Thoughts on this barly wine recipe. ( Christmas 2014!)

[Deebee]

Hi All.

I am planning a barley wine in march. the aim is that it will be one of the beers i have and give away at Christmas 2014. In the past i have waited until october before brewing the Christmas stuff, which ties up my kit and stops me rewing pale and IPA. this year i am starting early:)

I found this one online and it all sounds good, although i am not sure on the amarillo for this. neither am i sure about the 2 minute hop addition, especially when this is suposed to be left for around 8 months.

thoughts welcome please.

17 L brewlength

Fermentables

6520 g Pale
470g Crystal 60
150g biscuit
650g light brown sugar

The hops

Amarillo to 34 IBU @60
Amarillo to 13 ibu @30
Challenger to 17 ibu @ 10
Columbus to 5 ibu @ 2

yeast a mixture of notty and S-o4. I will make a smaller beer first and pitch onto the yeast cake

I am thinking of maybe adding some oak chips to the fermenter for say a month after it has finished... maybe best to rack this off to stop the beer sitting on the lees?

This leaves stats of:-

OG 1100
FG ca 1014
abv 11.5%
IBU 70

My questions are:-

Will such a small amount of biscuit malt have so much to say in a beer this big?
Are Amarillo really the right hops for something like this. I don't have much in the way of experience with these.
Any opinions on the oak chips?


As always thoughts and opinions very welcome.

Thanks

[Morten]

The bisquit will not contribute much, but I've found that a little goes a long way when using bisquit, but that might just be my taste.

Amarillo would not be my first choise, I'd choose a high AA hop and save the amarillo for something else.

Oak chips could be nice, make sure you sterilize them - a good soak in vodka or better yet brandy, rum or another spirit that will give the beer another layer of flavour/aroma.

[Deebee]

Thanks for the reply Morten.

I thought the same actually. The Amarillo is relatively low AA

Maybe something like columbus all the way or one of the other high alpha?

Do you or anyone else have a suggestion of a hop that might work for this Style?

Something like say magnum or Horizon for example?

How much in the way of oak chips would we suggest? 30-50 g soaked for say 5 days in a spirit? then added to a secondary under airlock for around a week to 2 weeks then into bottles with fresh yeast?

[Morten]

I'd just switch the bittering hops with a high AA and keep the hop schedule as is.

I haven't used oak chips yet, so don't know about the amonut.

I don't think you have to bottle with fresh yeast, there should be plenty in suspension for carbing.

[Deebee]

I don't think you have to bottle with fresh yeast, there should be plenty in suspension for carbing.

Even after 14 days in a secondary ??

[Rookie]

I'd go columbus to bitter and finish with amarillo, but then I really like amarillo.
The first Barleywine I ever did had brown sugar in it, I liked it way better brewed without it.

[Rookie]

I don't think you have to bottle with fresh yeast, there should be plenty in suspension for carbing.

Even after 14 days in a secondary ??

You can go way longer than that in secondary and not need to add yeast. My last batch (10%) brewed with S-04 carbed beautifully after three weeks in primary and seven weeks in secondary.

[Barley Water]

I agree with a previous poster, I would reserve the Amarillo for a "running beer". Since you first suggested using American hops I guess my suggestion would be to try Warrior, they are high alpha and you will get good clean bitterness. If on the other hand you want a more English interpretation then maybe Challenger? Remember, once that beer sits around for awhile the hops are going to start becoming muted so the late hops will almost get completely wiped out by age. As far as the brown sugar goes, it's gonna thin out the beer and jack up the ethanol. If you want the beer thinner it's ok to add but I personally wouldn't worry too much about body with a Barleywine since it's supposed to be a "sipper" anyhow. By the way, if you ever try to make an Imperial IPA, most of the guys are adding sugar to those specifically to increase the drinkability. In many cases, I would be hard pressed to tell the difference between an American Barleywine and an Imperial IPA except for the body of the beer.

[Deebee]

Thanks gents.
So would the conscensous be to drop the last hop addition and just add at say 60,30and 15?

[alecwallace]

Thanks for the reply Morten.

I thought the same actually. The Amarillo is relatively low AA

Maybe something like columbus all the way or one of the other high alpha?

Do you or anyone else have a suggestion of a hop that might work for this Style?

Something like say magnum or Horizon for example?

How much in the way of oak chips would we suggest? 30-50 g soaked for say 5 days in a spirit? then added to a secondary under airlock for around a week to 2 weeks then into bottles with fresh yeast?

I did an impy stout with oak chips at 10g per litre, however I may try 7.5g next time. I think this would provide a better balance against the beer, however 10g is still nice.

[Rookie]

Thanks gents.
So would the conscensous be to drop the last hop addition and just add at say 60,30and 15?

It depends on how hoppy you want it to be in a year. You could easily go with just a 6o if you are looking for a malt forward beer.

[Deebee]

Thanks for all the help.

having never brewed one of these before i am a little unsure as to what is the norm. Based on the fact that this is going to stand on brandy soaked oak ( as recommended 7,5g/litre) for around a month before being bottled i am not sure what will be the best.
It is going to condition properly from likely the end of MAy, if i still want hops showing at Christmas it going to need either massive late hopping or massive dry hopping.

I will drop the sugar and keep the crystal malts. might change the biscuit for maybe som caramunich or something.

Bottom line gents is that i am shooting in the dark in regards to the hopping for this one. really appreciate the help.

[Barley Water]

I think you need to do some quick research. Go to the local liquor store and get a couple of different commercial examples and see what you like. Granted, they will not be aged all that long but it will give you something to shoot for.

I have a free keg that I was using to store and Olde Ale which I just recently bottled. I am seriously thinking about making something really big and just letting it sit in that keg for a year or two. Right now I'm torn between making a Wee Heavy or a Barley Wine. The reason I like aging in kegs is because if I want to bottle some I can just carb it up and fill a few bottles with my counter pressure filler then just save the rest and do some blending latter or even set up a solera......we'll see I guess.