Wee Heavy

My very minor experience with doing the Oak additives is that the base brew was always better tasting as a finished product over the oak chips and whiskey but at north of 7% ABV....no one may care!

Wee-Heavy...I gotta go and research that name origin. I wonder if that morphed the same way as stout porter did...or was it a comment by the monks after having 3 or 4 pints and having to take a leak....REALLY BAD:eek:


Go for it Craigerrr, if you don't try, you have failed twice!
 
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I've got one in the queue, so I'll be interested if you try it. After a couple of really good ones I went on a buying spree for the recipe. The ones I didn't enjoy as much were simpler, straight down the line, sweet versions. I think I just prefer the ones that wander away from the 'style' with a relatively more complex grain bill, or some extra flavours (barrel age, etc.). So while I think peat lovers like yourself are insane that recipe ticks all the ideas I came up with.

This is the recipe, I was going to package half the batch with a bourbon/oak tincture, the rest straight. https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/852974/scotch-ale

And a little dummy spit from a beer history nerd on Scottish beer history writing - http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2011/10/classic-horst.html
 
Looks fine...a few thoughts:
1. Try it with the amount of peated malt listed but likely you'll prefer less - depending on what you're exact malt, a little goes a looooong way.
2. dDn't waste you're time with Chalk... it just settles out in the mash or fermenter. Make your water profile malt-friendly but don't fret too much over specifics.
3. Warrior hops have absolutely no place in this style. If you want high-alpha hops, maybe try Admiral or Phoenix.
4. Don't you DARE waste Lagavulin 16 on oak-soaking...use Johnny Walker for washing and such like god intended and save the honest whisky for favored friends. :)
 
After reading the article Mark posted, I'm thinking party gyle. I have been thinking about doing a party gyle as well. Maybe the Wee Heavy, and the Party Gyle should be one and the same...
 
After reading the article Mark posted, I'm thinking party gyle. I have been thinking about doing a party gyle as well. Maybe the Wee Heavy, and the Party Gyle should be one and the same...
Then it's a two for one mash brew why not I say Craig.
 
I think I would drop the peat entirely. If you've never used it, I can tell you to me it tastes like chloroseptic cold medicine. It's just not the same in beer as whiskey. If you're looking for a faint smoke character, I would try using a small amount of dark roast grain.
 
After reading the article Mark posted, I'm thinking party gyle. I have been thinking about doing a party gyle as well. Maybe the Wee Heavy, and the Party Gyle should be one and the same...

Absolutely, think rich and malt forward, just enough hops to balance the sweetness, works for big and small beers. Also states in guidelines heavy scottish beers were traditionally a party gyle.

I think I would drop the peat entirely. If you've never used it, I can tell you to me it tastes like chloroseptic cold medicine. It's just not the same in beer as whiskey. If you're looking for a faint smoke character, I would try using a small amount of dark roast grain.

According to style guidelines peated malt is incorrect for this style. The smoke flavor or aroma comes from roasted malts. I have brewed without and gotten tasty results. Brewed some with also but don't honestly remember the outcome, this was several years ago.
Just more info to help you figure what you will do. Recipe looks good. I would keep the IBU's down in the 20s for the party gyle as its a lighter beer, won't take as much to balance the malt.
 
Don't you DARE waste Lagavulin 16 on oak-soaking...use Johnny Walker for washing and such like god intended and save the honest whisky for favored friends. :)
At close to $4CDN an ounce, scaled up to 10 gallon batch comes to $40, I hear you brother!!

I appreciate everyone's input.

I might start with this recipe, drop the whiskey, and swap the peated malt out for roasted.
Then try a party gyle for sh*ts and giggles.
This would not get into my brew cue until January.

Cheers all!
 
Just bumping this thread for my own purposes, want to give this a go in the fall after doing more research.
 
I wanna know your partygyle steps
So do I!!!
Essentially the theory is that the first runnings will be your high gravity batch, and second runnings will be a lower gravity batch. I have been looking at some videos, and stuff. The plan is that this, along with the ESB I am working on will be my fall brews. Probably a September and an October thing.
 
I'm actually finishing up a growler of Red Scottish from local brewery in Gettysburg, Battlefield Brewery...good stuff...hadn't had anything red like this since brewing a Red Trolley clone earlier last year. I had thought about some way to get a smaller second batch ala partygyle with that brew session but didn't have a second burner or quite frankly, another 3 hours of brewing horsepower in me that day to bring that idea to fruition. Ahhhh..coulda shoulda woulda....
 
So do I!!!
Essentially the theory is that the first runnings will be your high gravity batch, and second runnings will be a lower gravity batch. I have been looking at some videos, and stuff. The plan is that this, along with the ESB I am working on will be my fall brews. Probably a September and an October thing.
The second runnings may need a bit of dme or it will be too small. I have done this a couple of times. It bugs me to dump sugars in the compost so i sparged left over grain from big beers. If you party gyle a Scottish ale amber dme may be a nice touch for flavor and mouthfeel.
 
The second runnings may need a bit of dme or it will be too small. I have done this a couple of times. It bugs me to dump sugars in the compost so i sparged left over grain from big beers. If you party gyle a Scottish ale amber dme may be a nice touch for flavor and mouthfeel.
This is what I did the one time I did it from memory I hit 1.016 After another sparge added some DME and gave it a short boil with bittering and flavour hops FG was 1.022 ish.
Was a real light beer but not bad by no means I guzzled that keg quick was like drinking slightly beer flavoured hoppy fizzy water.
 
Dredging up this thought I never carried out....did anyone else?

So listening to Experimental Brewing has me thinking that a good try of this would be to do a 60/40 batch with an Albany Ale for gyle 1 and then do a mash cap with some crystal and some chocolate malt do a batch of Brown ale.....

Thoughts?
 
I never did give either a Wee Heavy, or a Party Gyle a go either, so I have nothing to offer. Sorry man.
 

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