Converting an ESB (or any pale ale) recipe into a barleywine

Hey all,

I have a ESB recipe that I'd like to turn into a barleywine. I've heard some say to simply double the recipe to get your gravity in barleywine range. Others have said to only double to base malts or you'll end up with too much residual sugar from the specialty malts. As far as hops go, most have said to simply double them.

Would love it bit more input on this if you have it.

Thanks!

Scale it up so the percentages of grain by weight are the same at the gravity you want.

You're right about the residual sugars. I wouldn't necessarily adapt an ESB recipe; I'd start by looking at other barleywine recipes and go from there. But you could make a pretty good barleywine with 100% Maris Otter and a long boil. Smallish amounts of dark crystal, other specialty malts or flavorful sugars would help too. As far as the hops go, I would use enough at bittering to get your desired IBUs and skip any late additions, as the lengthy aging will greatly diminish their impact.