Sunday, March 2, 2014

Kilt Lifter - Scottish Ale

Kilt Lifter
Scottish Ale - March 1, 2014


Recipe taken from Fred Bonjour (1/2/2005). Changes made on availability of ingredients and equipment. I plan to age this in an Single Malt Scotch Barrel.

I tasted this beer at Long Yard a few months ago and loved the tasty malty full bodied ale. Comparable to Rasputin in ABV and body this beer is packed with flavour.

Golden Promise was added due to a shortage of Pale Malt 2-Row. This grain is grey when compared to 2-Row. I would think Golden Promise adds more flavour than 2-Row so this may add a better outcome to the ale.

I used small amount of Citra hops based on their high AA%. I'm not concerned that this hop has an abundance of fruit punch flavour since there is so many malts adding flavours. 


Amount    Item                                           Type

14.00 lb    Pale Malt, 2-Row, Organic             Grain
2.00 lb     Golden Promise Organic, base malt Grain
6.00 lb     Munich I  (7.1 SRM)                       Grain
1.00 lb     Caramel/Crystal Malt - 15L             Grain
1.00 lb     Caramel/Crystal Malt - 75L             Grain
1.00 lb     Caramunich I  (51.0 SRM)               Grain
1.00 lb     Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM)            Grain
4.00 oz    Smoked Malt (2.0 SRM)                  Grain
1.00 oz    Citra (55 min)                               Pellets  15% AA  
1.00 oz    Citra (20 min)                               Pellets  15% AA
1 Pkgs     Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728)   Liquid



Mash / Decoct


Two stage mash is aiming to do two things. Maximize the fermentables 
with 145F and then bring out lots of the malty flavours at 156F. 
  • 40 mins 145F
  • 40 mins 156F


Sparging to Pitching of Yeast


  • Boiled down to 6 gallons in about 3 hours.
  • 170F H2O Produced 9 gallons. Slow sparge run off. 
  • Run off ended with SG being 1.025.
  • Added O2 vigorously via red tank for 20 seconds. 
  • Cooled to 100F with yeast. Fermenting at about 65F.

OG 1.125
FG 1.025 Estimate
ABV 13% Estimate
FG 1.035 going into barrel on Macrh 15th, 2014 (11.8% ABV)

March 6, 2014 - yeast is very consistently
Bubbling away as pictured. Much more than Saf 5 or Saf 4
March 11, 2014 - yeast still consistent (a bubble every 6 second)

March 15, 2014 - Fermentation has slowed and I've kegged this. 
The batch almost filled the 5 gallon Single Malt Scotch Barrel. Taste
was sweet gentle malty yummy and a noticeable alcohol taste, not bad. I feel the fermentable either ran out of O2 or died due to alcohol production. I expect some fermentation to continue in the barrel.

May 18, 2014 - Kegged. Filled this barrel with water (and original Woodinville keg too). Taste is super rich  with tones of toffee and smooth malts. Still has lots of sugars.

June 1, 2014 - still sweat and malty with
toffy. Needs to carbonate and age for two months.

June 18, 2014 - Super sweet and super tasty. Serve is a sherry glass, this is a wonderful dessert beer. Not what I intended but this will be a joy to drink. 


Barrel details - Balcones Oak 5 gallon Barrel that has stored Single Malt Whiskey. 

Thanks Adam for the logistics


Hi All,

I am thinking about arranging another barrel order and wanted to gauge interest. These are 5 gallon barrels that were previously used for whiskey and in a couple cases distilled honey. The barrels available have generally held Blue Corn whiskey, but some may have held Balcones Single Malt, Balcones Oak Smoked whiskey, or Rumble their distilled honey spirit. All barrels I have previously received form them have seen two uses with the second always being the Blue Corn whiskey. Also, previously the vast majority of the barrels received have held Blue Corn whiskey and nothing else. You can read more about their products here: http://www.balconesdistilling.com/products.

In the past the barrels were $45 + shipping and came to about $65, but they informed me that they raised the price to $55 and are considering raising the price further in the near future (hence the desire to order soon). I believe the price will fall in the $70 - $80 range after shipping. I will arrange to have the barrels delivered to a club meeting or they will be available to be picked up at my house in Oakland or work in Mountain View. 

Barrels come in pallets of 27, so I will reach out to interested parties in a first come, first serve manner. If there is enough interest in more than 1 pallet I can order more. I am using a Google Form, so please fill out if interested. Also, this is not limited to the people on these distribution lists so feel free to pass onto other interested parties.

Thanks,
Adam Holter





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