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You are here: Home --> Forum Home --> Brewing Forum --> Brewing Discussion --> Process or ingredients?

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seanmccanne
Norman, OK
5 Posts


I entered the BU challenge and brewed a Scotch Ale for the comp. Unfortunately I was not able to submit it because of work travel, but I did get to submit it to the FOAM Cup in Tulsa, OK. At the FOAM Cup I scored a 39 and a silver medal in style for my "Red Label Scotch Ale." 

Now if you entered or read the BU Challenge requirements you know that the malt choices were not really suited for a scotch ale (or most of the other styles allowed). Pilsner, crystal 60, Munich, and flaked wheat. Not really scotch ale material. My normal scotch ale uses Golden Promise malt and very little else. Again, it's all about the procedure.

Let me share the recipe and you tell me if it's a scotch ale.

Estimated OG: 1.080 SG
Estimated Color: 9.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 27.5 IBUs

Ingredients:
------------
Amt         Name                                                     %/IBU         
12 lbs      Pilsner (2 Row) UK (1.0 SRM)                    77.4 %        
2 lbs        Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)                    12.9 %        
1 lbs        Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)       6.5 %         
8.0 oz      Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM)                           3.2 %         
28.30 g    Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min                    11.0 IBUs     
19.00 g    Challenger [8.90 %] - Boil 60.0 min           16.5 IBUs     
2.0 pkg    Edinburgh Ale (White Labs #WLP028)    

The malt in the recipe itself would be a completely beer. The hops I chose because the Saaz and Challenger would be a nice, mildly spicy, earthy counterpart to the malty, caramel goodness I wanted to create. 

I wanted to write up how I turned this modified Munich Lager recipe into a scotch ale worthy of a silver medal. 

This beer is all about the procedure. First I brewed a lower gravity scotch ale for ease of fermentation, in the 8% range, and I used a decoction and a kettle caramelization. Here's the mash/decoction/caramelization schedule:

Mash in with 6 gal of 167F boiled Edinburgh profile water to reach a mash temp of 153F for 45 minutes.
Decoct 2.3 gal of thick mash and boil for 45 minutes. Add back in to the mash to reach...
Mash out at 168F for 10 minutes
Fly sparge and collect the first two gallons of sweet wort separately from the remaining sweet wort. Continue fly sparging around 6 gallons into a separate vessel and hold for the boil.

Meanwhile...
Heat your empty kettle for around 5 minutes on high heat or until it is near lava temperature. It will ping and creak and make noise. I would not recommend you do this in a tri-ply kettle. The plies could separate under that much heat. Use a single thickness pot. 

CAREFULLY pour your two gallons of first runnings into the super heated pot and watch it come to a full boil almost immediately. It will smoke and steam when you start and try to jump out of the pan. Seriously, be careful. 

Boil this vigorously for about an hour or until over reduced to one gallon or under.

If you used your boil kettle for the caramelization, go ahead and add the remainder of the sweet wort and bring back to a boil. Otherwise combine the reduced wort and the remainder in your kettle and boil. I boil this wort for two full hours, adding the hops at 60 minutes elapsed.

The end result of the procedure is a lot of caramelization and Malliard reaction which take this light pilsner based malt bill and add meaty, thick, rich, and malty flavors and a definite weight on the tongue.

I used basically the same mash schedule I use for my normal scotch ale, and wouldn't you know it, I brewed a medal winning scotch ale with pilsner malt. Yes, my regular recipe with Golden promise and EKG is what I'll use in the future, but this just goes to show how much your procedures can change a beer.




Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


Awesome info, man.  Congrats on the medal!

I think that it's great to see your beer do well in a "normal" competition.



Posted 34 days ago.

seanmccanne
Norman, OK
5 Posts


Thanks! It was a great chance to work out how to surpass the "expectations" based on recipe. I know I'll enter the BU challenge next year, and I'll actually get the beer there!



Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


Hah, I hope that you do!



Posted 34 days ago.

vinpaysdoc
Charter Member
High Point, NC
321 Posts


Great job! This is why a competition with limited ingredients is a worthwhile endeavor. 



Posted 34 days ago.

Chal
Wenham, MA
45 Posts


Thanks - one of the reasons that I enjoy this group so much is that I learn from almost every post. I doubt that I will ever pour wort into an overheated pot, but who knows? I too am looking forward to next years competition. Not to win, but definitely to improve :-). 



Posted 34 days ago.

chino_brews
Charter Member
Eden Prairie, MN
301 Posts


Congratulations!

I agree with @vinpaysdoc: brewing with limited ingredients tests our creativity and technique and makes us better brewers.

I also brewed a wee heavy for subcategory 9E (Strong Scotch Ale) in the 2015 BU Challenge. I caramelized the first 20% of the wort by 85% (1/6th of its original volume), and did a three hour boil on the rest of the wort. After the boil, I actually had to top off with a couple quarts! That was my "secret", along with trying to control Wyeast 1728 as close to 59°F/15°C as i could. The beer was lucky enough to beat a couple others out to get 3rd in the mini-BOS.





Posted 34 days ago.

seanmccanne
Norman, OK
5 Posts


Nicely done! I think scotch ales are underrepresented these days. I'm glad you did so well.

How long did your caramelization take?

I also pitched a huge starter and kept fermentation at 60F. It makes a big difference in the character of the finished beer. 

@Chino would you share your recipe?




Posted 34 days ago.
Edited 34 days ago by seanmccanne

chino_brews
Charter Member
Eden Prairie, MN
301 Posts


@seanmccanne, I think this site is going to post the top 3 recipes in each category to its recipe database so I don't want to duplicate it, but if you want it sooner then please feel free to PM your e-mail address to my inbox and let me know which format you prefer: BeerXML or Beersmith format.




Posted 34 days ago.

seanmccanne
Norman, OK
5 Posts


No need, it's cool. I was more curious. I'll look at them all when they get posted. 

Thanks!




Posted 34 days ago.

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