Mini Mash Scottish Ale

[MadBrewer]

This was the 2nd batch of the night on Friday when I also brewed up a Mini Mash/Extract IPA. I got in 2 batches in the time it would take me for 1 full all grain so it was cool to knock out some beers I have been wanting to do. This is a take on something like Robert The Bruce from 3 Floyds. It's their Scottish Ale which is about 6.5% and has a nice malt backbone. I actually came across a recipe posted from an old forum where the poster actually contacted 3 Floyds and was given help with the recipe. So I took that malt bill with it's specialty grains and perentages and used it. There isn't much to the hops being that it's a Scottish Ale, but I wanted a little something thrown in there for something different so that's where the late hops come in. The only thing I'm kickiing my self on with this one is I really should have aimed to ferment this more around 60-62 with the American Ale yeast. The Omega American Ale is said to be compared to 001/1056. But I didn't really have the pitch rate to go that low with the OG I had with this one. So 66* will have to do which will be fine but I like to do the Scottish Ales nice and cool.

Just like the mini mash/extract IPA I tried some things different with this. Grains were mashed 30 mins at high 150's, checked conversion and then rinsed. 1/2 tsp of Calcium Chloride was added to the boil. Came up a little low on OG with 1.060 but not bad. Hydro sample tasted good, wort was murky but color should come out nice.

5.5 gal batch 6 gal 30 min HARD boil. 6% abv 30-ish IBU, Around 20 SRM

8 lbs. Williams Brewing Pale Malt extract
1 lb. 2 row
8 oz. Caramunich I
5 oz. Crystal 60
5 oz. Crystal 20
3 oz. Melanoidin Malt
1.5 oz. Black Patent
1.5 oz. Roast Barley

1 oz. Centennial 9.5% AA 30 min.
1 oz each Centennial and Fuggles 15 min hopstand at 190*.

1 pack Omega Yeast American Ale I. 150 Billion cell pitch. Ferment 66*.

[ScrewyBrewer]

@MadBrewer that sounds like a nice tasty beer you're going to have right there. So far I've brewed one Scotch Ale it was a Wee Heavy style brewed back in early January 2015. At a little over 8% alcohol it's been sitting in bottles at 36F since then. I used Melanoidin malt and a 2 hour boil to try and coax those Scotch Whiskey like flavors out of the grain. I've been sneaking a sample bottle just about every month to see how it's coming along because I read it should condition for 1 to 3 years to reach the best flavor profile. I'm not familiar with the Omega American Ale yeast is that a new companies strain?

[MadBrewer]

Yeah Omega is a new company in chicago. They are catering to all the craft breweries in the area and now have a few strains a available to home brewers. This is the first time using them so im very curious to try the beers. They have a little bigger pitch vs WL or Wyeast and being local the yeast was packaged a week before I bought it so its super fresh. Im in NW Indiana so I figured I would try something local.

[ScrewyBrewer]

I'm glad to hear it I feel the same way about using East Coast Yeast whenever Al Buck comes around with some fresh bottles of his yeast, its great to buy local when you can. The ECY bottles seemed to have nearly twice the volume of yeast in them that I typically saw in WLP vials too. I hope to hear more on how your brew comes along and how the Omega yeast is.

[MadBrewer]

Just like the IPA, I got this kegged up lastnight. Hydro sample tasted pretty good. I think some conditioning will bring it all together and smooth it out well. I would of liked to ferment this cooler but it didn't work out that way. Color came out great and the beer is much clearer than in the pic, some reason the pic is fuzzy. I haven't brewed a Scottish Ale since I did a Scottish 60, this doesn't fit into any Scottish style guidlines at 6% abv but it's defenately inspired by them color, flavor and character wise.