Barley Wine - 3 Gallon

Hey all,

New poster here, after having lurked on these forums for a few months, I have decided to try a seek some advice please!

I have made four brews to date - the first 3 being modified Wodfordes / Coopers Kits, and I have a Hob Goblin (BIAB) clone in primary at the moment (fingers crossed for that one!).

I am interested in doing a Barley Wine next, to maybe have a few bottles ready for Christmas and beyond. I want to try something with a good hop character and also like the idea of chucking in some oak chips soaked in port. I also want to limit it to a 3 gallon batch just in case it doesn't go to plan, and due to equipment restraints.

Having looked through other posts, I am thinking something along the lines of:

3 gallons Barley Wine

* 10lbs Marris Otter
* 10oz Crystal
* 4oz Flaked Oats
* 4oz Carapils /Flaked Oats
* 2oz Chocolate
+ Irish Moss

With a hop schedule of:

* 0.5oz EKG 60 mins
* 1oz Cascade 15 mins
* 0.5oz Bramling Cross 0 mins

Yeast - 1-2 pkg Nottingham.

So, appreciate I may be jumping in the deep end a wee bit here, but was just wondering if anyone could give me some general feedback on the grain bill / flavours in there. Ideally looking for something reddy/brown coloured, with a good body on it (wahey!), that's not *too* sweet.

Any help much appreciated,

Thanks guys!

Barleywines should usually be no more than 14% specialty grain and the rest base malts. You currently are right at 14% so that shouldn't be an issue. My only concern is the use of Flaked Oats. I would maybe suggest substituting a Vienna Malt or Aromatic Malt instead. It should still give the body and flavors you are looking for that way and tends to be a little more in style. On another note, you had not stated what kind of Crystal will be used. I would suggest no darker than 40L otherwise I think it may come out darker that you want.

$.02 Added.... Cheers!!:rockin:

Get rid of the oats or the carapils. You don't need both. I would also stick with the EKG or maybe Fuggles hops instead of the cascade.

What about yeast? I did almost the exact grain bill for my English barleywine in December. Used London ale yeast by wyeast. It went from 1.088 to 1.020 in 2 weeks without use of a starter. Your OG may be higher though in which case you will want to make a yeast starter a few days in advance.

can nottingham go up that high? 14% is pretty much the limit of most beer yeasts...

It may require multiple yeast additions. Get it going with the first starter and add a second one week in. I don't think Nottingham can handle a high alcohol presence. Maybe switch to wyeast London ale II for the second yeast addition?

Thanks for the comments!

Looks like I may have over-shot on the grains, and under yeasted...Glad I asked!

Appreciate I may be mixing styles with the hops, just heard Fuggles may impart a "grassy" taste, but suppose I could add it later or substitute for something else/more EKG.

Like the ideas for Vienna/Aromatic and possibly using Wyeast though.

Thanks again!

I would say you might want to drop your potential alcohol level to somewhere like 10%. It's a much easier level for yeast to handle. I understand the desire to go big but I would hold off until you have brewed some bigger beers first. You should use a pitching calculator to figure out how much yeast you should be pitching. Mr Malty is a good one.

You will also need to be mindful of fermentation temps as bigger beers will put off a lot more heat.

I would also use a blow off tube to prevent krausen from getting on the ceiling...

Hopper5000 said:

I would say you might want to drop your potential alcohol level to somewhere like 10%. It's a much easier level for yeast to handle. I understand the desire to go big but I would hold off until you have brewed some bigger beers first. You should use a pitching calculator to figure out how much yeast you should be pitching. Mr Malty is a good one.

You will also need to be mindful of fermentation temps as bigger beers will put off a lot more heat.

I would also use a blow off tube to prevent krausen from getting on the ceiling...

Click to expand...

I aimed for 10% or lower, came in around 9.7%. I also did a 3 gallon batch but primaried in a 5 gallon bucket with only an airlock. The extra headspace in the bucket made it possible. After primary I put it in a 3 gallon better bottle to sit for a bit. I used one pack of Wyeast 1028 without a starter because it has a high alcohol range. Worked fine fermenting around 65 degrees in my basement.

Favorite beer I ever brewed was a Barleywine.

Five gallons -

Grain -
15lbs Pale 2-row
8lbs Marris Otter
2lbs Munich Malt
6oz Pale Chocolate
4oz Special B - Caramel malt
12oz Crystal Malt 80°L
1 lb White Table Sugar (Sucrose)
.5lb Brown Sugar

Hops -
1.66oz Magnum (14.5%) - 60 min
1oz Centennial (10.0%) - 25 min
1oz Centennial (10.0%) - 0 min
1.5 oz Cascade (5.5%) - 0 min

Yeast -
US-05 yeast cake from ESB

http://hobsonbrew.blogspot.com/2009/02/so-since-ive-never-been-one-to-get-into.html?m=1

I added oak chips soaked I'm Makers Mark.

Search this forum for 999 Barleywine. There was a great thread about Barleywine brewing. It was from back in 2008.

forstmeister said:

I aimed for 10% or lower, came in around 9.7%. I also did a 3 gallon batch but primaried in a 5 gallon bucket with only an airlock. The extra headspace in the bucket made it possible. After primary I put it in a 3 gallon better bottle to sit for a bit. I used one pack of Wyeast 1028 without a starter because it has a high alcohol range. Worked fine fermenting around 65 degrees in my basement.

Click to expand...

This is exaclty what I was planning to do re- fermentation. Could you post your grain bill if you get a chance please?

I have now plugged the ammendments into some software (will get Beersmith come pay day!) as per the following:

* 10lbs Marris Otter
* 12oz Crystal 40L
* 8oz Aromatic
* 2oz Chocolate (Pale)
+ Irish Moss

Using Wyeast London II I got an OG of 1.092 an fg of 1.025 (ABV- 8.78%) - Hope this sounds about right. Failing that, I see there is a 3.5 gallon recipe on the 999 Barley Wine recipe.

Thanks again for the info!

good to hear hope it turns out great!

lucky_mack said:

This is exaclty what I was planning to do re- fermentation. Could you post your grain bill if you get a chance please?

I have now plugged the ammendments into some software (will get Beersmith come pay day!) as per the following:

* 10lbs Marris Otter
* 12oz Crystal 40L
* 8oz Aromatic
* 2oz Chocolate (Pale)
+ Irish Moss

Using Wyeast London II I got an OG of 1.092 an fg of 1.025 (ABV- 8.78%) - Hope this sounds about right. Failing that, I see there is a 3.5 gallon recipe on the 999 Barley Wine recipe.

Thanks again for the info!

Click to expand...

Here is the one I did:

8# Maris Otter (Thomas Fawcett & Sons)
1# Crystal II (Thomas Fawcett & Sons)
1# Brown Sugar just before flameout
1 oz Fuggles @ 60 min
1 oz Fuggles @ 15 min
1 oz Fuggles @ 10 min
1 oz Fuggles @ 5 min
Wyeast 1028 London Ale

OG was 1.088
FG was 1.020 when I transferred to secondary, it may come down a little

I think with the benefit of hindsight, I would reduce the Crystal II to 8 oz and use a few oz of Chocolate malt like you have. It has been in secondary for almost 2 months now, I need to bottle it soon probably.

I did one gallon with pale malt, half a can of golden syrup, some crystal malt and just a tad of chocolate malt. Nice fruity brewer's gold as a hop. The only problem is how long you have to wait for fermentation to finish and then for the flavours to mellow and mature!

Thanks for that, I might finish this recipe eventually if I stop changing my mind!

Seriously though, pretty excited to get started on this, fermenter should be ready this weekend so will be going to the HB store come pay-day I think!

I think I saw your thread JKaranka, really like the idea of Golden Syrup/Treacle at flameout. Then throw about 1oz of port soaked oak chips in primary for about 2 weeks.

Like I say, I am hoping I may be able to have some ready for Christmas...but from what I am reading, you are best leaving it 1-2 years, sure it will be worth it!

I'd try some after 6 months though