1.145 OG Barleywine Recipe

So I'm thinking about trying something really crazy (at least crazy for me). I really like big beers, and I really like barrel aged beers. One thing I don't see too often is wine-barrel aged beers, but the few I've had I've liked a lot. So I was thinking I would like to make a big barley wine, really sweet, with a solid backing of hops and age it for a long time before bottling. I probably won't get around to this for a month or two, but was hoping for some feedback. Here's what I'm thinking:

3-gallons
OG: 1.145 (75% efficiency)
112 IBUs
SRM: 19.5
Boil for 120 min

Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.90 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 66.00 %
2.70 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 18.00 %
0.60 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 4.00 %
0.30 lb Toasted Malt (27.0 SRM) Grain 2.00 %
1.50 lb Dememera Sugar (added after boil) (2.0 SRM) Sugar 10.00 %

1.20 oz Warrior [15.00 %] (90 min) Hops 75.7 IBU
0.60 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (30 min) Hops 18.1 IBU
0.60 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (30 min) Hops 10.0 IBU
0.60 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (5 min) Hops 2.6 IBU
0.60 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (5 min) Hops 4.7 IBU

0.60 oz Oak Cubes, in Red Wine (Secondary 16.0 weeks) Misc

1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale
1 Pkgs Super High Gravity Ale (White Labs #WLP099) Yeast-Ale
1 Pkgs Pasteur Champagne (Red Star #-) Yeast-Champagne

I would add the dememera sugar at a rate of 0.3lbs per day after 1 week of fermentation at 62 degrees with the 1056 yeast. At that time I would add the WLP099 and bump the temperature up to 65, and over the course of a week or so let it get up to 70. As fermentation nears completion, I would drop the temperature down to 60 and after 5 weeks or so, rack to a secondary to add the oak cubes and the wine (only as much as it takes to cover the cubes) to the beer.

Of course, I would aerate the hell out of the beer and use huuuge starters, and yeast nutrient. Lastly, the Champagne yeast would only be added at bottling (since I don't keg, and I figure it'll need an extra kick of yeast to carb), after which I would leave for another 3 months or so.

So what do you think? Any suggestions, ideas, or comments?

Lastly, I also have some palo santo wood, and was thinking that could be interesting in this beer, but not sure if I would want to blend with the oak or sub out the oak completely, or what, if at all. Anyone have any experience? (I've heard it's powerful stuff-- a little for a short time goes a long way.)

Overall, it sounds very solid.
1. Hard to get 75% efficiency on big beers. But you have a 120 minute boil planned, so if you sparge enough, you'll have plenty of time to boil off the water.
2. All the flavor and aroma of the 30/5 minute hops will vanish as this beer ages, as will many of the IBUs from all the additions. I would bitter like crazy with low-alpha hops; the tannins in the hops will help provide a drying sensation. You might go with a dry-hop for a week or so immediately prior to bottling, although obviously that'll fade too.
3. I have no idea about the palo santo. Maybe you can do part on oak, part on palo santo, and hold back some in case you need to dilute the woodiness.

Thanks for the comments.

Yeah, 75% may be a bit of a high estimate. The biggest grain bill I've had was 23 lbs for a 5 gallon batch in which I got (surprising me that it was this high) 67% or so. But I figure with a 2 hour boil I will be able to use a lot of water.

Any specific suggestions on the hops? I really like Willamette, and the combination with a citrus-y hop would go well here, I was thinking. Even though the hop flavor fades, different additions still come through, just faded. I like the idea of dry hopping before bottling.

I'd cut out the caramel malt entirely and up the sugar to about 18%. Additionally when you add the high grav. yeast pitch it at high krausen/active fermentation.

As for hops I'm falling in love with the New Zealand hops as I've got an IPA going right now with the smoothest bittering I've ever experienced in one of my hoppy brews (at least that's what the wort tasted like). So I'd suggest Pac. Jade or (i can't recall the spelling or name) the Maunktiku or whatever it's called, maybe supplement with Citra/Amarillo?

Good luck.

Screw it, I like it the way you wrote it. If you undershoot your 75% and hit 1.135 I think you'll still probably be fine so I wouldn't worry too much about it. I kind of agree that the late additions are pretty worthless but it won't hurt anything. I say give it a whirl. It's only three gallons.

Or do a super long boil - I did 3.5 hours on my last barleywine (also 3 gal) and hit my projected OG dead on. (Bring the TV to the brewing area if you do that, though. It's a long day.)

JonM said:

Or do a super long boil - I did 3.5 hours on my last barleywine (also 3 gal) and hit my projected OG dead on. (Bring the TV to the brewing area if you do that, though. It's a long day.)

Click to expand...

That's a good idea. I think I'll bump it up to an expected 3 hour boil (depending on boil off rate). Do you think that will lead to caramelized flavors too? That would be good, and it certainly would allow me to use a lot more water to try to get as much sugar from the grains as possible.

I don't know about caramelly flavors, but it'll get dark. Here's mine in the sample tube. That's nothing but Maris Otter - no crystal, no roast, no nothin'.

I finally got around to brewing this. A couple changes, here's what I went with:

2.5 gallons
2.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 15.38 % (will be added to fermenter in steps to ramp up to high ABV)
4.00 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 30.77 %
4.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 30.77 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 3.85 %
2.50 lb Demerara Sugar (2.0 SRM) Sugar 19.23 % (will be added to fermenter in steps to ramp up to high ABV)*

0.50 oz Warrior [16.00 %] (120 min) Hops 57.0 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [7.20 %] (20 min) Hops 14.2 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [9.70 %] (20 min) Hops 19.2 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [9.70 %] (10 min) Hops 11.5 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [7.20 %] (10 min) Hops 8.5 IBU

0.50 oz Oak Cubes, in Red Wine (Secondary 15.0 weeks) Misc

1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale
1 Pkgs Super High Gravity Ale (White Labs #WLP099) Yeast-Ale
1 Pkgs Lalvin EC-1118 (Lallemand - Lalvin #EC-1118) Yeast-Wine

A slightly longer than 2 hour boil hit my volume. Low efficiency (should have seen that coming) put the final wort at about 1.085 or so from only the grains. I suppose that's ok, since White Labs suggests starting the wort at about an 8% beer then adding fermentables to get to super high ABV. Plus Midwest hasn't sent my order from well over a week ago of WLP099. (They have received an angry email about this...) Less than ideal, but I guess I'll let the 1056 do it's thing until I can make a starter with the WLP099 and then start adding the rest of the fermentables.

I should note that when I called Midwest, they were more helpful than what I asked for. The order had been delayed because one item (not the yeast) was out of stock, though listed as in-stock on the website. After explaining how I needed the yeast they overnighted it to me. A quick starter is going now, with yeast nutrient. The WLP099 will be added when at high krausen with the rest of the DME (some has been added already). Then I'll start dosing it with the demerara.

So far all has been good, started the fermentation temperature low (Pitched when the wort was 64F, but set the temp control to 65), and I've bumped it up a bit to 67F. I'll go one more degree to 68F when I add the WLP099 since recommended temp range is 65-69 via White Labs.

Update: Gravity has settled out around 1.024. Given all the additions bumped up the volume to somewhere around 2.8 gallons, my guess is the total sugar/DME additions would have put the potential OG at 1.145-1.153, putting the ABV somewhere in the 16-17% range.

The beer is extremely cloudy still, and has a green taste (not unexpected). No unpleasant off flavors from the yeast that I can detect. It's very sweet, but has a nice taste, with a good balance from the hops.

I'll crash it down to try to clear it up, and then rack the beer onto the oak and wine this weekend or next week, and leave it for months.

I am super interested to see/hear how this turns out a couple months down the road. I have barley wine recipe I plan on knocking out this summer and bulk aging till December or Januarary and I want to do a monster like yours in the over 12% range.