Jamil Scottish 60 abomination

[ApresSkiBrewer]

Ok. So where I live, my LHBS does not have the selection of grains needed to brew Jamil's Scottish 60. I know I can order them from morebeer or northern brewer, but I need to get some beer into the carboy ASAP.

I would obviously prefer not to destroy the popes beautiful recipe, but I was hoping to get some input into some possible subsitutions for what I might be able to slap together.

I got my hands on the English Pale Malt (Marris Otter), and the Munich, but I can only get crystal 60 and I can't get pale chocolate either.

Here is my adjustment with the grains I have easy access too... although I cried while altering words from the good book.
6 # Brit Pale Malt
1.25 # Crystal 60
.5 # Munich
3.o oz. Special B

I replaced the Honey Malt just w/ Pale, (or should I find something else to substitute that would be closer?)
Is it stupid using special B instead of the pale chocolate (which I can't get), or should I just use 1.5 oz. of regular 350 deg. chocolate (which I can get).


I wish I could blend the crystals, but at this point, I don't think I can get 40, they have 15, 60, and 120.... maybe I should have gone with a blend of the 15 and 120?

Next time, I'll just be sure to do what it takes to get the right ingredients, but for now, any input would be appreciated on this alteration.

[Arophon]

I'm not qualified to answer scientifically but maybe I can provide some feedback. I'd also like to tack on a followup question...

It just so happens I've brewed this beer twice. Once I used the exact ZJ bill. The next time I kept all the other factors the same except I changed the 5 pounds of Marris Otter Pale to 6 pounds. The new percentages were:

6.00 Maris Otter 2-row: 70%
0.50 Munich Malt: 6%
0.50 Honey Malt: 6%
1.00 Crystal 40L: 12%
0.50 Crystal 120L: 6%
0.12 Crisp Pale Chocolate: 1%

Naturally all the equipment and process was kept the same.

I'm like you in that I don't want to change anything if I don't have to on the first go at a recipe, but I needed just a little more beer out of the second batch and I took the opportunity to experiment a little. I'm not expert on scottish ales, but personally I found the batch with an extra pound of pale to be just bit more on-style. What I remember of the good Scottish Lights I've had is that they are malty sure but they are also nice and grainy. I know it seems like a really small change to even be able to notice but when you consider the weight of specialty grains (esp the chocolate and honey) compared to the base malt it makes me think maybe I wasn't just imagining things.

I'm fortunate enough to have a fairly well stocked homebrewers supply nearby so I don't have much experience with straight substitutions and had better let someone else field that sort of stuff. Thought my experiment results might be able to help though. I will commit the classic homebrewer sin and just repeat what I've been told a little - I don't think the extra pound of pale will hurt at all; they say that there is no good substitute for honey malt so if you can't get it maybe deleting it for base is a good choice; to hear Jamil tell it there is no substitute for pale chocolate either, but they say it's a relatively new product so homebrewers must have done something before it was around. I'm sure the next reply will have a better answer.

My followup question that maybe the next person can also field is what is a good guess for the maximum PPG of pale choc? I guessed 28 but that seems low.

[Nate Diggler]

Well, Special B is like a really dark Crystal Malt, so it could stand in for your Crystal 120 (dark/dried fruit flavors), but its not a substitute for Chocolate (light or regular)... so you should try to find some Chocolate Malt somewhere, and just use less if you can only find the regular color.