Would you call this an "English Barleywine"?

Steve973 · 01-31-2007, 01:52 AM

This past saturday, a friend and I brewed the following beer:

Size: 5.41 gal

Original Gravity: 1.090
Color: 18.0
Bitterness: 72.2

Ingredients:
15 lbs Maris Otter Pale
3.0 lbs Belgian Biscuit
2.0 lbs Crystal Malt 40°L
1.0 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.0 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) - added during boil, boiled 45.0 min
1.0 oz Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 30.0 min
1.0 oz Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1 ea White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale

Schedule:
00:00:00 Mash In - Liquor: 6.25 gal; Strike: 157.7 °F
01:30:00 Saccharification Rest: 90.0 min @ 142F
01:35:00 Thin Decoction for Mashout - Volume: 2.93 gal; Boil: 5.0 min
01:50:00 Mash Out: 15 min; 170.0 °F
02:35:00 Sparge: 2.15 gal @ 170.0 °F, 6.0 gal collected, 45.0 min; Total Runoff: 6.0 gal

Would you consider this to be an English barleywine? Or does it fit another style better? This blew off a bunch of foam in a 25 liter carboy, so it started with quite a lot of fury! I just wonder how long this will take to reach terminal gravity. Comments welcome!

jager · 01-31-2007, 03:26 AM

I think your closer to an American barley wine

thomas hardy ale has a 1125 o.g / 1030 f.g and 70 IBU's

sierra nevada's bigfoot has a 1097 o.g / 1023 f.g and 90 IBU'S

Dave

**Brewtopia** · 01-31-2007, 04:56 AM

You are just out of range on the high side for an English Barley wine which top out at 70 IBUs according to BJCP style guidlines but, who cares about BJCP style guidelines? To me this seems more in line with an English style based on the noble hop bill. I'm also used to drinking Rogue Old Crustacean and Old Wooly which are closer to the 100 IBU range and are true American Style Barleywines.

Steve973 · 01-31-2007, 11:05 AM

Thanks for the replies. This beer was really fun to make. My friend was putting a recipe together, and we decided on the maris otter malt, but I didn't know how much he wanted to use, so I got 15 lbs to be on the safe side. We then decided that it'd be pretty cool to use a huge grain bill. And this is the largest amount of grain I've ever used in a 5 gallon batch, so it was good times. Our efficiency is a little low, unfortunately, but I blame that on the large amount of water in the mash tun, and the relatively little amount of sparge water. We could've sparged longer and compensated with a longer boil, but I guess I'm okay with 5% lower efficiency.

We're pretty excited about this, but I imagine it's going to take quite some time to ferment, and then lots more time to age. It's hard to be a brewer when you're a rather impatient person!