Thoughts on trying a Scottish Blonde Ale and hopping

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Zephyr259

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Hi all, I've got a packman Wyeast 1728 Scottish yeast which needs to get going as it's packaging date was 10th Nov 2016. I was going to make a traditional Scottish ale, either 60/- or 80/- but I've just been drinking a stout and my southern brown ale is about to be ready so I'm in the mood for a lighter beer and was thinking that omitting the black malt from a Scottish ale recipe would result in a blonde ale but with Scottish sensibilities.

4kg Maris otter pale
200g crystal
200g Munich

Mash at 68-70C for a good dextrin heavy wort should give OG of 1.050 and ferment down to 1.015 - 1.017 giving a 4 - 4.5% beer with a good body.

Hops would be east Kent goldings or brewer's gold to give 25 IBU all in at the start of the boil.

It's very close to the style number for a blonde ale but would be lacking the hop flavour and aroma, what do people think about the hops, should I keep to the Scottish style and omit all flavour and aroma additions or go more blonde and add some extra late hops?

Thanks
 
Hi all, I've got a packman Wyeast 1728 Scottish yeast which needs to get going as it's packaging date was 10th Nov 2016. I was going to make a traditional Scottish ale, either 60/- or 80/- but I've just been drinking a stout and my southern brown ale is about to be ready so I'm in the mood for a lighter beer and was thinking that omitting the black malt from a Scottish ale recipe would result in a blonde ale but with Scottish sensibilities.

4kg Maris otter pale
200g crystal
200g Munich

Mash at 68-70C for a good dextrin heavy wort should give OG of 1.050 and ferment down to 1.015 - 1.017 giving a 4 - 4.5% beer with a good body.

Hops would be east Kent goldings or brewer's gold to give 25 IBU all in at the start of the boil.

It's very close to the style number for a blonde ale but would be lacking the hop flavour and aroma, what do people think about the hops, should I keep to the Scottish style and omit all flavour and aroma additions or go more blonde and add some extra late hops?

Thanks

It depends on what you personally want form the beer. On one hand you seem to want "a lighter beer" and a little later you want "a 4 - 4.5% beer with a good body". Don't worry I know the feeling, sometimes I just can't decide on a recipe :lol:

If you're after something lighter and more refreshing for spring/summer then I'd go with the hops and drop the mash temp for a lower FG. Bear in mind that your percieved bitterness isn't going to be high with a sweeter beer. There is also a good chance that the maltiness might swamp the hops.

I can't really comment on the suitability of your yeast, only that as a scottish ale yeast it's probably been selected to emphasise malt character, as opposed to hop character. Your best bet is to do a little research and see if anyone has had any luck with this strain and how it works with hops. If it's a neutral and clean strain then I can't see any reason why it wouldnt be suitable.

I hope this helps
 
Both Williams Bros Pavlov 's Dog and Eden Mill's Kilted Kittock are Scottish Amber/Red ales with citrus hops and both are nice (KK is nicer IMO as it's not as dark as PD), I suppose you could say similar about BD The Physics and 5AM Saint (although both use American Ale Yeast).
 
Thanks for the thoughts, the yeast is a clean, neutral strain as Scottish styles don't have the same esters as an English ale so I guess it should cope fine with hops although it is usually used in malt dominant beers. Time for more research.

When I said lighter it was more in terms of flavour/colour than anything else. My recent brews have been a 4% oatmeal milk stout and a 3.9% brown ale which is a lot darker and more chocolatey than I expected so I'm looking for more of a pale ale to contrast, which I guess would suggest I should go the hoppy route doesn't it? :-)
 
Mick: Interesting, I have amarillo, cascade and galaxy from an IPA, one of these could go nicely for a bit of fruity finish.
 
Mick: Interesting, I have amarillo, cascade and galaxy from an IPA, one of these could go nicely for a bit of fruity finish.

5AM Saint uses Amarillo, Cascade and NS, and The Physic uses Amarillo and Bramling X so you might be onto a winner there.
 
Changed plans, brewed this more in the style of Greg Hughes Spring Beer, just maris otter and munich then hopped with galaxy. Got some beers during the Aldi beer festival and the missus and I both liked Belhaven's Bridge to Nowhere which is a scottish ale hopped with galaxy.

The main bit of info i wished to share is that so far I'm impressed with the Wyeast 1728, the temp has been a steady 16C and it's bubbling away very enthusiastically. :-) Hopefully, the neutral character does the hops and malt proud.

It's also in my new youngs fermenter with the narrower screw cap as my older bucket doesn't seal properly anymore so will now be dedicated bottling bucket, first time I've seen bubbles in 3 brews and good to see the yeast happy, most others have struggled in my chilly house. Looking forward to exploiting this next year and making a german alt since it'll ferment at our daft room temps and then lagers around 6-10C which is the temp of a cupboard during winter.
 
Well I got a shock today, just bottled 22 L of this brew and the Scottish yeast took it from 1.043 to 1.007 (hard to read between 6 and 8. That's 84% apparent attenuation from a yeast that's meant to do 71% I mashed at 66C and the expected fg was 1.011 for 75% as the grainfather recipe tool seems to assume the stated attenuation at 67.5C then goes up or down from there based on temp.

That said it seems nice, maybe a touch more bitter than intended but lots of galaxy hop flavour coming through. 4.9% abv and should carb up nice and fizzy just in time for this lovely warm weather to leave us as usual. :-) Looking forward to sipping this in my in-laws porch overy the summer.
 
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