Ralph's 2015 Wee Heavy

[Gymrat]

My fuggles were only 3.6 AA so I FWH with 2 oz.
14 lb Marris Otter
1/2 lb honey malt
3 oz black patent
Mashed 1 hour at 155F
Using yeast cake from red ale.

I got up this morning and kegged my red ale, then I weighed out my grains for my Wee Heavy. While that was mashing I cleaned and sanitized my conical. I sanitized a mason jar and filled it with trub from the red ale before kegging. I will dump that in my Wee Heavy.

[Brewbirds]

Ralph's Wee Heavy........... it's better than other way to announce the change of seasons.

We need to get Ralph tee.

[ScrewyBrewer]

My Wee Heavy has been cold conditioning for about 8 months, I should sample one today. Something about Scotch phenols needing time to develop. I did not use peat in mine either but used a 2 hour boil and some melanoidin malt. I have to say it tasted sweet after 4 weeks like no other beer I've brewed before, in time I'm hoping it improves.

[Gymrat]

Wee Heavies are supposed to taste sweet

[ScrewyBrewer]

Wee Heavies are supposed to taste sweet

@Gymrat thank you for clarifying this point. I guess improves was not the best word to use, it can be a little misleading in this instance. The style does use a specific profile of grain, hop, mashing and kettle caramelization that combined all add to the beer's sweetness. About two months ago I and a friend made a comparison of my batch to Founders Dirty Bastard, which is what we consider to be the standard for a Wee Heavy. The style itself was new to us but we did think at the time that my batch came close to the Founders.

Four months before that I shared samples with members of both the PALES ALES and the Ocean County homebrew clubs and unanimously all that tasted the beer commented on the sweetness and low carbonation. What I am interested in is developing the phenols that add Scotch whiskey like flavors to the beer. The Wee Heavy is said to be a style that lends itself well to long term cold conditioning, anywhere from 1 to 3 years at 45F. There will be at least 4 more months of waiting on my part until I can find out how much and how the flavor profile has changed. I do not know of any commercial brewer aging their beer for 1 to 3 years so I am anxiously waiting to taste an aged version of the style.

I resisted the urge to drink another bottle yesterday when I saw that there were only 15 bottles left from my experimental batch.

[Gymrat]

If you ever get a chance try the Great Divide Scotch Ale.
And yes a wee heavy improves with age. I think it is because of the high alcohol content. It is a form of barley wine. In the past I have let mine age a year.

[BigPapaG]

Guys, Great Divide Scotch Ale is a really great example, one of my favorites...

Another good one is Old Chub from Oskar Blues.

Regarding the aging, I totally agree with Roger here, time is your friend with these.

I did an experiment with one that I brewed...

It won Bronze at 9 months old in 2012, Silver in 2013 at 21 months, and Bronze and Gold in separate comps in 2014 at nearly 3 years old...

If you can assume some consistency in judging that style, I thought it was a pretty cool example of good aging...

[ScrewyBrewer]

Great feedback thank you both. The Gaslight Pub near me has Old Chub on tap I am, going to make it a point to drink some this weekend while I look for Great Divide Scotch Ale locally. Winning four awards for the same batch of beer is unheard of, that's awesome!

[Gymrat]

I kegged this stuff yesterday. I must say from the hydrometer sample this is going to be the best wee heavy I have ever brewed.

[mashani]

Out of curiosity, did you boil down some of the first runnings to caramelize it and then add it back in, or just rely on the honey malt to give you the extra complexity?

I think a wee heavy is going to be my final brew of 2015. Mine will likely use EKG instead of Fuggles, as I have a lot of EKG. I'm considering doing the pseudo decoction and concentrating some wort, which I am comfortable with as I've done that many times. Trying to decide on if I want to put in crystal at all or not. Honey malt sounds nice. Trying to decide if I want to go with a full 90 minute boil or even longer to caramelize it more too. Lots of ways to make a wee heavy more complex.

[Gymrat]

I didn't caramelize any of the malt this time. I just relied on the honey malt to give it the complexity. I have discovered I prefer honey malt over caramel malt in all of my Scottish ales. I also prefer East Kent Goldings over Fuggles but my LHBS was out of those.

[ScrewyBrewer]

The Wee Heavy that I brewed in February 2015 is approaching it's first year of cold conditioning, it's been refrigerated since March of 2015 after naturally carbonating. I went with a 2 hour boil and added 8% Melanoidin Malt to enhance the malty flavor without having to do a decoction mash. The Malliard reaction of the extended boil did darken the wort, and combined with 3% Roasted Barley Malt, the color of the beer looks like a Scotch Whiskey.

weeheavy-2sml.jpg (37.7 KiB) Viewed 906 times

Although my recipe used just 3 grains, the base grain used was 90% Pale Ale Malt, the beer has developed interesting flavors not typically found in beers using similar grain bills. Now looking back nearly a year since brewing this batch, it's hard to believe that they are ready to drink now. In fact from what I've read, the Wee Heavy will continue to improve with age for up to 3 years. Hopefully I will be able to squirrel away a six pack to taste another year from now too.

[Gymrat]

NICE!

The Wee Heavy that I brewed in February 2015 is approaching it's first year of cold conditioning, it's been refrigerated since March of 2015 after naturally carbonating. I went with a 2 hour boil and added 8% Melanoidin Malt to enhance the malty flavor without having to do a decoction mash. The Malliard reaction of the extended boil did darken the wort, and combined with 3% Roasted Barley Malt, the color of the beer looks like a Scotch Whiskey.

weeheavy-2sml.jpg

Although my recipe used just 3 grains, the base grain used was 90% Pale Ale Malt, the beer has developed interesting flavors not typically found in beers using similar grain bills. Now looking back nearly a year since brewing this batch, it's hard to believe that they are ready to drink now. In fact from what I've read, the Wee Heavy will continue to improve with age for up to 3 years. Hopefully I will be able to squirrel away a six pack to taste another year from now too.

[Pudge]

I have to commend you, Screwy, on the 3 grain recipe. We homebrewers tend to over complicate recipes simply because we can. More isn't always better. Often times, it just muddies the waters.

I've never done a Wee Heavy, but you guys have my interest up. I do have a Scottsh 60 I really like and it would probably make for a good yeast starter for a Heavy.

[Gymrat]

The only difference between your 60 shilling and a wee heavy is the amount of base malt you use. The original post is my recipe.