I need to order up some ingredients for a mid-June American Barleywine brewday. Before I waste any $ on useless ingredients, I thought I’d see if anything jumps out at you all.
Any glaring mistakes here? I’ll be looking for a modest malt presence, a bitter, hoppy, winter sipper. I’m hoping the sugar and the long, low mash will help the yeast dry this out a bit and keep it from becoming a malt bomb.
I don’t think I’d use the sugar. That’s more for a tripel IPA kinda thing IMO. For comparison, here’s one that’s won me some awardswon. A 5 year old version took 1st place at the OR State fair…Denny’s Old Stoner Barleywine | Experimental Brewing
I definitely see your point about the use of the sugar pushing this towards an Imperial IPA. The styles are practically brothers as it is.
My reasoning for the sugar is a) to keep the beer from becoming too malty and 2) given my BIAB process and probable decreased mash efficiency, provide some low hanging fruit for my gravity points. But I will definitely give the sugar addition another look.
I’d prefer not to use extract as I feel that will just add to the “maltiness” of the finished beer. I want some malt presence, but not overly so. If that makes sense.
To be honest, I’m not sure what to expect as far as conversion and attenuation. I’m preparing myself for a wide range of outcomes.
I agree with Denny. No need for sugar because a Barleywine is supposed to have a full mouthfeel. I always make a 1.050 beer and use the entire yeast cake for the Barleywine. I see your brewing a smaller batch, so 2 packs should be plenty.
im drinking a beer right now i made with 1lb of turbinado per 5gallons, and it is very enjoyable. not ready yet to get into perceptions about it, but it will at least be a good sugar.
though, as was said above, definitely consider all malt or at least less sugar. it does change the feel of it.
So if I drop the sugar, what would be the best steps to take to make sure this beer doesn’t come out too malty?
Mash low
Pitch lots of yeast
While I would like a malt presence, I’m not looking for syrup, as some Barleywines tend to be. Maybe my issue is that I’m not really looking for a Barleywine?? I’d accept that.
There’s definitely a continuum of dark British-derived beers. Maybe just scale it back into an Old Ale or strong Brown Ale… Or keep the sugar in to lighten the body. Do a parti gyle and blend your runnings to a couple of different OGs (including maybe one boosted with turbinado or a dark syrup) and run three batches (big OG, big OG with sugar, smaller OG) in parallel and see what you like best.
I think you’re onto something there. Barleywine is supposed to be big and malty. You might be looking more for a big DIPA instead.
That being said, I think that style names are more semantics than anything else. If you can picture the beer you want in your head, then brew that beer rather than trying to shoehorn something into a particular style.
If you want a less chewy/syrupy beer, then either add sugar, mash low and long, or both. Pitch a lot of healthy yeast and oxygenate well.
More hops. My model ismRogue Old Crustacean, which comes in at 130 IBU. Likely only calculated, bbut ot,dpesnt matter because it works. And it’s BW…it’s supposed to be malty!
I’ve had a few for sure. One of my favorites was Troegs’ Flying Mouflan. But every time I’ve had one I always think to myself that they would be better if they were a bit more drinkable.
Don’t get me wrong, I still want some malt character and given the high ABV, this style is a nightcapper for sure. But I would like to make something not as syrupy sweet and a bit more approachable (to me) than what I’ve had commercially. Again, if that means I’m not making a Barleywine, so be it. It just so happens that the stats from the above recipe fell into the style guidelines for an American Barleywine. It’s just a label. Funny thing is, when I actually make this in a few weeks my actual numbers may end up pushing it into a different style.
I think it’s higher. At least I think I can tell a difference between a beer listed at 100 IBU and one at 132 IBU. But is that difference due to IBUs, more polyphenols from more hops, or something else? There’s a lot of research being done right now by YCH and others, not to mention investigation into the mIBU forhula. Maybe we’ll know eventually.
I would switch gears and go with an American Strong Ale. “Generally not as strong and rich as american barleywine.” Seems to fit more with what you’re going for.
This was my thought too. Barleywines are strong ales but barleywine carries certain ideas with it. The old school American Barleywine was more like a malty DIPA than many of the newer versions which are even more malty and lean towards the British heritage and sometimes even more into darker malt flavors. That doesn’t sound at all like the goal here. Trying to imagine a beer that fits the description and original recipe sounds a lot closer to something like Arrogant Bastard than a barleywine. Might be worth looking at one of the many Arrogant Bastard clone recipes and retool the hops to whatever you want to use.
I’ve heard 60 and 70 IBU mentioned as the limit of perception and 100 IBU as the upper limit from a solubility perspective. But I can certainly detect differences in bitterness between high IBU beers as well. As you alluded to, there are a lot of other possible factors that may affect the perception of bitterness including polyphenols, balance of residual sweetness, sulfate content, cohumulone percentage, and I’m sure other factors that haven’t even been discovered yet.
The concept of IBUs as related to bitterness in highly hopped beers doesn’t really hold up the same way it does for more traditionally hopped styles, in my opinion. There’s a lot more going on in modern IPAs and similar styles that needs to be accounted for.
