Strong Scotch Ale (McZainasheff's Wee) (Y)

Recipe is from Brewing Classic Styles.

Brewed 5.0 gallons on 2014-08-10

Preboil gravity: 1.075

Original gravity: 1.085

Final gravity: 1.030

ABV: 7.2%

Apparent Attenuation: 64.7%

Link about this beverage American Homebrewer's Association (for original recipe)

Inspiration for Beam Me Up Scotch Ale (CC)

Parti-gyle secondary beverage was Autumn Brown (Z)

Process notes

2014-08-10

Crush on grains wasn't too good, lots of whole grains left. Was expecting OG to be higher.

2014-08-30

Kegged. Ferm temp has been ~65°. Dark, turbid, brown, like cloudy maple syrup. Spicy, clove like aroma. Sweet, but not cloying. Some raisin, biscuit, finish is spicy, almost dry(?) which is unexpected because of the high finishing gravity.

Boil for 90 minutes

At 60 minutes

1.5 ounces of 5.7% Alpha Acid British Kent Goldings pellets

At 15 minutes

1.5 teaspoons of Fermaid K

At 15 minutes

1 Whirlfloc Tablet

At 10 minutes

0.5 ounces of 5.7% Alpha Acid British Kent Goldings pellets

Mash

[88.89%] 20 pounds of Golden Promise (SimpsonsMalt)

[4.44%] 1 pound of Caramel 40L (Briess)

[2.22%] 8 ounces of Honey Malt (GambrinusMalting)

[2.22%] 8 ounces of German Munich (Weyermann)

[1.11%] 4 ounces of Caramel 120L (Briess)

[1.11%] 4 ounces of Pale Chocolate Malt (CrispMalt)

Single infusion mash. Mashed with 7 gallons (1.24 quarts per pound) of tap water for 70 minutes. 22lb 8oz of grain was used in the mash. (Final temp was 154)

Strike water temp: (0.2/1.24) * (154 - 73) + 154 = 167.0

Sparge

Sparged for 60 minutes with 4 gallons of 170° tap water. (Took 4 liters of first runnings and boiled it down to 1.5 liters and then added to wort.)

Yeast

2014-08-10

Pitch starter (started on 2014-08-07 with 1600mL water, IntermittentShaking, 160 grams DME, 1.00 tsp FermaidK) made from 1 pack of WLP028 Edinburgh (WhiteLabs) at 63°. (Put in fridge at night on 8/9. Decanted + pitched on brew day. Pitching at a lower temp than I wanted, but I couldn't get the temp up.)

Tasting notes (6.50/10; 2 ratings)

2014-09-11

[6/10] First pour. Slightly off-white head. Biscuity, dark bread/caramel flavor + aroma. Something tastes a bit off on this. Sour? Maybe it's just my palate now.

2015-01-11

[7/10] Last pour. I should have taken more notes! Thick, off-white creamy head. Great clarity. Dark brown, with ruby highlights. Lots of malt/melanoidin character; probably from the first runnings reduction. Medium-full bodied, a bit sweeter than I'd like. Dry this out w/ more yeast or oxygenation. Lots of toffee, dark caramel notes. Sudzers mentioned coffee. Joy enjoyed this beer a lot.

Beer competition results

Scored 33 in NCHC 2014.