Thoughts on this 15% ABV Barleywine recipe??

I'm not looking for tips or tricks for brewing a big beer. I've successfully brewed a "beer" that is over 23% and it actually, despite still being in secondary on oak, tastes damn good with very little if any fusel alcohol flavors or aromas.

Rather, I'm looking for thoughts on the grist and thoughts on my yeast selections.

* What are you thoughts on pitching BRY97 into a wort this big?
* Would you finish this beer with 099 or champagne yeast?

* Thoughts on using a couple pounds of fresh plums in secondary? I'm looking for a bit of the tartness that I know will accompany the fermented fruit. I've never used plums, however. Will I be left with any fruit flavor? I'm hoping a little will pair nicely with the Special B.

Thanks as always for your input!


Shred's Cirrhosis Barleywine
American Barleywine (19 C)
Type: All Grain

Batch Size: 4.00 gal

Boil Time: 120 min

Est Original Gravity: 1.150 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.042 SG

Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 14.7 %
Bitterness: 121.4 IBUs
Est Color: 19.5 SRM

24 lbs Pale Ale Malt 2-Row
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L
8.0 oz Honey Malt
8.0 oz Melanoiden Malt
8.0 oz Special B Malt

2.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 120.0 min
2.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)
2.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min

1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool

2.0 pkg American West Coast (Lallemand #BRY-97)
1.0 pkg Super High Gravity Ale (White Labs #WLP099)

0.33 oz Pectic Enzymes
2 lbs Fruit - Plum (0.0 SRM)

if you're trying to keep it sweet, keep the C10, but if not chop it out and up the Special B for more dark fruit flavors. The C10 won't do much for the flavor but will sweeten up the finish and increase body. You will have plenty of body with all that malt, and plenty sweet too with that high an OG. Honey, melanoiden, and Special B sounds like a good combination for flavor. All the yeasts would be fine, but 099 and champagne yeast like EC 1118(?) would work well since you probably won't have a lot of yeast driven flavors in that beer. No experience with plums, so can't help you on that front. Recently had a Deschutes Belgian style beer with plums that was great, though.
Good luck, hope it turns out well.

how did it turn out? what did you decide to do finally?

I would've cut the C10 and honey malt since you'll have attenuation issues anyway. put in some C120 to round out the special B and used up to 20% munich and 10% victory or biscuit. Maybe a pinch of carafa special.

You could also use something like dates, prunes or raisins instead of plums if you are looking for some left over flavor to pair with that special b and don't need the fermentables. I know that is common in belgian style beers.

I wouldn't boil hops longer than 90 minutes, just FYI... once they hit that point they start leaching way more vegital flavors.
this'll explain it way better than i ever could at 6a
http://beersmith.com/blog/2013/10/1...beer-with-gordon-strong-beersmith-podcast-67/

This was brewed several months ago and I actually used both dates and prunes (as well as star anise in secondary). It finished at about 18.5% ABV and even just a couple months in bottle is showing huge promise!

Rivenin said:

I wouldn't boil hops longer than 90 minutes, just FYI... once they hit that point they start leaching way more vegital flavors.
this'll explain it way better than i ever could at 6a
http://beersmith.com/blog/2013/10/1...beer-with-gordon-strong-beersmith-podcast-67/

Click to expand...

Really? so how do you explain Thomas Hardy boiling for 2 hours or more? When a beer is that strong, anything goes because you can't notice such things. You need all the hop utilization you can get. Usually, the beer turns sweet in a short period of aging. I think the recipe is fine, but expect only to get about 100 IBU's out of your hops, and the bitterness to be dominated by malt. Do the full boil to maximize gravity and hop utilization so that extra hops are not needed and volume yield is at its best. That beer should be fun to try!

thegreatmaibockaddict said:

Really? so how do you explain Thomas Hardy boiling for 2 hours or more? When a beer is that strong, anything goes because you can't notice such things. You need all the hop utilization you can get. Usually, the beer turns sweet in a short period of aging. I think the recipe is fine, but expect only to get about 100 IBU's out of your hops, and the bitterness to be dominated by malt. Do the full boil to maximize gravity and hop utilization so that extra hops are not needed and volume yield is at its best. That beer should be fun to try!

Click to expand...

It actually turned out more bitter than I would have expected. Considering the size of the beer, it's surprisingly well-balanced. I expect the malt to dominate over time, but right now it's still relatively hop-forward.

This was the final recipe (ignore the vital stats and boiling of the star anise... it was added in secondary):
http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/432800/shreds-cirrhosis-barleywine

If it was me, I would have added all my hops at the beginning, as late/whirlpool hops provide minimal bitterness - they're used more for aroma/flavor. With a beer that ages for such a long period, that flavor and aroma will be gone. So you end up using more hops/spending more money on hops than was necessary to hit a target IBU. Just my two cents.

Other than that, I agree with the comments on the C10 and think it looks like a great recipe.

thegreatmaibockaddict said:

Really? so how do you explain Thomas Hardy boiling for 2 hours or more? When a beer is that strong, anything goes because you can't notice such things. You need all the hop utilization you can get. Usually, the beer turns sweet in a short period of aging. I think the recipe is fine, but expect only to get about 100 IBU's out of your hops, and the bitterness to be dominated by malt. Do the full boil to maximize gravity and hop utilization so that extra hops are not needed and volume yield is at its best. That beer should be fun to try!

Click to expand...

Do you have evidence that they boil the hops for the entire boil?

Shred said:

It actually turned out more bitter than I would have expected. Considering the size of the beer, it's surprisingly well-balanced. I expect the malt to dominate over time, but right now it's still relatively hop-forward.

This was the final recipe (ignore the vital stats and boiling of the star anise... it was added in secondary):
http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/432800/shreds-cirrhosis-barleywine

Click to expand...

awesome, does seem like a great beer!
Cant seem to access the recipe though
Any help?

Hmm... link works for me. Here's a copy of the final recipe:

Mash at 146F for 2 hours:

24 lbs Pale Ale Malt 2-Row
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L
8.0 oz Melanoiden Malt
8.0 oz Special B Malt
6.0 oz Honey Malt

2.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 120.0 min

2.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)
2.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min

1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min

2.0 pkg American West Coast (Lallemand #BRY-97)

1.0 pkg Super High Gravity Ale (White Labs #WLP099) - Pitch after BRY-97 has slowed. A starter is recommended.

1.00 Items Anise, Star (14 days)

0.50 tsp Pectic Enzymes (Secondary 1.0 days)
3.0 oz Fruit - Prunes (10 days)
3.0 oz Fruit - Dates (10 days)

Thanks a lot! I will try it soon.
I Am from Argentina and Pale Ale Malt is not easily available. Do you think it can be replaced 1:1 with Pilsner Malt? Or should I adjust something.

dbarba said:

Thanks a lot! I will try it soon.
I Am from Argentina and Pale Ale Malt is not easily available. Do you think it can be replaced 1:1 with Pilsner Malt? Or should I adjust something.

Click to expand...

Pilsner will substitute just fine. The 2 hour boil also will help effectively boil off the DMS precursors in the malt.

My final volume was well below 5 gallons, by the way. I think if was more like 4 from what I remember.


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