Scottish Spiced Ale

Brew day: 11/06/15

5 gal kit from Northern Brewer.

Heated 4 gal in the kettle to 160. Added steeping grains brought it down to 156. Steeped for 30 mins while we ate dinner. Down to 151; it was chilly in the garage (about 48), so it came down more than I expected. Pulled the grain bag out and let it drip while bringing heat back up to boil. 

Steeping grains: 1 lb UK Crystal 60L

3.25 lb Gold LME - 60 mins

1 oz US Goldings hop pellets 4.6% AA - 60 mins
3.25 lb Gold LME - 30 mins (trying to keep the coloring lighter)
1 tablet Whirlfloc - 15 mins
0.5 oz Mulling spices - 0 mins

Killed the heat, whirlpooled, and set kettle in metal bucket for ice bath. Took a 20 bag of ice to get down to 80 in about 20 mins (cold garage). Poured wort through the double-mesh strainer into a 6.5 gallon Big Mouth glass carboy. Lost a lot of volume due to hop sludge and boil off. Topped with about 2 gal of cold water to bring volume up to 5 gal. 

**Made an error in procedure. Took gravity reading after bringing volume up to 5 gal, so I diluted too much and found out it was 1.036. Was shooting for 1.046. Crap. Pitched a 1.2L starter of Wyeast Scottish Ale 1728, which I'd made the day before. Might end up with a pretty low ABV. Or maybe the yeast starter will eat through more sugar and end up with a lower FG. Only time will tell.

Put carboy in father-in-law's basement where the ambient temp is consistent around 65. My apartment has too many temp fluctuations during the day. I knew the yeast would be a vigorous foamer, so I attached the blowoff tube and instructed my father-in-law in what to do when blow off stops (sanitize and attach airlock). Total brewday time ~ 3.5 hrs.

After 48 hours, I was sent this photo of the ferm temp. Bits of yeast are seen floating in suspension while they do their business. 68 is right where I wanted it (65-70).

The recipe calls for 2 weeks in primary, 2 weeks bottle conditioning. 


Bottling: 11/21/15

Final gravity got down to 1.009, so all that hungry yeast didn't mind the low OG. Ended up with 41 12-oz bottles and 3 20-oz bomber bottles. Had two different cap types, so I used up the remainder of what I had. Might make opening the bottles into a game of beer roulette. I used the B caps on the hefeweizen as well, but who doesn't enjoy an adventure?! Tasted the hydrometer sample, and it is super malty with a slight sweet finish. This will be our Christmas session beer.

The Numbers:

Target OG: 1.046
Actual OG: 1.036
est IBU: 16.26
est FG: 1.013
Actual FG: 1.009
est SRM: 13.42
Final ABV: 3.54%