# In Search Of A Scottish Caledonia 80/- All Grain Recipe



## kieran (7/11/09)

Hi all,

I drank a lot of beers while in Edinburgh recently and while many were superb, there was something very lucious about being poured a Caledonia 80/- through a hand pump (beer engine) with a tight sparkler on the end. I think it is a combination of the beer and the pour that makes it work, because I tried Caledonia 80/- off a draught pour in a different pub (Mary's Last Drop) and it was bad - the cream was gone, it was too cold, it was obviously gassed and had therefore had more emphasis on bitterness and less on malt.







So anyway, I have a beer engine and I have all the Angram sparklers I need to find the right pour. Its a 1/4 pint pull and its water jacketted so I can pour 10C beer during the summer months and still not have it get to 36C in the pump on a hot day.

Anyway, I want to brew an all grain beer that gets close to the Caledonia 80/- (about 4% ABV). The notes I'm looking for are the cream, the gentle hop finish, slight toffee, malty profile. Great, thick, head retension.
I've already have some Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale.

I'm really not sure where to go with the malts and what will bring me that cream. 
I got these numbers off a brew blog, but modified them a bit to lighten the wort to a more reddish finish.. 

Pale 3500g
Crystal 750g
Wheat 200g
Chocolate 50g
Roasted Barley 20g

60min, 10 min additions
Fuggles 40g 10g
Goldings 40g 10g

What do you think? I have Thomas Fawcett's Floor Malted Halcyon which is a brilliant malt, so I plan to use that as my base malt. I hope with that amount that I should get a thorough maltiness, but I'm still unsure about the head. Cooling at the 
end will be important to precipitate proteins, as will removing trub/oils I imagine.

Does anyone have any advice? I'm really scratching around for ideas!!
can anyone help?

cheers,
Kieran


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## dj1984 (7/11/09)

kieran said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I drank a lot of beers while in Edinburgh recently and while many were superb, there was something very lucious about being poured a Caledonia 80/- through a hand pump (beer engine) with a tight sparkler on the end. I think it is a combination of the beer and the pour that makes it work, because I tried Caledonia 80/- off a draught pour in a different pub (Mary's Last Drop) and it was bad - the cream was gone, it was too cold, it was obviously gassed and had therefore had more emphasis on bitterness and less on malt.
> 
> ...



I have a thing for scottish beers!!! :icon_drool2: 

In my 80/- i used
munich 1
Dark crystal
carafa special
roasted barley
marris otter

I come second in AABC with my 80/-


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## Fourstar (7/11/09)

kieran said:


> Anyway, I want to brew an all grain beer that gets close to the Caledonia 80/- (about 4% ABV). The notes I'm looking for are the cream, the gentle hop finish, slight toffee, malty profile. Great, thick, head retension.
> I've already have some Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale.
> 
> I'm really not sure where to go with the malts and what will bring me that cream.
> ...



Hey Kieran,

I'd say to get that cream you would need a fair whack of cystal (like you already have). Looking at your tasting notes above, do you think there is a need for the chocoate malt in that % over the roast? I'd thaught the Roast @ 70g is just enough to give that 'dryness' without imparting too much roast flavour and help hit the colour. Or was there a nutty/chocolate note in the beer that you forgot to describe?

If you are adding the choc for complexity thats understandable yet id be more inclined to blend the crystal. maybe 200g of carared and 550g of medium/high crystal (60-80L) to balance out that toffee note you describe.

Oh, another option is todo some kettle caramelisation with some fo the 1st runnings. Just an idea.

Cheers! :icon_cheers:


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## Bribie G (7/11/09)

I'd definitely go the Munich, I put it in all my 'richer' UK best bitters now such as my Landlord++ . You could maybe also go a bit warmer in the mash, I usually go 67 or 68 degrees. Also next time you could try Golden Promise which is the 'indigenous' barley of the Scottish Lowlands- also used in TTL and other North Country ales.


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## dj1984 (7/11/09)

for my comp 80/- i went 67 but for my house scottish I go alot higher sometimes 71-72 to get it nice and sweet.


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## kieran (7/11/09)

Thanks for the tips guys.

I'd like to stay with the british base malt if I can. The caledonia isn't overly rich, it is definately a low carbonated, creamy, hoppy, ever so slightly slightly caramel sweet balanced by fruity hop notes, session beer.
While the flavour will be richer with Munich which may bring it straight to a generic heavier style via shortcut, I'd like to try it from Alba base principles if I can. Unless the scots use munich though! If it gets too hard maybe I might substitute some Halcyon pale for Munich though.. 

Fourstar's recommendations are important to consider I think, you're right that I probably overdid the chocolate. I didn't really pick that up at all, so changing that balance is important I think.

Perhaps also changing the wheat for marris otter as per DJ1984's suggestion.. 

thanks for the tips!
Anyone else?

cheers,
Kieran


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