Seriously Strong Barley Wine

[GarethYoung]

I'm planning to make a strong barley wine for this winter, espescially something which would be nice after Christmas dinner. Given the strength I'm aiming for, I'm going to be making it soon so it has a good while in the bottle before I drink it and I'm hoping it will get better over the coming years.

I'm aiming for about 22% ABV, so I'll be using a Turbo yeast. This won't give me the yeast character I'm looking for, so I'll be doing the beer in two stages, the first aims at the yeast character I want and will be very heavily hopped to help balance the end beer, the second at the strength. So here's the recipe for a 20L batch:

Stage 1:
4.5Kg Pale Malt Extract
100g Warrior
2x Nottingham Yeast
Yeast Nutrient
30g French Oak Chips

1.5 hour boil then cool, pitch yeast and ferment for I'm guessing a week. Then transfer to secondary onto oak chips and age for a month.

Stage 2:
4.5Kg Pale Malt Extract
4Kg Brown Sugar
1x Turbo Yeast
Yeast Nutrient

Transfer the beer from stage 1 and add extract, sugar, yeast nutrient and turbo yeast. I hear the turbo yeast is a bit crazy, so I'll be fermenting with the vessel in a water bath to maintain a reasonable temperature. I'll let it ferment out, then bottle with only a little sugar, maybe none; partly because I don't want it too carbonated, partly because I haven't used this strain before and don't want any exploding bottles. I'll then leave it in the bottle for basically as long as possible.

I haven't added any speciality grain because I'll get plenty of colour, body and flavour from the extract. I also don't want to overcomplicate a recipe which already employs oak chips and brown sugar - I generally like my barley wines simple, recipe-wise.

It's a bit of a beast, but I do intend for it to be genuinely pleasant to drink, despite the high alcohol. What I have in mind is something with the richness and malt flavour of a barley wine but with some of the potency and warmth of other digestifs I like, such as brandy or whisky. Has anyone tried anything like this before? Any hints/tips?

[Rookie]

22%?
If you make it that strong it will not be drinkable by this christmas.

[Birdman]

lol @ rookie

I cant really add too much to this debate Gareth as never got anywhere near this high an ABV. Very interesting idea though. I would be a little worried that without any speciality grains you wouldnt have much place to hide that 22% ABV. I know that you have the hops and the oak to take the edge off but...

[Birdman]

Also, let me know how it goes. Will certainly be an interesting beer

[deadlydes]

I am guessing you have never tasted anything fermented with Turbo yeast as if you had you will know its disgusting and not even think about trying to ferment a beer with it

[GarethYoung]

22%?
If you make it that strong it will not be drinkable by this christmas.

You might be right, I'm happy to taste it at Christmas and leave it longer if it needs it. Worth noting though that the strong Brew Dog beers (Tactical Nuclear Penguin, Sink the Bismarck! and The End of History) are all much stronger that 22% and aren't aged for terribly long - TNP is the longest at 6 months, I think. I didn't find them undrinkable at all so it's not impossible to make a strong beer drinkable in a relatively short time.

lol @ rookie

I cant really add too much to this debate Gareth as never got anywhere near this high an ABV. Very interesting idea though. I would be a little worried that without any speciality grains you wouldnt have much place to hide that 22% ABV. I know that you have the hops and the oak to take the edge off but...

Extract has comparatively high levels of unfermentable sugar so, espescially with the amounts I'm adding, I'm expecting it to be pretty sweet. Also you're right, the hops and oak should help a bit. It might be that the Turbo yeast will eat through a lot of those sugars leaving it thin, but I've not heard that this is the case.

I'll certainly let you know how it goes. I might even post pictures of me standing next to the fermentation bucket, Turbo yeast blowing kreuzen everywhere, doing Scotty impressions, shouting "She'll no hold captain, ah need more power!"

I am guessing you have never tasted anything fermented with Turbo yeast as if you had you will know its disgusting and not even think about trying to ferment a beer with it

Well, as far as I am aware, Dogfish Head's World Wide Stout is fermented with a similar, super-high tolerance strain. I liked it but it may be that it's a very different strain and hence, not a good guide to how mine will turn out.
Also, Sharp's brewery brewed a beer of similar strength using Turbo yeast which, though I haven't tasted it, I've heard was good.

I'm slightly worried about it throwing unwanted esters but I'm hoping that that might be partly mitigated by controlling fermentation temperature and partly that it would be slightly masked by the other strong flavours in the beer. We'll have to see, it is an experimental batch after all.

What was disgusting about the beers you've tried with Turbo yeast?