Batch #15 - Scottish Strong Ale

We decided to go with a Scottish Strong Ale this week.  Thought it would be a good change.  Here are the details:

Batch Size - 5 gallons

Grains
14.5 lbs - 2-Row
1 lbs - Caramunich Malt
1 lbs - Crystal Malt 80L
8 oz - Biscuit Malt
8 oz - White Wheat Malt
1 oz - Roasted Barley

Hops
50 g - US Goldings

Yeast
Wyeast 1728 - Scottish Ale - Target 400 billion cells

The brew schedule was as follows:

Mash
1.5 q water/lb
60 min at 158 degrees
Mashout to 170 degrees
Sparge for approx 1 hour

Boil
90 minute boil
Start - Add US Goldings Hops
80 min - Add Whirfloc

Fermentation
Primary - 7 Days @ 60
Secondary - 7 Days @ 70
Keg Condition - 14 Days

Here are the specs on this brew:

IBU's - 24.4
Color - 16.0 SRM
Calories - 240 per 12 oz
Estimated OG - 1.073
Actual OG - 1.071
Estimated FG - 1.021
Estimated ABV - 6.81%
New Estimated ABV from OG - 6.55%

We only hit an 81% efficiency today.  We also mashed a bit different, this is the first time I've mashed at a temp over 154 degrees, so I'm not sure how much this contributed.  In general it was a pretty smooth brew day however when we took a pre-boil gravity reading we were coming in at 1.040 when we should have been at 1.050.  We did accidentally transfer too much wort over for boil, about .5 gallons too much, so we decided that since our boil rate is approx 1 gallon per 30 minutes, we would boil for 15 minutes to get the wort level down to the level we wanted then take another reading.  After that first 15 minutes our new reading came in at 1.050 so we looked like we were back on track.

At that point we pitched our hops and had the timer run for 90 minutes and were back on track.  We did forget to measure the pH of the brew pre-boil, however our mash pH was at 5.5 without any lactic acid additives needed (we ended up adding 1 ml to bring it down to 5.4) so I would be surprised if we really needed to tweak the boil pH.  It is important to note though because every step is important.

Next weekend we are taking off from brewing.  We have several batches processing right now, so it will be a good break.  Starting the planning for our next wave though!