I’m planning on doing a Wee Heavy in the next month or so and I’m working up the recipe. Here’s what I have so far:
Recipe: The Burial Chair
Brewer: Tygo
Asst Brewer:
Style: Strong Scotch Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)
Recipe Specifications
Batch Size: 4.50 gal
Boil Size: 8.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.118 SG
Estimated Color: 18.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Ingredients:
Amount Item Type % or IBU
18.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (4.0 SRM) Grain 80.90 %
4.00 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 17.98 %
0.25 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 1.12 %
1.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (90 min) Hops 23.8 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.50 %] (25 min) Hops 5.2 IBU
0.50 gm Salt (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
0.50 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
2.00 gm Baking Soda (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
4.00 gm Chalk (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) Yeast-Ale
Mash Schedule: Batch Sparge Mash
Total Grain Weight: 22.25 lb
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 28.00 qt of water at 187.6 F 154.0 F
0 min Temperature Adjust Add 4.35 qt of water at 154.0 F 154.0 F
0 min Sparge Add 18.00 qt of water at 175.7 F 160.0 F
I’m going to pull a gallon of the first runnings off and boil it down and then add it back into the boil.
I was reading through the chapter in Designing Great Beers on Scotch and Scottish Ales and Daniels recommends a mash temp of 156 or higher. I’m a little leery going that high with a beer this big. He states that one of his better Strong Scotch Ales had an OG of 1.090 and a FG of 1.040 which is a way higher FG than what I think I’m going for. I’m thinking of shooting for more in the range of 1.030 as a FG and the OG of this one is a good bit higher than 1.090.
I’m planning on pitching this on top of the yeast cake from a 5 gallon batch of 70/- I’m making as a starter beer for this and holding the fermentation temp down around 60F.
This is more of a Way Heavy than a Wee Heavy! ;) Ingredients look fine. If you don’t already have the base malt in your stock, give Golden Promise a try. How far were you going to boil the 1st gallon? Don’t know if the whirlfloc is necessary or not in this beer.
156 on the mash is definitely on the upper end for a beer this big, IMO. Skotrat’s Traquair House clone I brew is pegged at 154 and its OG is 1.088
I was planning on boiling the gallon of first running down until I got scared :). The consistency I had in mind was thick syrup. I’m working through a sack of MO right now so I’ll be using that. Whirlfloc probably isn’t necessary but I figured it can’t hurt. I throw one into every batch.
Thanks for the comments! I’m definitely thinking that I’ll be sticking with a mash temp around 154 for this.
MO will work well for this and the first gallon of runnings down to syrup is classic and will give you the character you are looking for. May even warrant a run down to Sterling to check it out!
It’ll definitely be a sippin beer. As long as the yeasties can get it done I think this one is going to turn out great. I gave them a good pep talk before pitching and they seemed up to the challenge.
Seems a bit light in base malt I usually use 28 lbs for 5 gallons.
What did you mash at? That is critical in a beer of this size. I usually mash my 1.120-1.150 OG wee heavies at 148-149F and get a FG in the 1.030’s
The other key is to ferment cool and to aerate well.
This is a trial run. We’ll see what happens the next time I brew it.
I mashed it at 151. I debated going lower but in the end decided not to because I didn’t want to risk over attenuating it. Hopefully it won’t finish up too excessively high.
It’s sitting in the chest freezer at 60-62 degrees and I aerated with about a minute of pure O2. I had activity within about 4 hours and it was cooking away merrily this morning. So far so good.
The plan as of right now is to let it finish primary, which I’m estimating will take two weeks, give or take, and then rack it into the secondary and let it sit for about 2 months before bottling. Then probably around 1 month in the bottle to condition before I pop one open (well one may get sampled before that, just for quality control purposes ;))
After that I’m not going to be shy about drinking it but I’m definitely planning on letting some age in the bottle for awhile. Hopefully my self control will be enough to allow some of the bottles to survive for over a year.
Fred, I’m not saying it won’t be very drinkable early, but my experience with such high grav brews is that they don’t reach their peak until a they’ve had a decent amount of maturation. It would be a shame to not have the lion’s share available once it hits its prime!
I feel too many brewers feel that big beers MUST be aged to be drinkable. If that is the case then something in your process is amiss. Big beers generally do improve with age and most will keep for years with no problem. If they are not dangerously drinkable when bottled/kegged then something is wrong with the process.
SG is 1.034 as of tonight. Based on that and the appearance of the brew I’d say primary is complete on this one. I’ll let it sit another couple days and then rack to the secondary for aging.
I have to say, the alcohol was very present in the sample I tasted. A little too present in the flavor I would say at this point. But it’s very young and hopefully a few months of aging will mellow that out. All in all I’m pleased with the results so far.
Bottled this one today. The sample tasted very good and the alcohol presence definitely moderated quite a bit since I racked it. Assuming my self control is up to the task I’m planning on letting it age another month in the bottles before i crack it open.
Be sure to put at least a couple of bottles aside (if you can) to taste 6 or more months down the line. Based on my experience with Wee Heavy (a favorite ‘style’ of mine) If it’s good now, and you bottled with proper sanitation and attention to keeping the oxygen out of the process, it’ll probably be amazing with more age on it.
Big beers definitely don’t have to be aged…but most such brews will usually benefit greatly from it.
Just my opinion of course (an opinion shared by many)… but your own palate is the deciding factor in the end.
