It’s been a long time since I brewed last, and I really miss it. I’ve been thinking about what I want to do, and I think what I’m going to be brewing within the month is a 140 Shilling (140/-) Scotch Ale.
The shilling measurement for naming Scotch Ales is a highly debated topic among beer historians. One of the more plausible explanations I’ve heard was that the shilling denoted the cost of the barley used to produce it. The higher shilling ales definitely required more barley, and more efficient barley…barley that produces more sugars when mashed. However, this explanation falls somewhat short when you consider that the price of a bushel of barley would fluctuate with supply and demand, so it wouldn’t be exactly consistent. It’s possible that the shilling measurement just stuck at a time when barley cost X shillings per bushel, and became the standard for measuring the relative strength of the finished product.
Still, it’s a debated topic, and the most important thing you should take away from the debate is that a higher shilling count generally means a higher original gravity, and thus a higher alcohol content after fermentation.
Specific Gravity measures the density of a liquid related to water. A liquid with a 1.000 specific gravity is exactly equal to that of water, while higher ratings are more dense. The higher the density of wort (unfermented beer), the greater the concentration of sugars, and the more food for my alcohol-producing yeast! When they eat more, they produce more alcohol, so we get a stronger beer. A sipping beer, if you will.
For what it’s worth, a medium original gravity (OG) for wort is about 1.030 to 1.040. A pretty high OG is 1.050 – 1.080. The 140/- Scotch Ale has a projected OG of 1.100, which is 110% the density of water. The estimated alcohol by volume percentage is around 10%!!!!
The other thing that I’m pretty stoked about with this brew day is the fact that I’m going to try my first all-grain brew. (Maybe.) The reason I say “maybe” is that getting a wort with an OG of 1.100 is not a simple thing. More on that in a later post, though.
Tomorrow, I’m going to the local homebrew store, and I’m going to check out how this whole thing is going to proceed. I’ve got some questions I’d like to ask the proprietor, as well as I need some parts to finish off my homebuilt mashing tun. (I’ll have to explain that in a later post, however, because right now, I’ve got to go!)
I’ll post dates on the upcoming brew day, however, and anyone who is in the area is more than welcome to show up. I can guarantee that fun will be had by all!!!
I’m super excited for your brew! As you mentioned, it’s a pretty ambitious undertaking to attempt a 140 Shilling as your first All-Grain. It takes an awfully long time, and you need to go through your whole all-grain process at least twice. You might consider a lower-gravity Scotch Ale, or else an extract 140 Shilling. I’m all for ambition, though, and look forward to finding out how your brew day goes!
Hey, Rick! Thank you for visiting my humble blog, and thank you MUCH for the comment.
I think my equipment limitations are going to guarantee that I do a single mash plus extract brew. While that saddens me, it DOES limit my ability to screw it up, to some extent.
I’ll post more about this later, but what Rick is talking about with a FULL FULL grain 140/- Ale is that you have to do what Greg Noonan calls a “double-mash”. (A misleading title, to be sure.) What you’re doing is mashing once, and then taking the sparge (rinse) liquor from the first mash and using it to mash a whole new batch of grain. You then take your massive amount of high gravity wort and boil it down to some ultra-high gravity wort. THAT is how you get your 1.100 OG wort, but it requires something I don’t have: A pot that will allow you to boil 8 gallons of wort. :)
So, as I said, I think I will have to do a single mash, and then add malt extract to bring me up to the 1.100 gravity I need for the 140/- ale…
I’ll post more about my plans later, but I need to get to the homebrew store now. :)