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My First Flop: BCS Scottish Export 80/

Post #1 made 11 years ago
by shetc
Hi Guys,

I brewed the Brewing Classic Styles recipe for Scottish Export 80/ (page 126), using information from http://biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3061#p44668. In my opinion, the result is a flop -- doesn't taste of much of anything with a slight sweet bitter chocolate finish. Recipe called for an OG of 1.54 and estimated FG of 1.009; I produced OG = 1.056 and FG = 1.018. I bought all the ingredients from a brew shop in Gainesville, FL -- when I got home I found that the Wyeast 1728 Edinburgh Ale yeast only had 1 week left before expiration. Anyway, I made a 2 liter starter and it went pretty wild in the fermentor. I have attached the BIABacus so maybe someone can help me understand what went wrong.

Thanks,
Steve
flop.png
BIABacus PR1.3T - BCS Scottish Export 80 - Batch 0 - shetc.xls
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Last edited by shetc on 26 May 2015, 02:35, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #2 made 11 years ago
by joshua
Steve, it appears you had a higher GAW, and there may have been a lower VIF, Not a real Problem.

How Old was the British Pale Ale??

Do you know if it was a Maris Otter variety, or a Crisp Malt??

As British Pale Ale Grains Age, they start to lose Flavor, since the grains are roasted a bit more, to get a biscuit flavor, than American Pale Ale Malt.

Everything else in you Recipe looks correct for Scotch Ale.
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
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Post #3 made 11 years ago
by shetc
Joshua, these are excellent questions of which I don't have the answers. That brew shop is a bit different in that the malts are not sitting out front for people to taste before buying. So I just asked for Maris Otter and they went in back and ground some for me so it could have been anything. I'll keep your questions in mind if I shop there again. Thanks!
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Post #4 made 11 years ago
by Mad_Scientist
The way I read it, on page 123, is 'if a 1.040 expect a 1.010' or 'if a 1.054 expect a 1.016'. It's a sliding scale.

You got about 68% attenuation which is good, making a 4.7% beer. Another calculator shows it as 4.92% (pint.com.au)

MS
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My First Flop: BCS Scottish Export 80/

Post #5 made 11 years ago
by ShorePoints
Your question was about flavor - but is it OK in body? Mash T on the low end could get enough small sugars from the questionable grains to hit OG, then the (old) yeast used them and hit the FG but had little else to work with in combinations for flavor along the way and body isn't there either. I had a Scottish Ale recipe turn out to be more Southern English Brown, & I attributed it to a low mash T. Now you've made me wonder if it was something else....


Shore Points
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Post #7 made 11 years ago
by DavidI
Isn't the attenuation as expected according to the yeast you've used and the mesh temperature? I've gotten 79% attenuation with the White Labs version (WLP028) of possibly the same strain of yeast, http://www.mrmalty.com/yeast.htm. But my wort had a much lower OG, 1.048 and the mesh temp was 64 deg celsius.

Could it be that your beer doesn't have enough yeast esters in it? The style guideline says, "Fruity esters may be moderate to none." (http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style09.php#1c) I really enjoy the esters from the english strains, and the times I've used Edinburgh yeast I've found them fruity aswell.

Is the fermentation temperature in your BIABacus sheet ambient or wort temperature? If it's wort temperature it's lower than the suggested temperature given from White Labs, and it the lower end of the Wyeast temp parameter. Could raising the fermentation temperature have given it more esters?

Could it be that it's underpitched, and that it has resulted in less esters than what you've expected? I ran the numbers through the pitching and starter calculator on Brewer's Friend, and it came out as underpitched. I normally don't bother with starters and almost always sligthly underpitch according to the pitching calculators, but still always get ester characther in my beer. But I've never had a vial or pack that has been that close to the end of it's shelf-time.

Personally, I'm a messy and sloppy brewer and almost never end up with what I wanted when I made the recipe. It's doens't really bother me that much, but it always intrigue me trying to decipher why it tastes as it does.
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