Young's Harvest Scottish Heavy

[Bort]

As my pressure barrel is about to become empty from a previous brew, I thought it time to get brewing my next kit - Young's Harvest Scottish Heavy.

I wanted to brew a bitter/ale following comments that they are better suited to a pressure barrel for secondary fermentation than a lager as I didn't want this next brew to involve bottles as I don't have many in my homebrew store cupboard.

In addition to the kit itself, I added 1.5kg of sugar as instructed although this was 1kg of brewing sugar and 500g of caster sugar as I did not wish to 'spoil' a sealed bag of more brewing sugar. I brewed short to 21 litres and took an original gravity reading of 1.046 at 23°C before pitching the yeast by sprinkling it. My target gravity is 1.000-1.006 according to the instructions which would give a strength of 5.2% ABV approximately.

The instructions reckon 5-10 days until ready but I'll be leaving it a good fortnight. The signs are good so far with fermentation commencing within hours... and the sample I took to check the gravity tasted pretty promising!

I'll let you know how it goes but if anyone else has experience of this kit I'd be interested to hear what I could be in for.

 

[Bort]

So the Scottish Heavy was split 50/50 roughly between the pressure barrel and 500ml PET bottles to undergo secondary fermentation about a fortnight after I brewed it. I haven’t had any of the bottles yet but the beer coming from the keg is beautiful... very rich in colour, a magnificent head and full of flavour - I am really pleased with this one! More on this when I pop open a bottle or two...

 

[Tanglefoot]

I've brewed this twice recently, once at the start of lockdown and again just recently which is in a barrel now.
First time I made as per instructions, second time I added DME and a dry hop with East Kent Goldings.
However I think actuallly this is a kit best brewed without any tweaks, it's beauty is it's clear, malty character
and out of a barrel a classic foamy head.
To compare the first brew is on left, later brew with additions on right - hope you enjoy yours !

 

[Bort]

This Scottish Heavy is just sublime... I posted on Tuesday we had half a keg of the stuff... it’s now Sunday and we’re nearly all out! Will have to crack open the dozen-or-so I have in bottles! A top beer, this - try it.

 

[Bort]

All bottles of this now gone and they did indeed improve over the weeks they were left conditioning. Would definitely make this homebrew kit again.

 

[MrTorpedo]

Youngs Scotish Heavy is one of the best cheap beer kits I've come across since I started making homebrew.

I found a gorgeous beer called Torpedo made by Sierra Nevada which is now no longer made. (They stopped production in July 2020.

After looking online I found the hops used and production method. So after playing around I've come up with this method to make a similar tasting beer using Scotish Heavy as a base. The hops used are Magnum, Citra, & Crystal.

Put 30g of Magnum hops in muslin bag and put into 5 Gallon fermenting bucket.
Add 2 household kettles of boiling water and leave for 5 mins, giving it the occasional stir.
Remove and discard hop bag.
Make kit up as normal in the bucket except have 1Kg brewing sugar and 500g of beer enhancer.
Take a gravity reading before adding the yeast. I usually have a start gravity of around 1.048
I usually mix my yeast with warm water before adding to the mix but its up to you and sprinkling on top works just as well.
After fermentation has finished its time to dry hop.
I put the following hops into seperate muslin bags and put into the bucket. 20g Citra, 20g Crystal, 20g Magnum.
Leave them in the bucket for 3 days.
Remove bags and bottle or keg the beer as you normally would. (don't forget to add sugar for carbonation).
The ABV comes out around 6%

Try and leave for at least a month before tasting but 2 months or longer would be best.
Enjoy :)