Scottish Heather
                         Extract Ale

                    James Perkins 01/26/2002
                Feedback? Write james@loowit.net

I am running out of beer! So, I needed to brew an Ale... and Kathryn
wanted a Scottish Wee Heavy. I wasn't quite prepared to make another
super-high-test beer and wait for it, so I compromised with a Scottish
Export sytle instead. This features a lot of specialty malt, which
will add a lot of complexity. Peat Malt is a feature. Also, in a bit
of inspiration I decided to dry hop with an ounce of heather to give
it a bizarre Scottish flavor.

     6 lb. Telford's Tartan (Dark Amber) Malt Extract
     3 lb. Munton & Fison's Pale (Light) Malt Extract

     4 oz. Peat Malt
    12 oz. Belgian Special Malt
     8 oz. English Crystal Malt 50L
     4 oz. Brown Malt
     4 oz. Victory Malt
     4 oz. Kiln Amber Malt
     4 oz. Chocolate Malt

     2 gal. distilled water for boiling grains

     3 gal. distilled water to sparge/top up.

    2.0 oz. Fuggles whole hops for 60 min. (AA 5.3)
    0.5 oz. Goldings whole hops for 40 min. (AA 5.5)
    0.5 oz. Goldings whole hops for 20 min. (AA 5.5)
    0.5 oz. Goldings whole hops for  5 min. (AA 5.5)
    1.0 oz. Heather (dry) in hop sock

    Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale Liquid Yeast

    O.G. 1.070 (on 1/27)
    Primary Fermentation temp: 65-72F
    Racked to secondary at 3 weeks, added heather, S.G. 1.026
    Bottled at 4.5 weeks
    F.G. 1.026

Ready boiling kettle with 2 gal. water at room temperature. Place the
crushed malts in a nylon boiling bag and place in the water.

Heat water and grains to 155F. Turn off heat and let sit for 20 min.

Continue heating: Raise temperature to 180F and remove the grains,
squeezing the  grain bag into the water (I use two large stainless steel
mixing bowls and trap the grain bag between them like so -- )o) -- where
")" is a bowl and "o" is the grain bag.  Continue heating wort until boil
(takes forever, doesn't it?).  Bring to full rolling bowl.

Add Extract: Add all the malt extract syrup, stirring to keep it from
sticking and burning on the bottom.  Return to full boil, watching
carefully for it possibly foaming up (mine didn't) (takes forever,
again).

The Boil: Stir in 1.5 oz. of the hops and set the timer for 60 min.
After 35 min., add the rest of your hops.  Once everything is settled
down, partially cover and keep it boiling vigorously.

When the buzzer goes off, pour 1/2 gal. cold water in the bottom of the
primary fermenter, then hold a (sanitized) LARGE kitchen strainer over
the fermenter and scoop pintfuls of hops and wort into the strainer.
After half the wort is strained, carefully pour the rest slowly over the
hops and strainer.

Leftover hops and grains go in the garden compost.

Top up the primary fermenter to 5 gal. liquid. Cover securely and let it
sit overnight.  Measure the temperature When it gets down around 75F,
stir vigorously to aerate. Using a hydrometer, measure the specific
gravity (I have 1.070, as expected).  Pitch the lager yeast in over the
surface of the wort and keep covered.  Place in a 75F room, install an
airlock (bubbler), and wait for fermentation to get really going (mine
took 36  hours).

Once it gets going, let it ferment. Take specific gravity readings
weekly. Mine came down to 1.029 in two weeks.

Rack to Secondary. Add the heather in a small hop sock.  Taste that
malty touch-of-peat goodness, and tart hop taste. I had S.G. 1.026
and it tasted very good. Let sit another week.

Remove heather, prime and bottle!