Home »
Tech and Tips
»
Brewers Series
» The Sal's Wee Heavy
 |
The Sal's Wee Heavy
by Sal Scirotino, Sr.
|
|
Welcome to the Brewer's Style Series, where brewers tackle their favorite styles and give you all their information. If you have a style you're fond of, experimented with, etc and would like to help us out, contact the Grand Hydro at grandhydrometer@maltosefalcons.com.
|
|
Our beer favorites include Wee Heavy, 60, 70,
and 80 shilling Scottish Ales so we try to make 2
beers when we make the Wee Heavy. The OG'S
range from 1.096 down to 1.050 added depending
on how much wort dilution added. Filtered,
boiled and chilled San Fernando Valley water is
used for dilution. Here is our recipe and procedure
highlights for one of our recent Wee Heavy
brews:
Recipe for 12 gallons wort:
5 gallons Wee Heavy & 7 gallons Scottish Export Ale 80 shilling:
- 43 lbs. Maris Otter
- 11 oz Scottish Chocolate Malt
- Wyeast 1056 (make 1/2 gallon starter )
- Hallertau Hops bittering @ 60 minutes - 50 IBU (High for style)
OG: 1.090 FG: 1.025
Procedure Highlights:
- We add grain to 164 F water in mash tun.
Mash grain at 154F for one hour using 40 quarts
of water in a 70 quart Igloo Batch Mash Tun.
- After mashing, take out a decoction slurry
with about half of mash to boil for mashing out
at above 170F. Add decoction back into Mash
tun. Sal the Younger made a copper tubing bank
with hack saw cuts to filter out the grain inside
the mash tun.
- Vourlaf with pump for 20 minutes to establish
grain bed & clear wort.
- First runnings -- with no sparge -- to get Wee
Heavy wort of about 6 gallons minimum.
- Take half of first running wort and boil it down
to carmelize for deep malt nose and to get intense
kettle-carmelization then add back into
wort. We use boiling beads to allow vigorous
boiling without boil over and to avoid scorching
in wort.
- Sparge mash at 172 F to get about 14 gallons
of wort and boil down to 12 gallons. Sparging
can be somewhat concurrent with boiling carmelization
in step 5.
- Use Irish Moss to help clear wort.
- In last 3 minutes of boil sanitize cooling coil
by placing it directly in boiling wort.
- Shut down boiling and stir/whirpool to separate
hop particles before chilling. Allow 20 minutes
to build a hop pile in the center of wort
boiler.
- Use rapid cooling with cooling coil in wort
boiler (15 gallon size), then through a counterflow
chiller and finally an ice bath before filling 5
gallons in a 6 gallon fermenter with OG 1.090
Wee Heavy. Temperature should be about 65 F
at the end of the chilling process.
- Pump remaining wort, 3 1/2 gallons each, in
two separate fermenters having 1 1/2 gallons
each of chilled sterilized (boiled) water to cut to
1.050 + OG for 80 shilling Scottish Ale (Export).
- Pitch 1/4 gallon Wyeast 1056 starter to Wee
Heavy and 1/8 gallon starter to each 80 shilling
Scottish Ale fermenter.
- Oxygenate after pitching.
- Room temperature ferment until Krausen
drops -- about 10 days to 3 weeks .
- Transfer to secondary to separate yeast/hop
residue from beer.
- Transfer to kegs, cool and carbonate moderately.
Note that Wee Heavy bottles get better after 1
year storage in a house closet.
Drink Scottish Ale Export 3 to 6 months after
kegging.
ENJOY
|
|