Barleywine-related questions

General Homebrew Discussion
1

I have an extract American Amber Ale right now waiting to be bottled. In the process it’s created a very nice cake of Denny’s Favorite, Wyeast 1450 which I am loath to waste. I have been debating what to rack onto the 1450 slurry, and naturally I’ve been leaning towards another one of the man’s brews, Denny’s Old Stoner Barleywine. I’ve never brewed a barleywine before, but this seems like a good opportunity.

My questions are these:

  • First: is this yeast suitable for a barleywine of 1.105 OG or so, made with extract? Should I be brewing something else for this yeast cake?
  • Second: should I substitute out a pound of extract for sugar, to account for the relatively lower fermentability of extract?
  • Third: Would using a “Gold” LME or DME be a better choice than Briess Pilsen or Munton’s Extra Light DME? LME is cheaper in all cases, but, as it is less fermentable and creates “twang”, my first instinct was to avoid it. Is this logical?

My tentative recipe is as follows:

lbs   oz
10 0 Briess Extra Light Pilsen DME or Munton’s Extra Light DME
3 2 Northern Brewer Munich LME
1      0      Corn Sugar
1 12 Weyermann Caramunich I
0 12 Briess Caramel 60L

first wort 60+ mins 2.0 Columbus

boil 60 mins 3.0 Chinook

boil 1 min 1.0 Centennial

How does this look? Anyone have any other barleywine extract recipes they recommend over this one? Or any other good ideas on what to do with 1450?

Thank you…

2

It looks good but more late additional flavor additions might help in addition to the FWH. I think you’re right on with the heavy bittering approach though, since you’ll lose some BU’s over the lengthy conditioning period.

I’ve brewed 2 AG BW’s- but one Pale and one Dark. Everyone loves them but I’m certainly not happy with the results. I’ve found that crafting even a decent BW is a real art and skill. There has to be a strategy.

Go for the DME due to the fermentability. It’ll be real sweet even if you get it down to 1.020 so the hops will really play a big role in balance. Use more. Much more… Maybe at something like 40, 30, 20 and 10.

My $0.02

Good luck!

3

I agree with euge.  Use the DME.  Use more hop additions.  The hop flavor and bitterness will help balance out the sweetness of the BW.  Let us know how it turns out.

Happy Brewing,
Brandon

4

I would definitely keep the corn sugar in there and maybe swap out one more pound of the DME for another pound of corn sugar to keep the FG down a bit.

5

Thanks for all your input. I agree, I feel like there should at least be another ounce of Centennial at 20 minutes or so - but then again this recipe comes from Denny so perhaps his judgment is sound.

I suppose the main thing I am still wondering about is whether Wyeast 1450 is a good yeast for this Barleywine or barleywines in general. Everybody else seems to use US-05/WLP001/Wyeast 1056.

6

I wouldn’t use 1450. I’d stick with US05 or 1056.

7

I wouldn’t hesitate to use the 1450, it is a solid yeast.  The BW you are brewing is not over the top and may be fermented by almost any yeast.

IMHO you are on the borderline, ok, but borderline for using extract in a beer

8

I quit using 1450, because it would never ferment as low as 05 and 1056. Barleywines are sweet enough even with good attenuation.

9

Don’t know what you did wrong, Mikey, but I just brewed a batch of OS using 1450 and I got 80%AA.  Took it right down to where I wanted it.

cgrenier, your recipe looks solid.  Keep the sugar in there.  Make sure you shoot for about 130 total IBU with lots of hop flavor and aroma.

10

If I did something wrong, then I always did it wrong with 1450 and never with 1056. The IPA’s I’ve made with 1450 came out too sweet and had a kind of subtle, slimy (that sounds worse than it really was) mouth feel. I had saved my original yeast and built starters from it each time. I finally flushed it.

11

To each their own.  It obviously works fine for a lot of people.

12

I recently started subbing 05 for 1056 and I like it as well, if not better, and of course it’s much cheaper.

13

I use WLP001 an S05 for my Barleywines but I’d like to try 1450.  I recently made an IPA and an APA with 1450 and I like the way they turned out.  The 1450 lends a smooth mouthfeel and works well with hoppy beers IMO.