Wee Heavy Scotch ale question

[cbren723]

So I am going to make a wee heavy scotch ale. I am thinking of doing a 5 gal batch, but I have two 2.5 gal fermenters and was thinking of doing half of the batch with an additive or variant.

Has anyone experimented with a Wee Heavy scotch ale before? I am open to any ideas. Vanilla? Coffee? I probably want to stay away from fruit, but ill here any suggestions. I know it is sort of a contrast but dry hopping? soaked wood chips? Different yeast strain?

Any suggestions or knowledge you could spare would be great. Thanks.

 

[HighlandRanger]

Wee Heavys are my go to brew. Of course, I don't like my Wee Heavys to be mixed with anything that doesn't fit the character. The only thing I have done is to soak oak wood chips in Whisky and put those in the secondary. No dry hops! Wee Heavy is very low on bittering hops and definitely very little if any hop flavor and zero hop aroma. Add hops and you we essentially make a barleywine.

 

[porterpounder]

I just dropped half of a 5 gallon batch into a small whisky barrel. I like bourbon barrels for beer, but scotch barrels can be nice in a sweeter wee-heavy. So oak chips soaked in booze or just adding the booze straight up will do it.

 

[cbren723]

I will look into the oak chips and whiskey. Have you seen or read anything about adding coffee or spices?

 

[HighlandRanger]

I will look into the oak chips and whiskey. Have you seen or read anything about adding coffee or spices?

I haven't...personally, wouldn't do it. Wee Heavy IMO does not lend itself well to coffee or spices. Not like a porter, stout or RIS which already has some of that character naturally.

 

[kempshark]

I thought that Salty Scot (salted caramel Wee Heavy) from Parallel 49 Brewing was fairly tasty. Not sure that I have had any other "flavored" wee heavy ales.

 

[ShareBrewing]

Something you could try with an wee heavy would be a different sugar addition. I plan on brewing one soon for winter but I'll maybe add molasses to it. Molasses has many complex sugars and flavor compound that can't fully be broken down by the yeast. It would certainly work with the flavor profile of a wee heavy. It would be certainly better than using brown sugar, cane sugar, ect. These would simply dry out your beer a few more points than desired for the style. Another one to look into would be D-180 or other liquid candi syrups.