Wee heavy recipe needed

[corkybstewart]

Does anybody have a proven recipe for a wee heavy, especially something like a Belhaven Wee Heavy?

[hooky]

Corky,

I've got this one bookmarked. I've seen Curt and Kathy Stock in a couple of Zymurgy issues where they've medaled. I have no idea though if this close to a Belhaven.


Hernia Maker Wee Heavy - All Grain - 09.E. Strong Scotch Ale
Curt and Kathy Stock, St. Paul, MN
St. Paul Homebrewers Club
OG: 1.092 / FG: 1.028

Silver Medal - Irish and Scottish Ale
2006 Minnesota State Fair


INGREDIENTS AND PROCEDURES
# US Gal. brewed: 10
WATER TREATMENT:Type(s) Amount
MASH PROCEDURES: Temp.(f.) Time
1. 153 75
2. 165 10
BOILING TIME: Minutes 120
SPECIFIC GRAVITIES: Original 1.092
Terminal 1.028
YEAST CULTURE: Type Liquid
Did you use a starter? Yes
Company Wyeast
Name Scottish
Amount 2 liters
FERMENTATION Type:
Primary-days: 16 Temp:68 Glass
Second.-days:30 Temp:65 Glass
CARBONATION Forced CO2
Volumes of CO2 1.8
FERMENTABLES
LBS. TYPE/BRAND USE TIME TEMP
14 Maris Otter Mash 75 153
2 Mild Mash 75 153
1 Cara Plis Mash 75 153
1 Crystal 55 Mash 75 153
0.25 Special B Mash 75 153
0.25 Chocolate Mash 75 153
0.125 Aromatic Mash 75 153
0.125 Peated Mash 75 153
HOPS
OZ. TYPE NAME USE TIME %AA
2 Pellets EKG Boil 60 5.7
SPECIAL INGREDIENTS:
FININGS?
Type Irish Moss
Amount 1 tsp
BREWING DATE: 5/5/06 BOTTLING DATE: 8/10/06

BREWER COMMENTS
boiled 1 gallon of first running to 1 quart and added back to boil

[markaberrant]

I like the simple approach when it comes to most recipes, especially big beers. Get some Golden Promise for base malt and add a touch of roast barley (typically 1%). Boil the crap out of it (at least 2 hours, 3 would be better), shoot for an OG of 1.080-1.090, 30 IBUs of bittering, and ferment with a huge dose of Wyeast 1728 at cool temps (55F).

Skotrat has a very popular recipe that is similar to Traquair:

http://www.skotrat.com/skotrat/recipes/ale/scottish/recipes/10.html

[beerking]

Marka is right about the boil. This is the key to a good export/wee heavy. Boiling 2-3 hours will create the melanoidins that is the hallmark of that style.
I would also add a touch of munich malt in addition to the roast barley Marka suggests.

[Mad Scientist]

what about English specialty malts?

[markaberrant]

what about English specialty malts?

They are great in some English beers... I wouldn't even use them in an English barleywine, just Maris Otter.

[Baacktoberfest]

Hey guys. I've got a competition coming up and here's what I think I'm going with. What do you think? This is my first time using smoked malt. I'm playing with the idea of adding .25 of Special Roast.

6 Gold LME
2 6 Row
2 Aromatic
1 Wheat DME
.5 Caramel 40
.5 Carawheat
.25 Peated Malt
.25 Roasted Barley

1.5 Styrian Goldings 60
1.5 Willamette 20
1 Willamette 1

2 oz Oak Chips soaked in Scotch

Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale

IBU 31.7
ABV 8.3%
SRM 20

[corkybstewart]

Here are a couple of things that come to mind. First of all peat is not a component of a wee heavy. A lot of people throw it in but for a competition it should be left out.
Second, the thing that makes a wee heavy distinctive is the carameliztion that occurs when you boil some of the wort to within an inch of it's existence.(see beerking above)
Third, a wee heavy has almost no discernible hops flavor or aroma. Late additions are taboo, just use enough bittering hops to balance the wort sweetness.
When I brewed mine a couple of years ago I used the simplest recipe I could. It had 30 pounds of 2 row pale malt and 1/2 pound of roast barley, 4 oz's of Goldings for 60 minutes, and I boiuled 2 gallons of the first runnings from the mash down to 1 pint of heavy thick syrup, it had the consistency of room temp LME.
Your recipe looks like it will be a tasty beer, but it's not a competition style wee heavy.

[Baacktoberfest]

Will it work to do a "boildown" if I'm an extract brewer? Just throw a portion of the extract and my mini mash into that first 2 gallons?

I think I'll try that. Then just add the necessary amount of water & hops in to start my 60 minute boil.

[BrewDog]

+1 on leaving out the peated malt. The Scottish yeast will lend enough of the subtle smoky character that you want. Don't ruin it by going with the peated malt. That stuff makes it totally over the top and out of character.

Also, yes, boiling down a portion of your wort will work just fine. You can even reserve a bit of your extract to add to this wort to approxiate the thicker first runnings of an AG batch.

HTH-

[Rumplemintz]

http://www.beersmith.com/Recipes2/recipe_333.htm?utm_source=getresponse&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beersmith_blog&utm_content=Scotch%20Ale%20Recipes%3A%20Beer%20Sty les

[corkybstewart]

http://www.beersmith.com/Recipes2/recipe_333.htm?utm_source=getresponse&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beersmith_blog&utm_content=Scotch%20Ale%20Recipes%3A%20Beer%20Sty les
I know a lot of recipes have peated malt in them, it's just not a traditional flavor for a wee heavy. Try a Belhaven Wee Heavy from Scotland, but make sure it's a 500ml brown bottle, not the six packs of clear bottles. It's a very pure malt flavor, no hops and certainly no smokiness to hide that wonderful malt goodness.

[Baacktoberfest]

I think I may enter this outside the category. I'll cut the peated malt down to .125 lb and cut the finish hops down to .25 oz.

[Rumplemintz]

My local Taphouse has Belhaven on tap, it's just the nitro tap and I won't go near nitro... I enjoy a good Wee Heavy, but I prefere a Skullsplitter or Great Divide Scottish Claymore.

[vance71975]

Does anybody have a proven recipe for a wee heavy, especially something like a Belhaven Wee Heavy?

Go the Simple route.

Simple Wee Heavy



Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 9.00 gal
Boil Time: 240 min


Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
18.00 lb Pale Malt, Golden Promise (Thomas Fawcett) (3.0 SRM) Grain 98.63 %
0.25 lb Roasted Barley (Crisp) (695.0 SRM) Grain 1.37 %
1.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (180 min) Hops 26.6 IBU
1 Pkgs Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) Yeast-Ale (Of course use a starter)



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.103 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.028 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 9.89 %
Bitterness: 26.6 IBU
Est Color: 20.5 SRM

Mash Profile
Double Infusion, Medium Body
30 min Protein Rest Add 16.43 qt of water at 132.1 F 122.0 F
30 min Saccrification Add 14.60 qt of water at 197.3 F 154.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 12.78 qt of water at 205.6 F 168.0 F

[Baacktoberfest]

Go the Simple route.

Simple Wee Heavy





A SIMPLE recipe from Vance??? Vance are you okay? Do you have a fever or something?

[vance71975]

A SIMPLE recipe from Vance??? Vance are you okay? Do you have a fever or something?

Roflmao, nope im just fine, just thought that i would show that i can do a classic simple recipe, just because i prefer to brew odd stuff for me, doesn't mean i haven't learned the hobby well from people here. Should seen what i brewed this weekend you would be just as shocked! 10lbs Pale malt,1/2 lb crystal 20, mashed @156 1oz fuggle first wort hopped, Pitched s-33. Nothing fancy at all.

[MootsLnbKing]

A simple recipe is 99% Pale 2 row and 1% roasted barley because hops were so highly taxed in Scotland they were scarcely used. Maybe 1 oz. EKG or Fuggles That's what i DID AND IT CAME OUT AWSOME! Boil the first gallon down to a pint and add back to the boil and you will be rewarded with a malty rich brew.HTH:)

[corkybstewart]

A simple recipe is 99% Pale 2 row and 1% roasted barley because hops were so highly taxed in Scotland they were scarcely used. Maybe 1 oz. EKG or Fuggles That's what i DID AND IT CAME OUT AWSOME! Boil the first gallon down to a pint and add back to the boil and you will be rewarded with a malty rich brew.HTH:)
That's pretty much exactly what I did except I used Wye Challenger. The first impression was sweetness, but it wasn't sweet at all.

[Baacktoberfest]

It was hot as f--k this weekend but we got the wee heavy brewed. You def get an interesting color from the boil down.

[MootsLnbKing]

I also just brewed a 10 gallon split batch of Wee Heavy OG 1.080. Half is fermenting on a Cali V yaest cake and the other on an Abbey ale cake. Hope their good.

[Baacktoberfest]

I also just brewed a 10 gallon split batch of Wee Heavy OG 1.080. Half is fermenting on a Cali V yaest cake and the other on an Abbey ale cake. Hope their good.

That should be interesting. You should post the differance between the two. I'd be interested to hear how they turn out. Wee Heavies are new to me. They're hard to find around here, so it took a while to discover them at all. I had a Traquair Jacobite and it became my religion.

[Baacktoberfest]

Update: Active fermentation has ended. No more bubbling for a couple of days. I'd been keeping the temp down by using frozen 20 oz bottles into the bin that I keep my fermenter in. Do I need to continue until fermentation is complete to get the desired effect?
This is the first time I've really done anything to control temp.

[MootsLnbKing]

That should be interesting. You should post the differance between the two. I'd be interested to hear how they turn out. Wee Heavies are new to me. They're hard to find around here, so it took a while to discover them at all. I had a Traquair Jacobite and it became my religion.
Traquair House ale is awesome too. Scotch ales are one of my favorite styles. Maybe cause I'm half Scottish. :D

[Baacktoberfest]

So here's what I went with:

6 Gold LME
2 6 Row
2 Aromatic
1 Wheat DME
.5 Caramel 40
.5 Carawheat
.125 Peated Malt
.25 Roasted Barley

.5 Styrian Goldings 60
2 Willamette 60

2 oz Oak Chips soaked in Scotch

Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale


I took a sample last night and it tastes VERY promising. Without a doubt the most complete fermentation I've gotten so far. Thanks for all of your input. It seems to have made for quite a beer.