I'm a brewer in Edinburgh which is where most Scotch ale has been brewed. So, Scottish ales are malt forward so far as to say theyre not hoppy. Theyre not maltbombs in the way Dunkels and Bocks are. Typically they are overwhlemingly made of Pale Malt, with some brewers invert ( hard to get! ) or crystal/caramel malt. The colour was dialled up with brewers caramel. Despite everything everyone reads no we dont use masses of roasted malts, toasted malts, crazy long boils or anything containing peat. The Shilling system was based on how much malt tax was levied per barrel of ale brewed. Before we had hydrometers we taxed beer on what went in, not what came out as alcohol. Ferment the ales 14-20 degrees, the warmer the more aromatic. I'll post a very typical recipe with a slight American twist using maple syrup instead of No.2 invert. If I use roasted malts its really for a touch of flavour, not colour. Historically we did import "American hops" for bittering so using Cluster for the 60 minute addition is perfectly fine. Fuggles and goldings for later additions.

Thanks for the distilled water/additions starting point. Great stuff.

You have the best homebrewing channel on KZfaq, hands down. I've learned so much from you, so thank you! And we have similar taste in whiskey. Cheers!

To each his own, but I used to brew an *amazing* Wee Heavy inspired ale with heather and peat malt. It was absolutely delicious.

Nice improvement in the editing! Great intro! Really like the format: introduction to the style and philosophy around it, then notation on thinks you learned by brewing it, then conclusion.

My favorite peated Scotch is Ardbeg Corryvreckan. It's not exactly cheap coming in around ~$90 a bottle, but it's fantastic. If you haven't had it, I highly recommend it.

I made a scotch Ale years ago with a tiny amount of peated malt, it was when I was bottling, so I bottled the batch without tasting it. after it carbed it was utterly undrinkable when it was finished, in disgust I put the cases to the side because I didn't want to go through the work of dumping all the bottles. 6-8 months later a friend grabbed one and opened it and loved it, the peat character mellowed significantly in the aged beer and added a nice character. I'll call it a happy accident and still will not be repeating it any time soon.

I smelled my brew tonight, omg my beers are perfect.

Laphroaig is amazing! Great taste, my friend

This is the process I use for when I'm brewing a big beer and I'm worried I might overflow. Add all of the water to the kettle- heat it up to mash temp-- remove a few gallons of the brewing water into a clean bucket. Then add the grains. Then add water from the bucket back into the kettle until I'm no longer comfortable. Whatever water does not fit into the kettle I'll "sparge" with it. It is just a quick and dirty "sparge"-- just dump it over the grains as the basket is draining on the hooks after the minute mash. I've had a few large grains bills where I pulled water off-- but was able to add it all back to the kettle. This is an easy way to brew larger beers without fear of overflowing the grains in the basket// and also eliminates having to do a ton of math to figure out the water calculations.

Re your statement on not using peat malt in beer. I totally agree, I've made a scotch beer with 1% peated malt and it still came through noticeably. Well said Steve 🙂

Awesome video. I brewed a wee years back but on a 3 vessel. glad to see more brewers brewing this style.

Yes!! This is my next brew! Excited to get to it now

40 shilling 60 shilling 80 shilling refers to the tax on the beer imposed by the british government because of the darkness and alcohol content

Really enjoyed this video. Great atmosphere set by the weather, backdrop, and lovely music..paired with your very thorough style. Scottish ales are underrated. Underrated video too..deserves more views!

I like your videos for a few reasons. 1. You list the recipe not only for the beer but for the water because that’s just as important. You show the process and finished process all in the same video. Well done sir

One of my favorite styles. I went through a phase where I brewed beers predominantly from the British Isles because I absolutely love the flavors and drinkability of the various styles. Well done! 🍻

I saw you pour your entire 2 liter starter in. Try this on a batch: make your starter a few days in advance, then cold crash it in the fridge for a day or so prior to brewing. Most of the yeast should flocculate and fall out. Then carefully decant the spent "beer" off the yeast bed. Swirl the yeast around in what's left and pour that in. This way you aren't adding spent beer to your wort, nor adding additional volume. One of my brewing friends suggested this technique and it's worked well for me.

My Homebrew club just filled a barrel with a Scottish strong ale. The thing we noted in all the beers was how they turned out thinner tasting than we expected for a larger beer.

Nice video. I'm planning one of these in a few months - different grain bill though. Despite your warning I am still thinking of using 1% cherry or apple hardwood smoked malt. Emmet suggested to me on the clawhammer with bills up to 20 lbs he would fill the clawhammer with his total mash volume and heat it, and then remove a few gallons and set it aside. Mash in, and then top up with the water you pulled off as much as you can fit. Then when it drains at mash out just sparge back the remaining water you couldn't fit back in.

I just used Voss kveik for my spiced Wee Heavy for Christmas. About 7.7% ABV, and lovely fruity esters from the Voss. Love kveik for high gravity brews, as it takes zero babying. Since I was shooting for a high body beer (finished around .026 - .028), and I knew I would pull huge esters from the Voss (fruity, orangey, raisiny), I didn't use any caramel malts. Brewed with cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Great stuff! I just brewed a RIS Saturday, and the OG was somewhere in the 90's. It's already done fermenting as of this morning. Love kveik.

Very cool...... the wee heavy sounded pretty spot on Cheers Steve

haha love the intro music. great stuff. I just partyguiled a belgian tripel and made a table lager with it. Love the new stuff, keep it up!

Now three weeks bottled, after three weeks of fermentation. Very very pleasant and strong, about 11%. Carbonation, like for Belgian ales, really helps this along. One to rebrew for sure.

Being such a large grain bill and you not doing a sparge, you could've tried making a parti-gylle beer with the used grains. Two different beers for the price of one almost.

You got a Ph meter! LOL. I've always found your video's to be informative and entertaining and this is no exception . Cheers!

I run into the same issue when getting a pre-boil gravity rereading and a OG. I've had instances which my post-gravity was oddly higher than my OG while using the refractometer and comparing to a hydrometer. I am enjoying the Milwaukee digital refractometer by comparison to the Brix refractometer. Your explanation on the discrepancy in the reading was helpful though.

Adding some wood chips would be a good idea?

Great video! Laphroaig Quarter Cask if you haven’t had it!

Your poor downstairs neighbors must be livid every time you start stomping around brewing a Wee Heavy.

Pro tip, for aroma, do not fill the glass to the brim. Try glass half full and swirl the beer a bit right before you sniff it.

Nice intro and nice brew

Great video as always, might have been my favorite one so far! Lots of good information that I'll have to use if we ever get around to that Scotch Ale that's been on the backburner for about 7 years. Also got a kick out of your tasting notes cuz we used almost those exact same descriptors on our Christmas Quad lol

I loved your video. It's great to see different processes and styles from home-brewers. I have a little critique for you, and it's only meant to be constructive. Your focus is a bit off. Many of your shots you might notice that your face is a bit fuzzy and the background is crisp and in focus. It seems that your camera is focused on infinity, or at least on the background. Just make sure that your camera's focus is set to the distance you're standing from the camera. I'm pretty sure you'd prefer we watch you and not the trees or the decorations in the background. I'll still watch your brewing videos if they're a bit fuzzy though. The most important thing is the brewing experience you're sharing with us.

I THOUGHT that looked like Connecticut! I'm also originally from Connecticut.

I've been lagering a doppelbock since March to freeze condense into an eisbock. Checked it a week ago and it still hadn't cleared which was not normal for me. Gelatin. Then lowered the temp from 34F to 30F. Still not really clearing, but slightly better. Tastes fine - a repeat of a recipe from a couple years ago. Will freeze condense in the next couple weeks. Give an eisbock a try. Received a Silver at the State Fair 2020 for a Wee Heavy named 'Barry Bez'

Top quality video

My kitchen was screwed. Everything is sticky. The `beer is attracting dogs all over. I fear how drunk I will get.

Your videos rock!

I had to ditch the ole refractometer in favor of the trusty hydrometer. The numbers i was getting just didn't make sense. So much so that I had no idea what my numbers were on my last brew

The best is to make a 60/ or export and pitch the wee on the yeast cake.

I did a Wee Heavy that ended up 25% Brix! I think I used like 20# grain, it ended up incredibly good!

Laphroaig 10, Ardbeg 10, Lagavulin 16 are my top three.. I experimented with peated malt in ESB and in Irish Red Ale, both end up pretty well. Only 150gr for the 5 gallon batch gives the perfect amount of peat note that makes you to feel like you are in a musty farmhouse in Ireland and having a Dark Ale.. You should try🍺🍺

What is that grain strainer basket you have, do you have a link or a list for it somewhere? You have a lot of unique content!

Here is my 11 gallon recipe for a wee heavy: Water Profile : Brown Full (Beersmith3) Est Original Gravity: 1.085 SG Est Final Gravity: 1.024 SG Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 8.2 % Bitterness: 26.4 IBUs Est Color: 22.9 Measured Original Gravity: 1.095 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.021 SG Actual Alcohol by Vol: 10.0 % 156* mash for 60 min 90 min boil 14 lb Pale Ale, Golden Promise®™ (Simpsons) Mash (42.0%) 14 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US Mash (42.0%) 2 lb 2.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L Mash (6.4%) 1 lb 10.1 oz Munich Malt - 20L Mash (4.9%) 10.0 oz BEST Smoked (BESTMALZ) Mash (1.9%) 9.8 oz Special B Malt Mash (1.8%) 6.0 oz Chocolate Malt Mash (1.1%) 1.58 oz Nugget Boil 60 min (26.4 IBUs) 1.8 pkgs American Ale Wyeast Labs #1056 Ale yeast G

I'm making a gallon version of this recipe. When you say to condition the beer for a month after the three weeks of fermenting, should I transfer my beer off the trub and into a secondary carboy or just leave it?

Did you make sure the wort sample was at the calibrated temperature for the refractometer? My refractometer was all over the place until I realized I have to treat the sample as I do for my hydrometer readings. A few degrees will throw of the readings.

Did you bottle any of this so you could see what long term storage did for it? I want to brew one of these and recently brewed a 70 schilling to grow my yeast, using Wyeast 1728, I am ready to brew the Wee Heavy now, but, as I understand the obstacles to brewing high gravity brews, have a number of concerns. Like you, I have no way to oxygenate with pure O2 - I usually splash the wort through a sieve to create a rain of microdroplets using my recirc pump - I recirc for 15-20 mins. I sure learned a lot about 1728 making the 70 schilling...

your pre boil / OG problem could be what happened to me a short while ago. didn't stir well enough before pre boil reading, so that was too high. tasting that beer today, also a 8.2ABV winter ale. hope its any good.

Nice video again 👍🏻 The thing I wandered about is the fact why you kept the lid on the kettle during the boil? Normally you leave it off to get some additional increase in the OG and to get rid of DMS also. Was there a special reason to keep the lid on?

I am brewing this beer on Sunday. Any tips

What part of the world are you in. ??

What size starter did you use here? Are you using DME for that? Thanks - enjoy the content here.

Did you also get 75 feet of snow in between brew day and tasting day? I've been too tired from shoveling to brew, so I tossed five gallons of apple juice in my fermenter.

Well done! What are your thoughts in general regarding pleated malt in beers?

Doesnt shaking/splashing max out oxygenation to only 8 ppm

👍🏻👍🏻🍺 What’s your opinion? I’m looking for a scotch that has a very very pronounced peaty ness and smoke under $100 More peat and smoke the better.

What’s was or is your MOS?

you can probably cut the last six minutes off of your video