Looking for comments on a Scottish ale recipe I have been formulating. A little bit non traditional.
5 gallons, aiming for an OG around 1.048
8 lbs. Simpson’s Golden Promise
1 lb. Simpson’s Golden Naked Oats
1 lb. D-90 candi syrup
Mash in at 155°F or so with CaCl and lactic acid to adjust the mash pH in the 5.1 to 5.5 range for 90 min.
Boil for 90 min.
1 oz. Northern Brewer 60 min
1 lb. D-90 candi syrup 10 min
Got a packet of Imperial Yeast A31 Tartan on the way.
Looking for a malty but not sweet beer, with a nice head. Thinking the D-90 should get me a nice dark color and a little flavor, similar to boiling the first runnings, but without the extra effort.
Gah! Ron Pattison has spent much blood, toil, sweat and tears trying to dispel the homebrew myth of boiled down first runnings or long boils in Scottish brewing. They rarely boiled more than 60 minutes traditionally, shorter than south of the border. But like all British brewers they’ve long used dark Invert syrups. I think the D-90 would be a tasty take on that. Please send a pint when ready. :) Seriously, I’ve thought about subbing D-90 in a British beer. Report how it turns out.
But there are probably easier ways to get there. Dunno, never tried the boil-down thing. Point is, you shouldn’t think it’s not Scottish if it’s not boiled a lot. Agree as always it’s the results and not the process that you taste in your mug.
I wish I could remember the beer writer who described Fuggles as “fresh English dirt in the morning.” ;D (I love Fuggles, as did that writer. But from a marketing standpoint, that needs some work…)
Forgot to comment on this. While this is all true, it takes 4 hours to make Invert No. 3. Cheating a bit by boiling the first runnings or using D-90 certainly saves time, even if the Scots only boil for 60 minutes.
Thinking about this some more…I am going to forgo adding any C-40 as the Golden Naked Oats are like the crystal malt of the oat world. I might even bump them up to 1.5 lbs.
What I was thinking when I mentioned in response to Denny there must be an easier way even than boiling down the first runnings. Wonder if some grade of crystal might have a similar effect. I make Invert in big batches to economize on the time, but still it is a task, and if I were to put a price on my time… well, that’s why I’ve thought of using the Belgian stuff. Again, I look forward to hearing how you think it turns out.
That makes sense. Since the Scots were early adopters of sparging, resulting in thinner worts than the English got without sparging, those strong Scottish ales at least must have required a much longer boil.