darn near a year. Tasted good after 3 months but 10-12 months really made it smooth

 

[Leezer]

No, unfortunately, but still in the queue. I'm not able to brew January-April due to my work schedule so I'm looking forward to being back on line soon. Glad to hear yours turned out well.