Day 25: Scottish Export 80/-

A quick note about kettle caramelization since the style I'm brewing today has historically relied on it- The whole point of caramelization is to add some color and toffee and possibly burnt caramel flavors. Most of the time we rely on the caramelization done by the maltster, which this recipe does somewhat, with the addition of dark crystal. Traditionally in Scottish ales, much of the color and malt flavor was derived from kettle caramelization, or the darkening of the malt in the pot. I'm relying on a 2 hour boil today to recreate this style and add some caramelization. Another good method is to take 1/2 gallon to a gallon of wort and boil it down about 50-80%. Commonly people will boil a gallon of wort down to three cups and throw it in their fermenter or boil pot with the rest of their beer. I'm just going to boil an hour longer, and hope for a bit more of that toffee flavor to prevail.

On to the beer...

Beer #24 - McAaron's Scottish 80/-

Style: Scottish Export 80/- (9C)

Recipe: For 2 Gallon (Extract)

2 lb Extra Light Dry Malt Extract
1 oz English Dark Crystal Malt (135L) (steeped at 152F for 20 minutes)
1 oz Roasted Barley (steeped at 152F for 20 minutes)
.5 oz Peated Malt (steeped at 152F for 20 minutes)
.25 oz Brambling Cross Hops (7%) (Last 60 minutes of 2 hour boil)
.25 oz Brambling Cross Hops (7%) (Last 20 minutes of 2 hour boil)
Wyeast 1098 British Ale

Beer notes: My little electric burner doesn't get a ferocious rolling boil like some gas and propane burners do, but for the purpose of my caramelization experiment, I think it'll work fine. It really gets kind of confusing if most or all breweries in Scotland use peated malt, or any sort of malt that has been roasted over peat. I don't know, I wish I did. Here's what is said of the style on the BJCP website, "The optional peaty, earthy and/or smoky character comes from the traditional yeast and from the local malt and water rather than using smoked malts." Could someone point me in the direction of a peaty yeast? Or peaty water for that matter? They then write, "Use of peat-smoked malt to replicate the peaty character should be restrained." They are definitely making it tough on home brewers, or anyone else, to replicate this style in my opinion. From what I've read a strain of Dry English or Irish Ale yeast is often used, and I don't recall these being peaty. I don't think the water tastes to peaty in Scotland, nor do I think I could create a peaty/earthy flavored water to easily either. So guess what, I'm using a restrained amount of peat malt to get the flavor I'm hoping for. OG finished at 1.048.

Cheers!
Aaron