Looking for a recipe for McEwans 80/-

[ppsmith]

Not my usual style (I prefer pales and IPAs), but my neighbour very enthusiastically assisted on my last brew day and he's interested in making a batch of McEwans 80 shilling.

I've tried Google, and the results that are coming up seem to include peated malt, which doesn't seem to agree with the style descriptions for a Scottish Export.

This is the one that seems most likely, although I'd probably sub Carafa III for roasted barley as I already have that in my cupboard. Should we just go with it as-is, drop the peated malt, or does anyone have a better tried and tested recipe they could share?

Also, considering using CML Beoir yeast as I generally prefer dry to liquid (and my LHBS seems to be all out of every liquid yeast), but open to suggestion.

Thanks in advance for any advice on this one.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

It's a safe bet that any recipe for Scottish beers involving peat comes from someone who's never drunk Scottish beer and who thinks Govan is a romantic Hebridean island where crofters cut peat to burn in their blackhouses. It's a fairly reliable red flag that the recipe is tosh.

I've no specific insight on McEwan's but I do have a rough idea of Scottish brewing traditions.

Above all, their recipes are simple - generally no speciality malts, just base malt and adjuncts, with darker inverts contributing some of the colour and caramel the rest. They almost always have sugar, and often have flaked maize/grits.

Have a look at some of these 80/Export recipes from Ron Pattinson, between them they should inspire a recipe that is close enough for your neighbour to recognise and then refine :

1984 Maclay Export - 1.039, 24 IBU
1960 Robert Younger Old Edinburgh - 1.044, 22 IBU
1957 Robert Younger Export - 1.044, 33 IBU
1944 Dryborough 80/- - 1.041, 17 IBU (did they have to use chocolate for colour due to war disrupting caramel supplies???)
1939 William Younger Export - 1.054, 22 IBU

Don't worry about the bits of malt extract, they were obviously there to adjust gravity rather than a fundamental part of the recipe.

my LHBS seems to be all out of every liquid yeast

Brewstore? They used to be so good for White Labs stuff, and I could understand why they paused for Covid/Brexit, but I'm surprised they're still not doing it. I can understand why they went for WHC initially as it was a closer source that did a lot more kveiks than WL used to, but even so.

The Edinburgh breweries exchanged yeast so often that it makes more sense to talk of a city yeast than a brewery yeast, which would lead one to WLP028 or 1728 (although the two are somewhat different). But there were 10-20 strains in the McEwan's bottle that was harvested for Duvel, and the strain that Duvel ended up with is obviously nothing like WLP028/1728, so one does wonder what the "real" McEwan's yeast is/was really like.

For the time being - something well behaved and not too extreme - I've never used Beoir but something like Liberty Bell would be a sensible place to start.

 

[ppsmith]

It's a safe bet that any recipe for Scottish beers involving peat comes from someone who's never drunk Scottish beer and who thinks Govan is a romantic Hebridean island where crofters cut peat to burn in their blackhouses. It's a fairly reliable red flag that the recipe is tosh.

Nicely put . Glad to have my suspicions about those recipes confirmed.

I'll have a look through those recipes with him and see if any of them trigger any fond memories, otherwise use them as inspiration when coming up with a new recipe.

Brewstore? They used to be so good for White Labs stuff, and I could understand why they paused for Covid/Brexit, but I'm surprised they're still not doing it. I can understand why they went for WHC initially as it was a closer source that did a lot more kveiks than WL used to, but even so.

Yeah, Brewstore. WL are all still listed on their site, but literally every single strain is out of stock. Supply chain issue maybe? They've got Liberty Bell in, so that could be a good shout, thanks.