On deck is my first attempt at a Barleywine. Here is the recipe that I just threw together today…
Batch = 5.5
OG = 1.100
90 minute mash @ 148
Mash Water = 8.25 (1.3 qt/lb)
Sparge Water = 3 (185)
Total Water = 11.25
1 gallon of boil off and 1.5 gallons of mash/hop/lauter loss accounted for
Assuming 60% Efficiency
38% Two-Row Pale – 9.5 lbs
38% Maris Otter – 9.5 lbs
20% Munich – 5.25 lbs
3% Victory – 12 oz
1% Caramel/Crystal 120L – 4.5 oz
60 minute – 2 oz Nugget
30 minute – 1 oz Centennial and ½ oz Columbus
10 minute – 2 oz Cascade, 1 oz Centennial, and ½ oz Columbus
0 minute – 2 oz Cascade, 1 oz Centennial, and ½ oz Columbus
WLP 001 California Ale (existing cake)
Start the fermentation at 58 degrees and hold for primary fermentation then allow temp to rise to the mid 60’s and hold until finished
Allow to ferment out, transfer off the yeast, and bulk age for a year
Looks like a nice BW.
Yeast nutrient would be nice for the yeast.
Long boils help color and flavor.
Plenty of O2 before you pitch. Maybe a little more at 12 hours or so.
Pitch the amount of yeast the calculator of you choice recommends. You are pitching cool, that is good. Control the temp, as it might ramp up fast.
You might not have to wait a year if the yeast do a good job.
+1 to nutrient. I’ve never needed o2 but good solid aeration for sure.
I would not include the crystal malt. I don’t think 1% is even going to make a noticable difference in a beer this big anyway.
also +1 to a long boil. I’ve made really tasty BW with just 2 row and a 2 hour boil (well, any hops of course).
on the ageing, I would either decide to go more english and do a long ageing or save some money on hops and ‘over’ bitter the beer but skip the late hops. after a year there will be very little hop flavour or aroma left anyway.
American barley wines, which is looks like you are going for, are better a little younger. In fact in my opinion after about two years an american barley wine turns into an english barley wine as the hops fade.
Good advice, fellas… As far as nutrient goes, it is used in all of my brews so I don’t even waste the ink on it. I think I want to age, so I may add another ounce or two early and maybe stretch it out to a 90 minute boil.
Batch = 5.5
OG = 1.100
90 minute mash @ 148
Mash Water = 8.5
Sparge Water = 3.25 (185)
Total Water = 11.25
1.5 gallon of boil off and 1.5 gallons of mash/hop/lauter loss accounted for
60 minute – 3 oz Nugget
30 minute – 2 oz Centennial and 1 oz Columbus
10 minute – 2 oz Cascade, 1 oz Centennial, and ½ oz Columbus (Yeast Nutrient and whirlfloc tab)
0 minute – 2 oz Cascade, 1 oz Centennial, and ½ oz Columbus
WLP 001 California Ale (existing cake)
Start the fermentation at 58 degrees and hold for primary fermentation then allow temp to rise to the mid 60’s and hold until finished
Allow to ferment out, transfer off the yeast, and bulk age for a year
Great advice from all. It’s not a bad idea on BIG beers to keep some DME on hand, since efficiency goes down - you can boost your gravity if your preboil gravity is lower than you wanted. I think you’re gonna have a good one, man !
This was was one concern I had. I usually run about 70% efficiency in my system for up to a 1.075 beer, so I calculated this recipe at 60%. I was just curious, on average, how far is your efficiency drop on a beer this big?
I generally do partigyle on BW so I get ~52% on the big beer (first runnings) but gain it back on the second runnings and end up ~70 total which is my standard.
I think 55 -60% is in the ballpark for a beer that big. I take a refractometer reading when the wort first comes up to a boil so I’ll know if I want to bump the gravity with some DME . I think you’re on the right track !
Denny, I went against the grain of best practice and quit measuring IBUs. I always found that the measurements that I would calculate never satisfied my hop liking. So, I’m looking for a butt load of IBUs… enough so that there will be a solid hop presence after a year of aging.
What about dry hopping after a year? Anybody ever done that?
Also, I’m thinking about stretching the boil out to 2 hours so that I can thin the mash out by about a half gallon.
I’ve never dry hopped after a year but I can’t think of any reason not to. Go for the longer boil. you’ll boost your efficiency a bit and get some nice boil character.
I finally started to cold crash this beer after 39 days in the fermenter. It finally leveled finished out over the weekend. The FG is 1.027. I’m really happy with that. 10.1% ABV… I’m happy with that too. I’m even happier with the taste. The hydrometer sample was glorious. I plan on bulk aging this in a corny. The plan was a for a year, but I don’t know if it will be that long. I might have to dip into it in the fall. Thanks for all the advice and encouragement from you all along the way!