Wee Heavy Recipe Check

I am planning to brew a Wee Heavy and want to get some feedback. Let me know what you think. I am planning to do the boil down on 1 gallon. Thanks

Kent County Wee Heavy
Strong Scotch Ale

Type: All Grain
Date: 12/26/2009
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Brewer: bluesman
Boil Size: 6.30 gal
Boil Time: 90 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00
 
Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
15.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 83.57 %
2.00 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 11.14 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 2.79 %
0.25 lb Peat Smoked Malt (2.8 SRM) Grain 1.39 %
0.20 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 1.11 %
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 12.3 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (30 min) Hops 9.5 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (10 min) Hops 4.5 IBU
5.50 gal Poland Spring (R) Water  
1 Pkgs English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) [Starter 3000 ml] Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.088 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.028 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.86 %  
Bitterness: 26.3 IBU Calories: 413 cal/pint
Est Color: 16.7 SRM
 
Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge Total Grain Weight: 17.95 lb
Sparge Water: 2.84 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: 5.4 PH
 
Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 22.44 qt of water at 170.5 F 152.0 F

Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Kegged (Forced CO2) Volumes of CO2: 2.4
Pressure/Weight: 21.6 PSI Carbonation Used: -
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 60.0 F Age for: 28.0 days
Storage Temperature: 52.0 F  
 
Notes

Take 1 gallons from kettle pre-boil and reduce 75% then return to boil for a 90min boil.
Created with BeerSmith

The absolute, without a doubt best wee heavy recipe I’ve ever tried is Skotrat’s Traquair House clone.  I uses only pale malt and a bit of roast barley for color.  Based on that, I’d have to say that your recipe is way over the top.

60 minutes is Way too short of a boil,  at least 2 hrs closer to 3 would be awesome.  Or as some people do and have success with boil down the first running’s as you notes suggest

This style is NOT a hop showcase, drop everything after the 60 min addition and increase the amout of hops to hit your biotterness, NO flavor or aroma hops.

Peat,  I wouldn’t use it.  Rauchmalt if you need to but keep in mind that the coerrect amount of smoke in the final product is just a hint.  The judge needs to ask the question, “Is that smoke I’m getting?”  If the answer is yes there is too much smoke.  IMHO 4 oz of fresh smoked malt is too much.

Since you are using liquid yeast consider Scottish Ale Yeast, the yeast you have chosen will work.

Mash,  a 158F mash for me on my system for a 1.088 strong scotch ale would be way to high.  I would be looking at 151/152F looking for 1.022-1.025 FG.  I think 155F will give you a much higher FG than you are looking for, maybe something short of 1.035.  Save those high mash temps for your Scottish ales.

Fred

Looks pretty close to me, and I agree with bonjour on most of his points…  I would drop the peat smoked malt as well. Tried it once. Yuk!  Maybe add 1/2 lb to 1 lb of wheat?  Mash at ~153. If you have the time mash for 90 and boil 90. Depending on your system you’ll need about 8 gallons to start. Boiling down a gallon to a quart is good. Hops? 2.5 oz EKG @ 60 & 1/2 oz EKG at 30. (I think bonjour meant to say “This style is NOT a hop showcase”)  Go with Wyeast 1728 if you can get it. Ferment it for 3 weeks and cool.  Start at ~58 and bump it up to ~62 after the vigorous fermentation has ceased, about 1 week into the fermentation but that all depends on your conditions.  Start rousing the yeast at this point and rouse at least daily. Let it warm up to ~68 the last 3-4 days to give the yeast a chance to finish up. Then keg & let it sit for a while. Big beers need a lot of love & attention, and patience!!  :)

Alright…thanks for the feedback gentlemen!  :slight_smile:

I inadvertantly forgot to change my boil time to 90min.

Denny…I like the simplicity of Skotrat’s recipe, but  want to bring this recipe up one notch…I appreciate your opinion.

Fred…I’m on the fence with the hop schedule at this point…I’m going to give it some more thought. Thanks.

Hamiltont - Thanks for the input…You guys have me reconsidering the peated malt.

I guess the jury’s still out on this one.  8)

Fred - I am going to change the mash temp to 152F…I agree it’s way too high for this beer.

Don’t be fooled by the simple malt bill in this recipe. It’s the boil offs and boil times that really lend themselves to the outstanding complexity in this brew . . . like no other!  :slight_smile:

I’m sure it’s outstanding, but I’m looking for something close to Belhaven’s and/or Skullsplitter.

I just got my first Wee Heavy on tap so I can now comment on the style.
For 10 gallons  I used 30 pounds of Maris Otter, 5 pounds of Munich, 0.5  pounds roasted barley mashed at 154F.  I took 2 gallons of the first runnings and boiled it down to a quart-it looked suspiciously like dark liquid extract, and the rest of the wort I boiled 2 hours.  At 60 minutes I added 3 oz’s of Challenger. 
It’s a very malty, malty brew with very little hops bitterness, pretty much exactly what I was shooting for.  I’ll let the second keg sit until next summer.

What was your O.G., F.G. and IBU’s ?

OG was 1.098, I think the IBU’s were around 30 but I can’t remember off the top of my head.  It fermented down to 1.025.

What yeast did you use?

White Labs Edinburgh, stepped up the starter 3 times and fermented at 62F wort temp.  I have a 12.2 gallon conical with a thermowell hooked to a Johnson controller all sitting in an insulated box with a window AC attached.

I saw you post that you brewed this one Blue.  What did you end up going with for your final recipe?