Barley Wine Recipe

[calumrobertson]

Going to brew my first Barley wine recipe this weekend. Not one for traditionalists but an American take on it!
Anyone any experience of BW's and tips on maximising extract? Cheers!

Barley Wine
American Barleywine
Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 18.0
Total Grain (kg): 7.901
Total Hops (g): 107.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.090 (°P): 21.6
Final Gravity (FG): 1.018 (°P): 4.6
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 9.43 %
Colour (SRM): 14.2 (EBC): 27.9
Bitterness (IBU): 93.3 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 65
Boil Time (Minutes): 60
Grain Bill
----------------
6.321 kg Maris Otter Malt (80%)
1.185 kg Munich I (15%)
0.395 kg Crystal 60 (5%)
Hop Bill
----------------
55.0 g Chinook Leaf (11.4% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (3.1 g/L)
30.0 g Centennial Leaf (9.7% Alpha) @ 25 Minutes (Boil) (1.7 g/L)
22.0 g Centennial Leaf (9.7% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (1.2 g/L)
Misc Bill
----------------
6.0 g Irish Moss @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

[micmacmoc]

Looks great! Will you uses big yeast, t58 or summat? I used t,58 ,with an imperial stout, came out lovely. If you brew it soon when would you be drinking it? I'm assuming as ever the last bottle will be the best!

[calumrobertson]

I'm going to use a couple of packs of US05. Planning to let it condition a few months before I try it but reckon will be best next winter!

[micmacmoc]

Bet its all gone before autumn! I managed to save some RIS that I brewed last November, one bottle! Its for Christmas dinner. I occasionally find beer that I hid whilst pisht. Its a good system! Hid some behind the panelling of kitchen cupboards etc. My mate won a competition with a year conditioned RIS that he locked in his attic and gave his missus the key to hide! Really like the idea of a US barley wine....and there's chinook centennial and simcoe in my hop store!

[AnthonyD]

I made a Barley/Rye Wine to this recipe in August - only one 500ml bottle left for the Xmas lunch...
3.5G recipe

4000g Pale (Crisp Clear)
3000g Munich
2000g Malted Rye
250g Chocolate Rye
200g Caraaroma

Bravo FWH to c.50IBUS
Centennial at 20mins for c.20IBUS

Turned out lovely!

My tops tips if I were to do it again. Reduce your efficiency down c.10% you'll be less efficient than you think with all that grain. Add sugar for about 5-8% to reduce your grain bill and help dry it out. Mash medium temp for 90 mins, boil for at least 75 mins to bring out the caramel of the malts.

[calumrobertson]

Ha, wish i'd known all that before this weekend as i just brewed it. Youre right my efficiency was pants, not as bad as 10% though! I ended up getting a SG 1.092 so hoping it'll end up around 10%! I'm thinking of leaving it to condition for a few months...how long did you leave it before bottling? Im thinking i'll need to reseed with fresh yeast and prime it when ready to bottle. Im cautious i dont want gushers though!

[AnthonyD]

I wouldn't put it in a secondary if I were you... I had to brew that recipe twice as I had an infection the first time I transfered it to a secondary and had to get rid of the lot.

I also found lots of health yeast help! I made a 2.5L starter of WLP007 Dry English Ale yeast - it's an absoloute beast of a yeast and on both occassions primary was 'done' in just 2 days! Temp control helped mind you too.

Second time, I bottled as usual once fermentation was complete, and left it for a good month before having a taster. Mine came out at 9.3% (hence me recommending some sugar) and is maybe a touch overcarbed, but nothing an hour in the fridge doesn't cure.


I'm tempted to either brew an Oud Bruin or an Impy Stout on New Years Day to just bottle up until next December.

[calumrobertson]

So did you bottle it from the primary without any re-seeding of yeast? I'd read you should age it in a secondary before bottling as can taste a bit rough if you go straight to secondary...

[faeyd]

I did this one a few months ago (came out at 11.8%) and the wife and tried a couple of bottles last night. We could easily drink it now but want to wait another 6 months so up it goes into the loft.

Brew length: 2 UK gallons

5kg Maris
0.3kg Torrified Wheat
0.23kg 120L Crystal malt
40g Citra at 30 mins
20g Citra at 15 mins
40g Citra flame out

Yeast: Nottingham
Mashed at 152f for 60 mins

Style: Barley wine
IBU: 75.6
SRM: 16.3

[AnthonyD]

Yep, straight from primary to the bottling bucket as I do with every beer I do. Bulk ageing is supposed to be quicker, chemistry wise, it's to do with the number of reactions that can take place. But mine really didn't need much ageing at all it was a really smooth, deceptively strong beer.