My next Belgian

My next will be a Belgian scotch ale. Anyone have input?

Hey Cat, that sounds delicious, what yeast strain?

That does sound interesting. I’m not a huge Scottish ale fan, but some funky yeast to balance the maltiness might just work for me. You go first… :smiley:

Not sure you can have Belgian/Scottish in one but…

15lbs Golden Promise
.125lbs Roasted Barley
Wyeast 3787
Hop to Bu:Gu of .35-.40

Boil down 1 or 2 gallons of first runnings to a couple pints add back to boil.

Ferment cool, let rise to mid 70’s.

Add 1/2 cup scotch for good measure (12+ year Glendronich :wink:

I’m sure you can. Its been done commercially but I havnt tryed any of them. My brew store doesn’t have golden promise so I will use Marris otter . I’m doing a double batch mash so I will use first running for carmilzing and the Belgian scotch ale. The leftover runnings will make a brown ale. I have a jar of WL530 so I will use that yeast. I prefer lagvoulin but I’m certainly not putting that in the beer, I’ll hold it back and drink it separately.

After two weeks the 530 is still going. Its getting down but I’m leaving it in for a couple more weeks. Its going to be good, it’s already good warm and flat almost went in for another sample.

I have been working on a Gordon’s clone for a year or so now. Most of the Belgian Scotch ales don’t have the typical Belgian yeast character. I have been using the Scotch Ale yeast and it works nicely when you ferment it at 55 degrees. I split a batch with a friend and his version came out great. His version was 1.072 and went down to 1.020 or so. Mine finished at 1.016, but I let it sit out at 72+ for an extra week. This dried it out to much, but it is still a very tasty strong ale. It just lacks the malt character of Gordon’s, Douglas or Scotch Silly. My base malts were split between Marris Otter and Weyermann’s pils w/6% Roasted Barley. We boiled 2 gallons of first runnings down to 3 quarts over 90 minutes. Next time I will probably bump the gravity up to 1.080 and add some special B. It needs a bit more roast character and richness. I would also use Golden Promise if you can get it at a decent price.

I was not a big Scotch Ale fan until I had Gordon’s and Gordon’s Christmas ale. That stuff is amazing.

I didn’t get it as low as 55 . First week in the 60’s then let it go into the 70’s as I usually do with my Belgians. OG was .065 it went .010. It’s resting now till I get a chance to bottle or keg haven’t decided which yet. I’m not trying to match anything so we shall see. I tasted the sample and it was pretty good and I could still taste the yeast. Maybe because I fermented warmer. I used MO because the store didn’t have GP. I can get the GP at a different store but I prefer the smaller store even though he doesn’t have all the grains I’m looking for, more personal.

Just an update. Pulled some off the other day and it was still kind of funky, maybe because of the crap on the bottom of the keg. Today I pulled another much better, enjoying one now. I can tell this one will age well. I’m going to fill some bottles this weekend because I’m going to go through this one pretty quick.

[quote=“SA Brew”]I have been working on a Gordon’s clone for a year or so now. Most of the Belgian Scotch ales don’t have the typical Belgian yeast character. I have been using the Scotch Ale yeast and it works nicely when you ferment it at 55 degrees. I split a batch with a friend and his version came out great. His version was 1.072 and went down to 1.020 or so. Mine finished at 1.016, but I let it sit out at 72+ for an extra week. This dried it out to much, but it is still a very tasty strong ale. It just lacks the malt character of Gordon’s, Douglas or Scotch Silly. My base malts were split between Marris Otter and Weyermann’s pils w/6% Roasted Barley. We boiled 2 gallons of first runnings down to 3 quarts over 90 minutes. Next time I will probably bump the gravity up to 1.080 and add some special B. It needs a bit more roast character and richness. I would also use Golden Promise if you can get it at a decent price.

I was not a big Scotch Ale fan until I had Gordon’s and Gordon’s Christmas ale. That stuff is amazing.[/quote]

Never had those but This one does have that Belgian yeast smell and taste. After 2 1/2 weeks in the keg it’s real good. It’s ready to pass out and get some feedback. I was hoping for old Chubb with a Belgian kick. This one is definitely going into the winter variety pack.