New Brunswick Craft Brewers Association
Beer Recipes and Food => All Grain => 9 - Scottish and Irish Ale => Topic started by: Richard on March 14, 2012, 05:52:02 PM
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Strong scotch ale, inspired by the Traquair Jacobite. Did a little reading and it transpires there's likely no crystal-malt in the Traquair at all, the Scots apparently preferring kettle carmelisation (live and learn). Note that this is not an attempt at a clone, but a (very) slightly smokier version of something similar.
17lbs Maris Otter.
6oz Roast Barley.
4oz Smoked Malt.
2oz Chocolate Malt.
1oz Fuggles @ 120.
2L Starter of Scottish Ale Yeast - 1728.
Mash 5 gallons @ 154, Sparge 5 gallons @ 168.
Obtain one gallon from first runnings, and boil down to a pint (1/8th of a gallon). This can occur in tandem with the main boil, and provides the majority of the caramel flavours (some also will come from the longer boil).
See: http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style09.php#1e (http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style09.php#1e)
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This isn't a clone... drop the smoked + chocolate malt, bump the roast up to a full 8oz, and add some coriander at flameout - that should get you closer to the Jacobite Traquair.
Was mostly reminded of this since I was at the Garrison yesterday and they have it in stock :D
Definitely best served on the warmer end of the scale... mine came out at fridge temperature and there wasn't much to it until it warmed up some.
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Another observation... the bottled version of TJ is really cloudy.
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Lets not forget who remembered the beer ... I'll take 50%
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I thing Jake has a point there :lol:
That was seriously good beer. I'll definitely be exploring that style more.
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Jake: 2.5 gallons staggered over the next say... 10 years, sure.
I'm curious to see how effective this kettle caramelisation is vis a vis crystal malts.
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how did the kettle carmelization go? did you taste or make other observations on its success before continuing with the brewday?
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See my sig: I've not made it yet :P
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Made this last night...
I'm not sure about the kettle caramelisation procedure yet; need to do a little research into what develops the deeper caramel flavours (think dried fruits - raisins etc). I boiled down from a gallon to a pint, ended up with something that looked and tasted like LME with a few slight caramel tones. I did notice that it was anything but homogenous, so it may be that the deeper flavours were hiding in the more lumpy bits that seemed to form (crystals, I think). I would have continued to boil but I was rather concerned that the stuff was going to burn, so avoided that. I think perhaps I need to separate the concerns: boil down to a couple of pints, then add the lid to boil it for longer without boil-off, then take it off again to finish boiling down. Research needed.
Threw the whole thing on the 1728 yeast cake and it's happily bubbling away this morning.
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when caramelizing never ever stir your wort or and form of sugar water for that matter EX.... when making a simple sugar syrup if you stir it crystals will form but if you just swirle the pan or pot no crystals sooo try not stirring not sure if you did or not but this could cause it
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When it got down to the half-gallon mark I had to stir it 'cause it was so damn viscous it was escaping the pot... kinda like if you've ever seen milk boil over... does crystal formation halt caramelisation? seems to me that shouldn't matter too much...
Dave: how would you go about caramelising a gallon of 1.100 wort, Mr Chef?
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take a spoon and taste it is the easiest way when it hits your taste just right stop it because it can go from great to bad in a few min
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I would suggest at intervals take out samples of the wort place in a glass and once you have 3-5 samples taste them that way you have accurate time/taste samples VS tasting here and there and you can compare for future reference
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When it got down to the half-gallon mark I had to stir it 'cause it was so damn viscous it was escaping the pot... kinda like if you've ever seen milk boil over... does crystal formation halt caramelisation? seems to me that shouldn't matter too much...
Dave: how would you go about caramelising a gallon of 1.100 wort, Mr Chef?
low and slow richard the less chance of burning the sugars and swirl your pot VS stirring
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Yeah that's what I was doing; any comments re: covering the pot?
I'm pretty sure if I went much further in terms of boil-off, I would have burnt it, so my guess is that I need to cover the thing at some point for a longer boil...
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reduce heat to a simmer and watch it constantly and when its just right add in your other wort
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Tried some of this when transferring to keg (will age it a wee bit to round off some slight rough edges); comments would be:
1. Suspicions regarding caramelisation were correct. Flavours produced are not deep enough to match against the Traquair Jacobite. Next time, caramelise a larger portion of the first runnings (2G, methinks) and do so for a longer period of time (covered to avoid as rapid an evaporation). I'm going to do a little reading on this front before I dive in again.
2. Smokiness works really well in balance with the rest of the flavours: light caramel, light esters from the 1728, plus a moderate amount of alcoholic warmth (not magic marker territory, just... warm, like whisky).
Not perfect, and not particularly close to the inspiration, but still tasty.
FG was 1.020. I'm tempted to up the mashing temp a bit and shoot for 1.030, with increased base grain to reach 1.090 OG.