# Barleywine Yeast Suggestions **URL:** \ **Category:** Ingredients\ **Created:** [July 24, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230 "2014-07-24T01:05:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sambates](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/sambates/32/6618_2.png) [@sambates](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/sambates)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/1 "2014-07-24T01:05:53Z")
Knocking out an English Barleywine in a few weeks. Looking to use WLP007 Dry English. Does anyone have recommendations based on yeast successes or failures via ~12.5% strong ales? Any advice will help, seeing as this will be my first mega brew. ---
**Author:** ![ynotbrusum](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/ynotbrusum/32/10316_2.png) [@ynotbrusum](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/ynotbrusum)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:19am UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/2 "2014-07-24T01:19:01Z")
More than the yeast strain, I hear that mash temp is critical to set up the yeast for success - low and long.  But for an English style BW, you can finish it with some Champagne yeast, if the yeast selected happen to poop out.  The 12.5% ABV is pretty high for most standard English yeast strains, but they may be up to the task. ---
**Author:** ![hopfenundmalz](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/hopfenundmalz/32/11193_2.png) [@hopfenundmalz](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/hopfenundmalz)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/3 "2014-07-24T01:23:13Z")
WLP 1028 is not a bad choice. ---
**Author:** ![ynotbrusum](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/ynotbrusum/32/10316_2.png) [@ynotbrusum](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/ynotbrusum)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/4 "2014-07-24T01:23:41Z")
I guess WLP 099 is English Strong Ale strain FWIW…all the way to 25% ABV, supposedly. ---
**Author:** ![sambates](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/sambates/32/6618_2.png) [@sambates](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/sambates)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:36am UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/5 "2014-07-24T01:36:19Z")
I’m currently planning to mash at 151. When formulating my recipe, BeerSmith says I should hit 1.026 FG. Then again, you really can never nail the FG perfectly with bigger beers. Only about 9% specialty grains, so I’m thinking that will also help the attenuation. ---
**Author:** ![fejjgw](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/fejjgw/32/4173_2.png) [@fejjgw](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/fejjgw)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/6 "2014-07-24T01:50:41Z")
> [@sambates](#): > > I’m currently planning to mash at 151. When formulating my recipe, BeerSmith says I should hit 1.026 FG. Then again, you really can never nail the FG perfectly with bigger beers. Only about 9% specialty grains, so I’m thinking that will also help the attenuation. Got a recipe? 1.026 sounds kinda high.  I would mash at 148 for 90-120 minutes ---
**Author:** ![morticaixavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@morticaixavier](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/morticaixavier)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 3:23am UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/7 "2014-07-24T03:23:06Z")
mash at 148 and skip the specialty grains is my suggestion. 12.5 is fine for dry english. I’ve done that without trouble in the past. ---
**Author:** ![majorvices](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/majorvices/32/12825_2.png) [@majorvices](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/majorvices)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 11:52am UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/8 "2014-07-24T11:52:51Z")
I’ve always stuck with wlpoo7 for my English style barley wines and have great success with that strain for that style. I personally find that the sweet spot for English BW is 9-10%. Much higher than this I find them less enjoyable. But then again, I’m not a fan of many beers over 10%. ---
**Author:** ![hopfenundmalz](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/hopfenundmalz/32/11193_2.png) [@hopfenundmalz](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/hopfenundmalz)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 12:07pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/9 "2014-07-24T12:07:21Z")
> [@](#): > > > [@sambates](#): > > > > I’m currently planning to mash at 151. When formulating my recipe, BeerSmith says I should hit 1.026 FG. Then again, you really can never nail the FG perfectly with bigger beers. Only about 9% specialty grains, so I’m thinking that will also help the attenuation. > > Got a recipe? 1.026 sounds kinda high.  I would mash at 148 for 90-120 minutes He has not said what the OG was. A FG of 1.026 is in the range for a beer that starts at 1.100+. I brewed one 3 weeks back that had an OG of 1.115, and used Wyeast 1028. I might rack to a keg today, and will see what the FG is. Will report back when I know. It was a Thomas Hardy clone. ---
**Author:** ![majorvices](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/majorvices/32/12825_2.png) [@majorvices](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/majorvices)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:04pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/10 "2014-07-24T14:04:01Z")
> [@hopfenundmalz](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > > [@sambates](#): > > > > > > I’m currently planning to mash at 151. When formulating my recipe, BeerSmith says I should hit 1.026 FG. Then again, you really can never nail the FG perfectly with bigger beers. Only about 9% specialty grains, so I’m thinking that will also help the attenuation. > > > > Got a recipe? 1.026 sounds kinda high.  I would mash at 148 for 90-120 minutes > > He has not said what the OG was. A FG of 1.026 is in the range for a beer that starts at 1.100+. I brewed one 3 weeks back that had an OG of 1.115, and used Wyeast 1028. I might rack to a keg today, and will see what the FG is. Will report back when I know. It was a Thomas Hardy clone. +1. You wouldn’t want an unusually dry barley wine. Most of my RIS starting over 1.100 finish above 1.020. An OG wort that starts at 1.100 and finishes at 1.020 would be 80% aa, which is probably about as dry as you would want. ---
**Author:** ![jonhughey\_att.net](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/jonhughey_att.net/32/6277_2.png) [@jonhughey\_att.net](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/jonhughey_att.net)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:08pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/11 "2014-07-24T14:08:58Z")
FWIW, my last 1.100 BW finished at 1.023 IIRC.  I thought it was about the perfect FG for that beer - not too sweet, not unusually dry. ---
**Author:** ![sambates](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/sambates/32/6618_2.png) [@sambates](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/sambates)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/12 "2014-07-24T14:22:55Z")
> [@hopfenundmalz](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > > [@sambates](#): > > > > > > I’m currently planning to mash at 151. When formulating my recipe, BeerSmith says I should hit 1.026 FG. Then again, you really can never nail the FG perfectly with bigger beers. Only about 9% specialty grains, so I’m thinking that will also help the attenuation. > > > > Got a recipe? 1.026 sounds kinda high.  I would mash at 148 for 90-120 minutes > > He has not said what the OG was. A FG of 1.026 is in the range for a beer that starts at 1.100+. I brewed one 3 weeks back that had an OG of 1.115, and used Wyeast 1028. I might rack to a keg today, and will see what the FG is. Will report back when I know. It was a Thomas Hardy clone. I’m doing a partigyle mash: First runnings - Barleywine OG: 1.110 (46 IBUs) Second runnings - Alt OG: 1.055 (35 IBUs) Grist: 28# MO 2# Biscuit 1# Special B 1/2# 40L 1/2# 80L 1/2# 120L 1/2# Chocolate [add for Alt vorlauf/sparge] Looking through the description, Wy1028 may be a perfect fit. I’ve changed some things around and dropped some #'s of base malt so that my gravity isn’t so high. Had to sleep on it a little. ---
**Author:** ![morticaixavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@morticaixavier](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/morticaixavier)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:36pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/13 "2014-07-24T14:36:30Z")
this is also something of a personal preference but a 46 IBU barley wine is going to taste sweet almost no matter what the FG is. even english barley wine needs a solid hop bitterness to balance all that sweetness from the alcohol not to mention the residual sugars I would aim for closer to 80 for that beer but again, personal preference. I don’t care for sweet barley wine that much. ---
**Author:** ![jonhughey\_att.net](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/jonhughey_att.net/32/6277_2.png) [@jonhughey\_att.net](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/jonhughey_att.net)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:43pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/14 "2014-07-24T14:43:41Z")
> [@morticaixavier](#): > > this is also something of a personal preference but a 46 IBU barley wine is going to taste sweet almost no matter what the FG is. even english barley wine needs a solid hop bitterness to balance all that sweetness from the alcohol not to mention the residual sugars I would aim for closer to 80 for that beer but again, personal preference. I don’t care for sweet barley wine that much. +1.  And by the time it ages a bit, that bitterness will fade some too. ---
**Author:** ![majorvices](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/majorvices/32/12825_2.png) [@majorvices](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/majorvices)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/15 "2014-07-24T14:56:49Z")
Couple of things strike me as off. That’s a hell of a lot of crystal malt and that won’t taste anything like an alt, though it may be a fine beer non-the-less. ---
**Author:** ![sambates](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/sambates/32/6618_2.png) [@sambates](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/sambates)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 3:07pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/16 "2014-07-24T15:07:28Z")
> [@morticaixavier](#): > > this is also something of a personal preference but a 46 IBU barley wine is going to taste sweet almost no matter what the FG is. even english barley wine needs a solid hop bitterness to balance all that sweetness from the alcohol not to mention the residual sugars I would aim for closer to 80 for that beer but again, personal preference. I don’t care for sweet barley wine that much. I was basing my IBUs off North Coast Old Stock (~34 IBUs), which is a beer I really love, since I’ve never really made a huge BW before. > [@majorvices](#): > > Couple of things strike me as off. That’s a hell of a lot of crystal malt and that won’t taste anything like an alt, though it may be a fine beer non-the-less. Even with MO as the base, as opposed to Pils, it’s way off from an Alt. I know that and I wasn’t necessarily trying to hit the Alt style perfectly, but I figured it would be something fun to play with since I’ve got some 1007 on hand. I was torn doing a Nut Brown too, which would obviously be better as a second runnings with my grist. ---
**Author:** ![reverseapachemaster](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/reverseapachemaster/32/19_2.png) [@reverseapachemaster](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/reverseapachemaster)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/17 "2014-07-24T15:11:38Z")
> [@majorvices](#): > > Couple of things strike me as off. That’s a hell of a lot of crystal malt and that won’t taste anything like an alt, though it may be a fine beer non-the-less. My thought as well. Something else to consider with the partigyle is that a big beer usually has worse efficiency than your normal beer so if you are planning your recipe around 70-80% efficiency you will probably hit 55-70% in reality, which may not leave you a lot of fermentable sugar for the partigyle. You can keep sparging to try to improve efficiency but once the runnings get low gravity you start increasing the risk for tannin extraction. ---
**Author:** ![majorvices](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/majorvices/32/12825_2.png) [@majorvices](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/majorvices)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/18 "2014-07-24T15:15:20Z")
> [@sambates](#): > > > [@morticaixavier](#): > > > > this is also something of a personal preference but a 46 IBU barley wine is going to taste sweet almost no matter what the FG is. even english barley wine needs a solid hop bitterness to balance all that sweetness from the alcohol not to mention the residual sugars I would aim for closer to 80 for that beer but again, personal preference. I don’t care for sweet barley wine that much. > > I was basing my IBUs off North Coast Old Stock (~34 IBUs), which is a beer I really love, since I’ve never really made a huge BW before. > > > [@majorvices](#): > > > > Couple of things strike me as off. That’s a hell of a lot of crystal malt and that won’t taste anything like an alt, though it may be a fine beer non-the-less. > > Even with MO as the base, as opposed to Pils, it’s way off from an Alt. I know that and I wasn’t necessarily trying to hit the Alt style perfectly, but I figured it would be something fun to play with since I’ve got some 1007 on hand. I was torn doing a Nut Brown too, which would obviously be better as a second runnings with my grist. Alt or not, call it what you want. But for any beer 2.5 lbs of crystal is too much per 10 gallon batch. You will already have cloying qualities in your BW due to left over unfermentable sugars. IME what you are creating here is going to be overly cloying, sweetish and not very drinkable. Consider cutting the crystal in half, at least. ---
**Author:** ![erockrph](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/erockrph/32/13330_2.png) [@erockrph](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/erockrph)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/19 "2014-07-24T15:16:34Z")
> [@hopfenundmalz](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > > [@sambates](#): > > > > > > I’m currently planning to mash at 151. When formulating my recipe, BeerSmith says I should hit 1.026 FG. Then again, you really can never nail the FG perfectly with bigger beers. Only about 9% specialty grains, so I’m thinking that will also help the attenuation. > > > > Got a recipe? 1.026 sounds kinda high.  I would mash at 148 for 90-120 minutes > > He has not said what the OG was. A FG of 1.026 is in the range for a beer that starts at 1.100+. I brewed one 3 weeks back that had an OG of 1.115, and used Wyeast 1028. I might rack to a keg today, and will see what the FG is. Will report back when I know. It was a Thomas Hardy clone. TH Clone? Recipe please 🙂 The main keys are oxygenation, fermentability of your wort, and a HUGE pitch of yeast. Honestly, 12.5% isn’t terribly high for an ABV. I think most yeast strains can handle it, but some will be more attenuative than others. My most recent barleywine was 100% MO with an OG of 1.142 and finished at 1.024, for an abv in the 15.5%-18% range (depending on which calculation you use). I used the WLP037 (Yorkshire Square), and pitched on about 2/3 of the cake from a 1.056ish brew. ---
**Author:** ![sambates](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/brewersassociation/user_avatar/forum.homebrewersassociation.org/sambates/32/6618_2.png) [@sambates](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/u/sambates)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 4:01pm UTC](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230/20 "2014-07-24T16:01:27Z")
> [@majorvices](#): > > Alt or not, call it what you want. But for any beer 2.5 lbs of crystal is too much per 10 gallon batch. You will already have cloying qualities in your BW due to left over unfermentable sugars. IME what you are creating here is going to be overly cloying, sweetish and not very drinkable. Consider cutting the crystal in half, at least. I agree with you in regards to the Alt being too much crystal, which is why I was toying with doing a brown instead. Additionally, I’ve made great beers with 2.5# of crystal without being cloyingly sweet. In the grand scheme of the grist, I think it’s still a small percentage. We each have our own preferences though. [Next page](https://forum.homebrewersassociation.org/t/barleywine-yeast-suggestions/17230.md?page=2)