Barleywine Idea's

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GFHomebrew

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I blame Headfirst first and foremost with his scrumpulous barleywine thread pic in what are you drinking right now.:)

my kegs are full ive got an O fest in the chamber so thought its about time i brewed a barleywine. any dos and donts please let me know i dont want to age this thing for a year or more and have a stinker on me hands. first im thinking yeast obviously lots of it ive set yeast propigation to pro big ale 1.3million cells /ml using my house yeast WLP090 on its 5th gen. im thinking of either brewing an IPA then pitching barleywine on this cake or doing a 2 step starter.

below is a recipie ive came up with just going by the green tick icon in the style guidelines. my base malt is bairds pale that brown malt is about a year old i roasted some marris otter for a porter so thought i could toss it in here. the vienna is there for maltiness body the special B is really weyermann special W similar i hear for that burnt caramel raisin thing pale chocolate for some roast and colour. ive got carramunich 2 which i took out also got some victory and wheat. but havnt used any of these.

ive not done alot of reserch so far. any pointers i will appreciate it. let me know your thoughts. hops i just used cascade but im sure it doesnt matter right as in 12 months it wont be there?
oh ive got some french oak chips i was hoping to employ too. should i bottle or bulk store in keg. condition in keg carbonate then bottle to age?
Cheers!
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/651189/bigbadbarleywine
 
I'd got the bottling route. That way it doesn't take up a keg and you can store them somewhere out of sight and hopefully forget about them. I still have most of the batch I did last year in the basement.
I think you've got a good idea with the special w, I'm just familiar with the b but sounds similar. Maybe blend a higher lovibond crystal in there for some complexity?
Also, I think that last hop addition might move up a bit. The thing is going to be sitting for a while so any hop flavor or aroma will mostly fade or get lost in the malty booziness.
For that matter, bump it above 10%abv, go big or go home!
I did not pitch a starter or do another beer first, but I only did about a 3 gallon batch. I let it sit in the ferm fridge for a bout 3 weeks to be sure it was done before I bottled (I don't take gravity readings, and certainly not after I've pitched). At any rate, I stored the bottles in a cooler for a while just to make sure there weren't any bombs.
I'll be doing another batch of my son's Barleywine in a few weeks. I think I'm going to take about a half gallon of wort and boil it down to a thick syrup just shy of burning. It worked really well in some porters, and it should give a nice taste in this one.
Good luck!
 
thanks for the feed back JMac
ive switched it up some again. taken out vienna and chocolate malt. added caramunich 2. i also have some DME as efficiency buffer. i usually get 80s in brew house but realise efficiency might not be as great with this big brew so havenit set at 70. ive also extended boil time to 90 mins. oh anf changed name

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/651189/bigbenbarleywine
 
Looks the goods!
I think my big mistake last year was using some brown sugar. Right flavor profile I wanted, but it thinned out the body too much. Best save the sugar for Belgians
 
jmcnamara said:
Looks the goods!
I think my big mistake last year was using some brown sugar. Right flavor profile I wanted, but it thinned out the body too much. Best save the sugar for Belgians
Click to expand...
yeah thats why im using DME as backup.

did you find you got a reduced mash efficiency/brew house J and if so what sorta hit was it just so i can get an idea?
 
We were already well into drinkin when we started brewing later than normal. We were lucky to finish before passing out...
I think you've got it right to lower efficiency by about 10%. You'll have a healthy supply of DME on hand to make up the difference. Who knows, you might not even need it
 
You ever think about using a reiterated mash Ben?
 
jmcnamara said:
Or do you mean mashing a second grain bill with the wort from the first?
Click to expand...
That's what it means. Mash with wort from a previous mash. I just augment my mash with DME - same effect, much easier.
 
Trialben said:
reiterated as in split the grist in half and do two mashes? yes it has crossed my mind for this batch.
Click to expand...
Yep, and use the wort from the first mash as strike water for the second mash.
 
ill mash as is and use DME to make up the difference i think. ive also upped the bitterness to 80ish IBU was reading bjcp guidelines last night it said malt should be evenly ballanced with bitterness with slight more malt going on. im glad i ditched the choolate malt it said low to no roast flavour. now to get me yeast count up for this bad boy of a batch.

then work on my french oak chips weather to char em with burner or not what to soak em in or just toast em in oven to kill bugs and toss in secondary for how long?
oh and how much 1g/lt ect ect?
 
Charing slightly is supposed to bring out some vanilla flavors. I wrapped my chips in aluminum foil then hit them with a propane torch for a bit. You've gotta keep the flame moving or else it'll burn through the foil.
I used rum, but that's because we were going for a tropical sort of thing.
Unless you want to have some bourbon or other specific flavor in there, id just use cheap vodka to let the oak come through
 
I soaked the oak in bourbon and then drank the bourbon. Didn't taste the bourbon in the barley wine, but the oak sure made good whiskey out of the cheap stuff.
 
Trialben said:
ill mash as is and use DME to make up the difference i think. ive also upped the bitterness to 80ish IBU was reading bjcp guidelines last night it said malt should be evenly ballanced with bitterness with slight more malt going on. im glad i ditched the choolate malt it said low to no roast flavour. now to get me yeast count up for this bad boy of a batch.

then work on my french oak chips weather to char em with burner or not what to soak em in or just toast em in oven to kill bugs and toss in secondary for how long?
oh and how much 1g/lt ect ect?
Click to expand...

I used just over half a pint of very smooth whiskey and just dropped the cubes in it. Read somewhere to put in and take out of frig each day or 2 for a couple of weeks. They claimed the wood added more flavor that way and as wood does breath it made sense. Have nothing to compare with but made some smooth oak barrel flavor IMHO. You will want to bottle or the lady of the house will kick ya out before the keg kicks. If ya have time and keg space for a bit just force carb and bottle. Don't want to over carb. Your plan and grain bill look good. Might consider mashing 67 or 68C to bring out malt better wit h that killer yeast. And don't rush it. I went 4 weeks in primary then kegged. All my bigger beers are a no rush thing. Some people go longer but it was kegged 5 weeks before adding the whiskey. You can use cheaper whiskey or bourbon but if you put it in the beer you will know the difference. We used ml eye dropper in small samples of 40ml to get just the amount to smooth the beer out. Try that and you will know when you get to much booze. It will get harsh.I had close to 4 gallon and it worked out just perfect to taste for amount of oak infused whiskey. Bourbon would stand out more so would use less would be my guess. Hope this helps,CHEERS
 
And SRM(daniels) was 18.4 in that pretty little glass.
 
Cheers headfirst im glad you chipped in. yes ill up the mash temp will convert better there too well quicker so will be good. ok i like Bundaberg Rum so might soak the oakchips in this. what do you think about charing em maybe too over the top?

ill be patient with this one ill keg after a month or when stable force carb find some bottles (i got rid of all mine when i moved) and bottle and lock em away and forget about the.;).
 
oh one more thing @Head First
hat sorta IBUs you go in yours and did you use much late addition hops and what veriety did you use. i see some conflicting info out there. bjcp says go hoppy but not like strong IPA.

im guessing after 1 year there is just bitterness??

my BU GU is 70 atm. utilisation is low in big gravity so maybe i should set it to 5%? or get BU GU to 100IbUs? cheerz
 
jmcnamara said:
Charing slightly is supposed to bring out some vanilla flavors. I wrapped my chips in aluminum foil then hit them with a propane torch for a bit. You've gotta keep the flame moving or else it'll burn through the foil.
I used rum, but that's because we were going for a tropical sort of thing.
Unless you want to have some bourbon or other specific flavor in there, id just use cheap vodka to let the oak come through
Click to expand...
oooh yes i like that vanailla idea ok ill throw chip in alfoil give em a blast turn blast till chared on outside then soak in rum mmm mmm and rotate it in and outta the fridge tooo easy:rolleyes:o_O.
 
Trialben said:
oh one more thing @Head First
hat sorta IBUs you go in yours and did you use much late addition hops and what veriety did you use. i see some conflicting info out there. bjcp says go hoppy but not like strong IPA.

im guessing after 1 year there is just bitterness??

my BU GU is 70 atm. utilisation is low in big gravity so maybe i should set it to 5%? or get BU GU to 100IbUs? cheerz
Click to expand...

Setting on 70 IBU's. BU-GU WAS 0.60 with an oz of Cluster hops in the mash and boil 3oz for 60 min. Then 1oz for 10min. Not sure the last addition was even noticeable. Balance between malt and hops is the key not 1 overpowering the other. If the hops do stand out they will meld with the malt over time some but you don't want it to bite you and need flavorful malt hop additions to take edge off alcohol bite.
 
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