As others have mentioned, I would also suggest just using the plastic food grade buckets (HDPE). I have not checked, but I don't think the brew stores charge too much of a premium on these, over what you might find elsewhere.
There really is no need to rack to 'secondary' on this recipe. For typical ales, I find three weeks in the primary bucket is enough time for it to ferment out (best to check with a hydrometer though).
A few comments to follow on this recipe - the process is rather 'old school'. I'm sure it will make a great beer, but I think you will have better results, or maybe just better odds of success with a few updates, there are few potential problems - see below:
7 lbs Light Malt Extract
1 lb Light Dry Malt Extract
1 lb Wheat Dry Malt Extract
1/2 lb Munich Malt
1/2 lb Crystal Malt 40L
1/4 lb Belgian Caramunich Malt
1/4 lb Peated (smoked) Malt
1 oz Northern Brewer Hops 8 HBU (Boiling) 60 minutes
1/2 oz Kent Golding Hops (Flavor) 15 minutes
Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale
Add cracked Munich, Crystal, Caramunich and Peated Malts to 2 gallons of cold water and bring to a boil When the boiling starts, remove the grain. Add the Light Malt Extract, Dry Light Malt Extract and Wheat Dry Malt Extract then bring to a boil again. Add 1 oz of Northern Brewing Hops and continue to boil for 45 minutes. Add 1/2 oz of Kent Golding Hops and continue to boil for 15 minutes. Sparge the hops with cold water into the fermenter. Add the wart to the ferementer with cold water to make 5 gallons. Add yeast when temperature reaches 70 degrees. Ferment at 65 degrees for 7 days or until fermentation slows. Rack to a secondary ferementer and let it age for 2 weeks in secondary then bottle or keg.
I keg but the recipe says if you bottle to use 1 1/4 cup fo dry malt extract boiled with 2 cups of water adding in the bottling bucket.
Not my recipe but I think it makes a nice smoked scottish ale. Good luck and let me know if you try it and how it turned out.
1)
Add cracked Munich, Crystal, Caramunich and Peated Malts to 2 gallons of cold water and bring to a boil When the boiling starts, remove the grain. - You run the
risk (not the certainty) of extracting tannins (tea bag like flavor) if you bring the grains near a boil, and/or using that much water. It is now suggested to keep the water/grain ratio at ~ 3Q/# for a steep like this - turn off the heat at ~ 160F. Generally recc to stay under 170F. If you started with cold water, that should probably be enough time to extract the flavors from the grain. Otherwise, hold it at ~ 150-160F for ~ 20 minutes - time is not critical. One of the new brewers in our club definitely experienced this problem with tannins - it's not just theoretical. IIRC, he didn't go to boiling, but he had the steeping grains in the full 5 gallons of water - this dilutes the acidity of the grain/water, and that will tend to pull the tannins out.
2) Technically, Munich malt is normally 'mashed' rather than just steeped. This is because Munich Malt is mostly starch (those other grains have been converted to sugar already). With only 1/2#, it probably isn't a big deal, and some will probably get converted as you are raising the temperature, but the normal procedure for mashing Munich is to hold it very near 150F for ~ 20 minutes. You might also want another 1/2# of a base malt to increase the enzymes to assure conversion.
3) Be
very careful when adding the malt extracts that they don't burn on the bottom of the pot! Turn the heat off, and make sure it is dissolved well before applying more heat. One of our experienced brewers made this mistake recently while adding sugar to a Belgium - burn't it and ruined the batch. It has also become common to add ~ 1/2 the malt extract at the beginning, and the remaining, slowly, ~ 15 minutes from the end of the boil. The extract does not need extended boiling, and long, concentrated boils can be somewhat detrimental.
4) It wasn't clear, but if you are using a glass carboy primary, all the wort has to be cooled before adding it to the carboy. Adding it hot, or mixing hot/cold as you fill will stress the glass, it may crack, or weaken and crack later. Again - I just don't like glass, save it for recipes that actually need real aging (see below).
5)
Add yeast when temperature reaches 70 degrees. Ferment at 65 degrees.... If you are going to ferment at 65F (sounds good), it is generally recc to get the wort all the way down to that temp, or a few degrees lower. The yeast will 'wake up' as it warms, and go to work. The drop from 70 to 65 may cause it to slow down. Also, temps in the 70's can create some off-flavors in some yeasts.
6)
Ferment at 65 degrees for 7 days or until fermentation slows. Rack to a secondary ferementer and let it age for 2 weeks in secondary then bottle or keg. Again, just let it ferment out in the primary plastic bucket. It use to be 'conventional wisdom' that you had to get the beer off the yeast at 7 days - that has been dis-proven by many, many brewers, in many, many forums. No need for a 'secondary', unless you have a recipe that really requires extended bulk aging (like over two months - maybe you have it sitting on fruit or oak?). Everything else, just use the primary, and keg/bottle from there. Kegs make great 'secondaries' as others have pointed out.
I guess it depends on the peated malt supplier, but 1/4# could be quite strong? A little can go a long ways.
Hope your re-brew goes well!
Cheers - ERD50
