Wee Heavy recipe

[tdp]

Hi all,

it's my first post on this forum, so first a small introduction;
I'm Teun, 36 years old and living in the east side of the Netherlands, close to the German border. Started brewing in 2013, and over the years 'my brewery' grew from pots and pans, to a 3 vessel SS Brewtech 15 Gallon setup. I'm a fan of different styles of beer, mostly the traditional styles. The problem in the Netherlands is that it's hard to find proper traditional English beers. Bitters or Wee Heavy's are not that mainstream in Holland. So we have to brew them!

I'm thinking of brewing this beer next Sunday, maybe someone can give me advice/tips/tricks for this beer/recipe? Sorry for the recipe is in Dutch, but I think most of the terms are the same in English? (And sorry for my English, my German is better I think :))


Basis

Omschrijving	Waarde
Kenmerk	SS008
Naam recept	Winterkoning Scotch Ale
Brouwdatum	17-08-2020
Bierstijl	Scotch Ale (Strong)
Volume	44,0 l
Begin SG	1,065 SG
Berekende kleur (Morey)	37 EBC
Berekende bitterheid (Tinseth)	30 IBU
Brouwzaalrendement	80,0 %
Kooktijd	60 min.

Water en brouwzouten

Hoeveelheid	Ingrediënt
40,00 l	Water uit Rossum 2020 Q1 t/m Q4
5,0 g	CaCl2
3,00 ml	Fosforzuur
23,14 l	Spoelwater

Waterprofiel behandeld water

Ca	Mg	Na	HCO3	Cl	SO4
63 mg/l	7 mg/l	55 mg/l	106 mg/l	56 mg/l	83 mg/l

Vergistbare ingrediënten

Hoeveelheid	Naam	Mouterij	Kleur	%
12,50 kg	Finest Pale Ale Golden Promise	Simpsons Malt	7 EBC	88,7 %
0,50 kg	CaraGold Malt	Crisp Malt	18 EBC	3,5 %
0,50 kg	Crystal Extra Dark	Simpsons Malt	475 EBC	3,5 %
0,60 kg	Golden Syrup	Supermarkt	40 EBC	4,3 %

Maischschema

Omschrijving	Temperatuur	Stap tijd	Rust tijd	Beslagdikte
Beta-amylaserust	65,0 °C	1 min.	45 min.	3,0 l/kg
Alfa-amylaserust	72,0 °C	15 min.	30 min.	3,0 l/kg
Uitmaischen	78,0 °C	5 min.	5 min.	3,0 l/kg

Hop

Hoeveelheid	Naam	Type	% alfazuur	Kooktijd/toevoeging	IBU
85,0 g	Bramling Cross 7,2% (Unibrew)	bellen	7,2%	60 min.	29,8 IBU

Gist

Hoeveelheid	Naam	Type
44,0 g	Nottingham (Lallemand)	bovengist

Vergisting

Kenmerk	Waarde
Starttemp. vergisting	19,0 °C
Max. temp. hoofdvergisting	19,0 °C
Eind temp. hoofdvergisting	19,0 °C

 

[MrRook]

Nottingham is not the best yeast choice for a wee heavy.

 

[chthon]

A bit of background

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Welcome!

As Rook says, I wouldn't use Nottingham, otherwise looks good to me! I'm not an expert by any means but a quick google shows this one, Wyeast Scottish 1728 ?

 

[GerritT]

Malt bill looks good, Bramling Cross is a nice hop (reminds me to use it again!), but do not fiddle too much with the water. Tukkers water is good enough to drink, so it's good enough to brew with!

 

[prog99]

Nottingham is not the best yeast choice for a wee heavy.

An award winning recipe with nottingham yeast (I've made it and its great)

https://scottishcraftbrewers.org/?p=1968

 

[Hanglow]

Hi and welcome

One thing to note is that wee heavies/ strong scottish ales are not even that popular in scotland! I think your recipe would make a good beer, although I'd bump up the calcium to over 100 with some more CaCl

The current good ones that we do drink are like traquair house ale and broughton old jock, both are simply pale malt and a touch of roast barley, 1% or so. Traquair is fermented with nottingham btw, it's a fine choice for these types of beers if using dry yeast.

 

[tdp]

I don't know why but my reaction from Friday still has thoe be approved by a moderator, maybe this reaction doesn't have this problem?

Last year I brewed one with 98% Golden Promise and 2% Roasted Barley, and cooked down the first liters of wort to a syrup. I did use the WLP028 (Edinburgh Ale), turned out good! I wanted to try a different recipe, and prefer dry yeast at the moment. I brew all my beers with the yeast from Lallemand, with good result imo.

The version I regular drink is brewed by an Belgian brewery, Gordon Finest Scotch. I don't know if it represents the style good, but I like that one!

Thanks for the advices, I think I will brew it this way.

 

[MrRook]

Welcome!

As Rook says, I wouldn't use Nottingham, otherwise looks good to me! I'm not an expert by any means but a quick google shows this one, Wyeast Scottish 1728 ?

I've brewed a Scottish ale with 1728 and with white labs version. I much prefer the 1728.

 

[tdp]

Last Friday I brewed this recipe. It was quite a nice brewday, hitting the numbers, even with this grain bill.

I made a small change with the hops, as I wanted to use some Bramling Cross in some other recipe. For bittering I used the Northdown.

Setup of the brewery while transferring the wort to the CCT

And now we wait!

Teun

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Very nice!

 

[tdp]

Last week I bottled this beer, 40 liters in total. Hopefully it turns out great, first tasting will be in a week or so.

Beer for winter '21/'22: Check ;-)

 

[thesteve]

Good luck tdp. Not sure the english deserve credit for the wee heavy though.
I am off to watch old clips of that great German footballer Johan Cruyff

 

[tdp]

I'll give you the credits when you give Johan Cruijff back to us

 

[tdp]

Last Friday I tried the first bottle, 2 weeks after bottling. The colour is a bit 'pale' in my opinion, but still nice.
It smells a bit yeasty, with a glimpse of candy.

First sip: Caramel, sweet, boozy. Mouthfeel is viscous, velvety.

I think this beer will develop in a great beer.

Cheers!

 

[MrRook]

Last Friday I tried the first bottle, 2 weeks after bottling. The colour is a bit 'pale' in my opinion, but still nice.
It smells a bit yeasty, with a glimpse of candy.

First sip: Caramel, sweet, boozy. Mouthfeel is viscous, velvety.

I think this beer will develop in a great beer.
View attachment 42914

Cheers!

I give the color two thumbs up.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Last Friday I tried the first bottle, 2 weeks after bottling. The colour is a bit 'pale' in my opinion, but still nice.
It smells a bit yeasty, with a glimpse of candy.

First sip: Caramel, sweet, boozy. Mouthfeel is viscous, velvety.

I think this beer will develop in a great beer.
View attachment 42914

Cheers!

Looks great! Like the glass too!

 

[tdp]

Thanks! Love this glass too, like to drink the beers out of the original glass :). And yes, I've got a lot of glasses, too much if you ask my wife