Wee Heavy. Give me your best!

Bottled this guy about a month ago after spending a couple of months on bourbon soaked oak spiral. I like it so far. Touch of roast, toffeeish, a bit earthy and briny with the toasty vanilla from the wood.
https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/maelstrom-1

 

The notion of a long boil is pure fabrication.Records show that Scotch Ales were in fact boiled for short periods.
Try http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/lets-brew-wednesday-1868-william.html

 

No problem about giving a homebrew a long boil but you simply don't get a Scotch Ale this way.Wee Heavy by the way is a one off trade name used by Fowler's to denote the small (wee) bottles it came in.In all other quantities it was Twelve Guinea Ale.

 

I did say that as a homebrewer you are free to do what you like-that is after all one of the benefits! But the result,surely a memorable beer, won't be anything like a true Scotch Ale.
Scotland is served appallingly badly with wildly inaccurate and ill informed literature regarding its brewing.If American brewing was as badly distorted you would be unhappy about it.

 

I've had what I consider to be success in making strong Scotch ales (or, rather, what American homebrewers call strong Scotch ales) by using a single malt mash with no adjuncts (I like Maris Otter for this) and a long boil for caramelization. For a 5-gallon batch, what I do is take about 12 quarts of runnings and boil them down to about 4 quarts (2-3 hours depending) and then complete my mash-out to get my intended quantity.

This creates a rich, dark color and lots of caramel character. I have to watch that caramelization process, though, because at super high gravities the wort will begin to burn once it gets down to about 4 quarts.

 

Whichever route you go, good luck! It's a tasty style.

Oh, and doing this, you basically have a pot boiling for 4-5 hours altogether. It can really steam the place up if you're brewing indoors.

 

I second this. 100% Maris Otter or Golden Promise malt, tenaciously boil down the first bit of your runnings.

I would add though, have a really heavy grain bill and only take the "meat" of your mash. Mash higher (156-158 F) and calculate for your 1st runnings to be your complete boil volume.

That's how I'd do a Wee Heavy destined for a whiskey barrel. I think too many malts muddles the beer down. Think simplicity here, quality ingredients + quality process.

 

15 lbs GP
1.5 lbs C60
1 lbs Melanoiden
1 lbs Munich
.25 oz Chocolate
1.6 oz Roasted Barley

2 oz EKG @60

Wyeast 1728

Mash @ 154°

Collect 3qt first runnings and boil down to 1qt (or until thickened syrup). Add back with 10 minutes left in boil.

 

Yep, more or less mashed for my standard 5.5gal batch, boiled first runnings for an hour, added first batch sparge, boiled for an hour, added second batch sparge, boiled for an hour.

 

No, I drink very few US beers (as we have over 1200 breweries of our own in an area smaller than Oregon the situation doesn't often arise!)
Historically accurate? Practically nothing labelled as Scotch or Scottish is historically accurate because the history books are wrong.Long boils, cool fermentation temperatures and low hop rates were never typical of brewing in Scotland.The Scotch Ale recipe I linked to above had an IBU of over 100 for example.
Scotland used literally ship loads of Saaz hops as well as English varieties.
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/scotch-guinea-ales.html
I quote "the period of boiling is from one to one hour and a half with the better class of ales," which include Scotch Ale.
When looking at literature it's worth knowing that in Scotland itself Scotch Ale was generally labelled simply Strong Ale.

 

It's not a fabrication if his local brewer said that they give their beer (the one the OP want to brew) had a long boil. Jesus, get over yourself.