I've been drinking some great commercial 80 Shilling and 90 Shilling ales lately, which of course inspires me to brew my own. Instead of following the trendy American Amber Ale route, I decided to attempt an historic recipe. I found an oddball 1965 Maclay 80/- Export Ale, which according to brewery records contained 75% Pale, 11.5% Flaked Maize, 13.5% Mix of Sugars (#1 Invert, DCS, Malt Extract, Brewer's Caramel):
I tried to be authentic except for:
• Maclay probably used pregelatinized flaked maize, which can be conveniently included in a regular mash with relatively high single-infusion temperature. I cracked my own corn which required a preliminary cereal mash to gelatinize. I have a personal theory that organic popcorn is less genetically modified, and thus a little closer to old-fashioned native grain compared with modern agribusiness "King Corn", but I digress...
• There’s a lot of debate about the authenticity of smoked malt. I realize Scottish brewers seldom used smoked malt, but I'm trying to use up mine, so I included 5% of the grainbill in the cereal mash. It was beechwood as opposed to peat, but gimme a break.
• As a result of my cereal mash addition, this resembles a popular German two-step hochkurz* mash schedule. If Maclay in fact conducted separate cereal mashes--like most American and European lager breweries as well--then my technique might be more authentic than I thought.
• Maclay used classic UK hops like Fuggles, Goldings and Brewers Gold but I'm substituting Flyer, still a distinctive UK hop but bolder. Why? 'Cuz they rock, that's why.
Anyway, here is my personalized recipe:
SEYMOUR 80/-
5 US gallons = 4.2 Imperial gallons = 18.9 Liters
GRAINBILL
71% = 5.11 lb = 2318 g, Pauls Mild Malt (UK), any high-enzyme, dextriny UK pale malt should suffice
11% = .79 lb = 358 g, Organic Popcorn Kernels (US), if you substitute Flaked Maize, you can skip the separate cereal mash
5% = .36 lb = 163 g, Weyermann Smoked Malt (German)
13% = .93 lb = 421 g, Homemade Dark Invert Syrup (US)
=7.2 lbs total
CEREAL MASH
Combine the cracked corn, smoked malt and water. Heat to 158°F/70°C for 5 minutes, then bring to a boil for 15-30 minutes. Warning: corn is bigger and harder than barley, and hell on your grainmill.
MAIN MASH
Meanwhile, heat 1.6 gal/1.3 Imperial gal/6 L water to 157°F/69°C and stir into Mild Malt which should equalize to 145°F/63°C. Start the clock. Rest 15-30 minutes, then add the boiling corn mash into this main mash, adding more hot water as needed to reach 158-172°F/70-77°C. In my case, it equalized at 152°F/66.7°C, so I raised it again to 162°F/72.2°C.
After 60-90 minutes elapse in the main mash, VORLAUF then SPARGE for 7 US gal/5.8 Imperial gal/26.5 L pre-boil.
*Hochkurz concept: This technique combines the convenience of a short 60 minute single-infusion mash with higher mash efficiency benefits of a multi-step decoction mash. If more time is spent at 145°F, the wort will be more fermentable and thin-bodied. If more time is spent at the higher mash temp, it will be less fermentable but the final beer will have more residual sweetness, a fuller mouthfeel and improved head retention. See: http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?ti ... on_Mashing
HOPS
.5 oz = 14 g, Flyer, first wort addition then a two hour boil
.5 oz = 14 g, Flyer, 15 min (add Irish Moss at this time too)
.5 oz = 14 g, Flyer, at flame-out
My groundwater is obviously getting cooler, because it only took about 20 minutes to CHILL the wort. I then AERATED, RACKED to fermentor, and MEASURED OG. It was high (a welcome surprise), so I liquored-back to my target.
YEAST
Most Scottish breweries did not manage their own proprietary yeast strain, likely buying yeast from various UK breweries instead. I've read just about any slightly fruity ale yeast will work. Ironically, the popular McEwans Scottish ale strain (Wyeast 1728/White Labs WLP028) is extremely high-attenuating, thus might not be appropriate for less-attenuated Maclay clones. I chose to use a packet of Muntons and a Heady Topper bottle culture (aka The Alchemist Conan Ale, VPB1188, Vermont Ale, etc.)
STATS (assuming 78% mash efficiency and 78% apparent attenuation)
OG: 1043
FG: 1009
ABV: 4.4%
IBU: 24
COLOUR: golden amber
Setup. Several days earlier I measured, milled, and bagged-up the grainbill, which made it easy to get right to work today.
Cereal Mash. The corn must be boiled separately to help convert the starch to fermentable sugar. I included some smoked malt to increase the enzymatic activity.
Main Mash. Nailed it! Look how it’s such a small beer, the initial grainbill doesn’t even reach my built-in thermometer.
Boiling Cereal Mash. The boiling corn and smoked malt produces an interesting smell. Like eating tamales around a campfire or something. Certainly different from regular brewday aromas.
Blending the Cereal Mash into the Main Mash.
Measuring the Invert Syrup. As you can see, my homemade invert syrup is dark, but not nearly to the intensity of #3 or Brewers Caramel. I’m not an expert on this, but perhaps mine is in the #2 range?
Vorlauf. Look how lightly-coloured it is. It barely smells of anything too. Just a hint of malt, whiff of smoke, and surprisingly almost no corn aroma.
There's Albus, helping me monitor the sparge process.
Weighing the hops.
Resealing the hops. Yeah, I’m totally just showing-off my newest toy.
Boil. The keggle is technically much too big for a 5 gallon batch, but I wanted a roaring boil for maximum kettle caramelization without fear of a messy boil-over. I liked how this went, and will surely repeat the technique.
Chilling. Lately I’ve been racking from the boil kettle into the smaller (sanitized) kettle. My chiller fits better, and works faster since the kettle isn’t hot.
Success! You can see the deep amber colour, partly from the dark sugar and partly from kettle caramelization.
. Nevertheless your brewday and recipe look/sound spot on.
