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#24:  1885 Scotch Ale (Traditional Scotch Ale)
  • Recipe formulated from Harrison. 2003. Old British Beers. Recipe number 83, Page 56.
Chris Swingley Kevin Hannah 
10-Jan-2004

Recipe (for 5 gallons final volume)
16 pounds (89%) Crisp Maris Otter Pale Malt
2 pounds (11%) Amber Malt (Maris Otter, baked 45 minutes @ 225 F, 30 minutes @ 300 F)

2.0 ounces   Willamette pellet hops, 5.6% AA (75 minutes)
0.5 ounces   Horizon pellet hops, 10.0% AA (75 minutes)
0.5 ounces   Fuggles whole hops, 4.0% AA (dry hopped in secondary)

1 teaspoon   Irish Moss (10 minutes)

  • Wyeast #1728 Scottish Ale Yeast, pitched at 72°F
  • Starter: 1000 ml 1.030 canned wort, started 1 day earlier

Water
  • Water Wagon water
  • 12.0 gallons mash water treated with:
    • 7.0 grams Gypsum.
    • 2.6 ml 88% lactic acid.
  • 6.0 gallons sparge water treated with:
    • 4 ml 88% lactic acid.

Mash
  • 18 quarts water @ 168°F, grist ratio of 1.0 quarts:pound @ 152°F (Held 100 minutes)

Sparge
  • 8 quarts water @ 210°F, drain
  • 15 quarts water @ 168°F, drain

Boil
  • Boiled 8.0 gallons for 100 minutes to yield 5.5 gallons wort

Fermentation
  • Primary: glass, 7 days, 68°F, Gravity 1.060 at transfer to secondary!
  • Secondary: glass, 42 days, 65°F

Packaging
  • Bottled with 82 grams dextrose
  • Conditioned for 8 weeks
  • Ready to drink on 24-Apr-2004

Properties
Starting Gravity: 1.080 Final Gravity: 1.022
Original Extract: 19.4°plato Apparent Extract: 5.6°plato
Real Extract: 8.27°plato
Alcohol: 7.7% by volume (6.0% by weight)
Apparent Attenuation: 71.2% Mash Efficiency: 67%
Bitterness: 40 IBU Color: 19 SRM
BU:SG: 0.50 BV: 0.99

Brewing Notes
  • Insufficient aeration resulted in poor performance of yeast, especially under high gravity conditions of the wort.
Tasting Notes
  • 26-Apr-04 (15 weeks) -- Phenolic, alcohol flavors and mouthfeel. Lots of strange esters and other off-flavors present. Definitely not appropriate for a Scotch Ale. I'll have to make this one again, but properly aerate the wort. Maybe pitch over the yeast cake from a low gravity ale.
  • 24-Jun-04 (28 weeks) -- Still tastes funky, hard to drink. I'll keep it around since it's in bottles, but I don't think it will improve. The recipe is good, I just didn't execute it very well.

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