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Details are up now...start brewing

I've put together a recipe. Now I need to test it...

I'm going to brew at the end of the week...it will age in the carboy for a couple months

I'm unsure if Mike is brewing for it or not, but I'm going to sit this one out.
We took this category in the HRB comp last year and I feel the recipe should only be brewed on HRB's setup or our own.

If anyone wants some directory on the style, I'd be willing to provide some guidance. Just shoot me a PM.

Any locally available commercial examples? You know, for research ...

BJCP lists the following in the style guidelines:

Belhaven Wee Heavy,
GordonHighland Scotch Ale
Inveralmond Blackfriar
McEwan's Scotch Ale
Orkney Skull Splitter
Traquair House Ale

Any suggestions?

Brewed my entry yesterday

My beer won't start!

I used Wyeast 1728 (Scotch Ale). My gravity was 1099 and the temperature was right around 20 deg C. I brewed on Sunday and after 2 days, no bubbles or foam. No noticable activity.

Noble Grape advised to give it a good stir and wait another 24 hours rather than pitching in another yeast straight away.

My gut says to follow that advice. Any contrarians? -Doug

sheppard107 wrote:Any locally available commercial examples? You know, for research ...

BJCP lists the following in the style guidelines:

Belhaven Wee Heavy,
GordonHighland Scotch Ale
Inveralmond Blackfriar
McEwan's Scotch Ale
Orkney Skull Splitter
Traquair House Ale

Any suggestions?

NSLC USED to carry McEwans. But, I don't think they have it anymore. Innis & Gunn make a scotch ale - NSLC has that one. -Doug

dougroy wrote:My beer won't start!

I used Wyeast 1728 (Scotch Ale). My gravity was 1099 and the temperature was right around 20 deg C. I brewed on Sunday and after 2 days, no bubbles or foam. No noticable activity.

Noble Grape advised to give it a good stir and wait another 24 hours rather than pitching in another yeast straight away.

My gut says to follow that advice. Any contrarians? -Doug

Did you do a starter?

Has it picked up? If there was no starter, the yeast would have a tough time with a 1.099 wort. Even with a regular strength wort you'd want a starter.

I find most Wyeast older the 4 months old really slow (when making a starter). If this was a direct pitch u should check the gravity as it most likely won't finish for you.

I would concur with this. I've had a bunch of different Wyeast packages lately that were old and slow. My last one was an Oktoberfest blend that was 6 months old. I had to do a 3 stage starter and even then fermentation was slooooow.

Any reason adding oak cubes to a Wee Heavy for the competition would be an issue? Just want to make sure it is with in the limits of this beer style for the brew off.

maxkeg wrote:Any reason adding oak cubes to a Wee Heavy for the competition would be an issue? Just want to make sure it is with in the limits of this beer style for the brew off.

There's no mention of oak flavor in the BJCP guidelines for this style although one of the more famous examples seemed to be aged in oak fermentors. Can't remember the name but I saw a picture of the brewery.


I brewed mine back in October, used Scottish ale yeast, huge starter and fermented at 62 degrees since then. No oak and it's delicious.

Oh and my Scottish ale wyeast package was nearly 4 months old and even with a 2 ltr starter pitched into a 1.084 OG wort it wasn't necessarily an explosive fermentation. I've researched a boatload about this style and yeast and the temperature I picked definitely played a part in how slow it was but even the starter seemed a little weak.

Here it is

bottled mine up today

maxkeg wrote:Any reason adding oak cubes to a Wee Heavy for the competition would be an issue? Just want to make sure it is with in the limits of this beer style for the brew off.

As oceanic mentioned, there's no mention of oak in the BJCP, so judges may find it to be a fault if it's too much. There's certainly some room for a pleasant wood character, but I'd keep it low. If you have the ability to oak half and leave the other untouched, you could then blend it down if the character is too much.

Good luck! I won't be able to judge this year, unfortunately.

I like the idea of oaking half, it also gives you some ability to play around with other variables; temps, different styles of progressive rock, fabrics in your kilt, cuddling. The possibilities!!!

Beers are due this weekend, good luck y'all!

Thanks man!

Me wee heevy finally conditioned to where I wanted over the last week. After the comp I'm bottling the rest and aging it for six months before drinking any. This one just keeps getting better every week.

dropped mine off this week (noble)

chalmers wrote:Beers are due this weekend, good luck y'all!

Thanks for the reminder. I completely forgot.

Tim Gregory wrote:

chalmers wrote:Beers are due this weekend, good luck y'all!

Thanks for the reminder. I completely forgot.

Me too

Glad I mentioned it. I bet the other entrants... not so much.

Probably shoulda mentioned something in the blog, too.