Recipe Idea: Strong Scotch Ale

[peas_and_corn]

OK, so my 100th batch is around the corner and I'm working through my recipe ideas for it. I'm thinking a scotch ale, and so far have just gotten Jamil's recipe and made a small change to it


25L Batch
Target OG: 1.146
Target Colour: 10.8 SRM/21 EBC

15kg Pale Malt- I'm tossing up whether to go for standard two row (most likely Wyermann) or to go for Optic, the latter of which has really impressed me lately in my English style beers.
800g Dark Munich

60g of EKG at 60 min for 25 IBUs
20g of EKG at 10 min for 1.7 IBUs

Wyeast Scottish Ale


I decided to go for scotch ale because... well, it's far too much of a cliché to make a barley wine.

Thoughts on the recipe?

 

[bum]

Looks tasty to me. How big is your tun? ~16kg of crushed takes up a lot of room. I got taken by surprise with my first RIS and that was about ~12kg in a 36L tun. Very stiff mash.

 

[Truman42]

Im a huge Scotch Ale fan espeically RedHill Scotch Ale.

i would consider using Marris Otter instead of Pale Malt and keep your IBU's under 20. And no hop additions under 30 mins.

 

[Rowy]

Looks good. For what its worth I put a bit of smoked malt in mine and it added a nice bit of complexity and flavour. Horses for courses though.

 

[manticle]

I'd drop the munich and either boil an all maris/optic bill for 3+ hours or add a shade of roast barley and boil for at least 2.
You can make big kilt wearing beers a really complex SMASH.
That's me but yours looks like it would work well too. I'd opt for the optic (bad joke) if you like it in uk beers.
Big starter, mash hot, ferment cool and bulk age.

 

[peas_and_corn]

Looks tasty to me. How big is your tun? ~16kg of crushed takes up a lot of room. I got taken by surprise with my first RIS and that was about ~12kg in a 36L tun. Very stiff mash.

it's 55l which makes a mash of that size a little tight but I've done that size mash before

Im a huge Scotch Ale fan espeically RedHill Scotch Ale.

i would consider using Marris Otter instead of Pale Malt and keep your IBU's under 20. And no hop additions under 30 mins.

Let the malt speak for itself, eh? I'll probably do that.

Looks good. For what its worth I put a bit of smoked malt in mine and it added a nice bit of complexity and flavour. Horses for courses though.

Hmm, sounds like an interesting idea. One percent would be all I'd add if I did go for that.

I'd drop the munich and either boil an all maris/optic bill for 3+ hours or add a shade of roast barley and boil for at least 2.
You can make big kilt wearing beers a really complex SMASH.
That's me but yours looks like it would work well too. I'd opt for the optic (bad joke) if you like it in uk beers.
Big starter, mash hot, ferment cool and bulk age.

The Munich is to add that little bit more sweetness, though I can see where you're coming from with having a three hour boil to create similar melanoidins. I'll most likely do a ninety minute boil at the very least.

 

[manticle]

High mash temp + 3 hr boil and you'd be surprised at how much crystal malt you can taste when you know you added none in.

 

[Truman42]

I followed manticles advice when I did a scotch ale and took 3 litres of wort then caramelized it in a frying pan on the stove until it was like sticky topping then poured it back into the boil with ten minutes to go. Gave it a very nice caramel toffee note.