# Brew Day! Scottish Ale, Part 2



## jswordy (Mar 27, 2015)

Brewed a Northern Brewer 80 Shilling Scottish Ale extract kit today. Nice thing about buying online, I can read the reviews and make adjustments. Added a cup of brown sugar to the initial boil and 1 ounce Golding (U.S.) to the last 10 minutes. This was a split syrup recipe that had me add the second 3 pounds with 15 minutes left in the boil. Fuggles was the "bittering" hop in the kit and Golding is a relative. It did add hoppiness to the wort, so I think I will like it better with just a tad more hop-forward plus all the caramel from 1 pound of crystal adjunct. The sugar bumped it to 5% potential ABV. We'll see.









Pretty excited, a huge home brewing shop is supposed to open within the next year here (in Alabama, nearby). Finally! It went from illegal to OK in just a few years.


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## Elmer (Mar 27, 2015)

I just bought a bottle of Scottish ale (bellhaven wee heavy) after a buddy raved about it. I will be drinking the 6.5% ale this sunday when I cook up a sweet corn cream ale.

the only thing I would have changed in your process would been using an extra LB of DME instead of sugar.
I have been told that Sugar can dry out or unbalance an ale.
but then again 1# wont make that much of a difference.

best of luck!


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## olusteebus (Mar 27, 2015)

Jim, does that ice set up cool the wort down quickly enough.

Elmer, I have considered adding some extra DME the next time I make a beer. does it add taste or just increasing the alcohol?

My vendor says it would make it "unbalanced"


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## Elmer (Mar 27, 2015)

olusteebus said:


> Jim, does that ice set up cool the wort down quickly enough.
> 
> Elmer, I have considered adding some extra DME the next time I make a beer. does it add taste or just increasing the alcohol?
> 
> My vendor says it would make it "unbalanced"




My understanding is that it will bump it up and add a little more malt flavor.
I was just at LHBS bought ingredients for Cream Ale, told the guy wanted to bump it from 4.5% to 5%,
He game me extra 1# DME.
And can add some prime sugar.
But it should not be that unbalanced.
I think if you add too much extra sugar it can dry out and make a beer thin.


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## HB_in_Subic (Mar 27, 2015)

If you keep the corn sugar or table sugar to 10% or less of the bill it will not thin out the beer but give you about a 1% boost in alcohol. I use it all of the time and my beers are not thin. You do not realize that it's a 6% beer until it goes down.


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## jswordy (Mar 28, 2015)

olusteebus said:


> Jim, does that ice set up cool the wort down quickly enough.



Seems to work good enough for me!


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## jswordy (Mar 29, 2015)

Three days and we have a nice gentle slow bubble or two, so into the secondary it went. In the instructions, Northern Brewer doesn't mince words about a secondary. "Transfer beer into the secondary." Yes sir!


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## jswordy (Apr 17, 2015)

We are nice and clear, but a tiny taste test shows the hops have mellowed considerably. At any rate, we are hoping to bottle this off Saturday or Sunday with 5 ounces priming sugar to boost the fizz. I am in a 3-week beer drought now, having had the last two of my prior Scottish ale after racking wine last night. 

I'll be circling these bottles like a


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## HB_in_Subic (Apr 18, 2015)

I would be careful with the priming sugar. 5 ounces might be too much. I have never used more than 4.5oz...


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## jswordy (Apr 19, 2015)

HB_in_Subic said:


> I would be careful with the priming sugar. 5 ounces might be too much. I have never used more than 4.5oz...







Got a friend just up the road who produced this for St. Patrick's Day. When I asked him how he got such an outstanding head, he said "an ounce per gallon seems to work great."


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## jswordy (Apr 19, 2015)

So glad I added the Golding to this recipe, or there would have been very little hop flavor or aroma at all!

I got 52 bottles of goodness, put them out in my 66-degree shop building (it's in the mid-70s here and humid - storms on the way soon). We'll see if I get bottle bombs or a better carb and head result.





Not worried about the clear glass. They are in the dark and when they hit the Coke cooler, they'll be in the dark, too.

In pre-carb taste tests, the all-extract recipe produced a lighter beer in color and flavor than the Brewer's Best, and I find myself missing the smokiness of the BB grain additions. Looking forward to trying it once it is dry and bubbly.


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## Elmer (Apr 20, 2015)

Jim, 
your capper makes a nice dent in those caps. Probably gives you a good indication that it is sealed.
My little red plastic capper, leaves no mark and leaves me with the sense that it was so easy that it really didnt seal.
However it has yet to fail me before.

looks good, I could only hope to get 55 bottles. I usually end up with 45. I rack, cold crash and leave enough that I dont suck up any goop, so there is some volume loss!


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## jswordy (Apr 20, 2015)

My capper is from the 1960s. It was given to me. Free is good. Seals them tight. I like to twist each cap to make sure it is clamped. I very rarely come upon one that will twist.

You should be getting at least 48-52 bottles out of a 5-gallon batch. Some of my bottles are 11.5 ounces, so my yields have varied from 52-55 depending on the bottle mix.

I raise my secondary and set it on a tilt while I prep, then carefully draw off the liquid by moving the tube from top to bottom. The lees are really compact so they stay put. 

Ha, I just typed that and then realized you don't do a secondary. Never mind. It's pretty cool that there are lots of ways to make good beer, just like with wine.


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## Elmer (Apr 20, 2015)

I also throw a couple of 22 oz bottles into the mix.
This way I can still tell SWMBO I am only having 1!


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## jswordy (Apr 27, 2015)

I popped a top on one of these 80 schillings last night to carb check at 1 week. It looks like 1 ounce per gallon is going to be absolutely perfect in another week, so I will chill then. It is a lot closer to my carb liking now.

Taste-wise, I prefer the Brewer's Best kit. This all-extract NB kit does not have the smoky complexity of the Brewer's Best adjunct kit. But it is an easy drinking beer that would be a crowd pleaser because it is so similar to commercial brews.


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## jswordy (May 1, 2015)

Not yet as clear as my others (it will be), but a very nice brew. I still prefer the Brewer's Best kit. 1 oz per gallon sugar worked out great. Next time I will use table sugar for even bigger bubbles.


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