Northern Brewer's Barleywine kit- opinions?

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Chaos_Being

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I've been thinking about brewing up a barleywine that I can age for a while and start drinking next winter- I've been looking at various recipies here as well as kits from retailers, and have decided that NB's barleywine looks to be a good deal for the ingredients you get (compared to buying the same ingredients at my LHBS.) This is what you get in the kit (pasted from their site):



Kit Inventory

Specialty Grains
0.5 lbs. Briess Caramel 90

Fermentables
3 lbs. Munich Malt Syrup (1/2 jug - boil for 60 min.)
9 lbs. Munich Malt Syrup (boil for 15 min.)

Boil Additions
2 oz. Cascade (60 min)
1 oz. Willamette (15 min)

Yeast
Wyeast #1056 American Ale Yeast. Used commercially for several classic American ales. This strain ferments dry, finishes soft, smooth and clean, and is very well balanced. Flocculation: low–medium. Apparent attenuation: 73-77%. Optimum temperature: 60-72.





The only thing is, well, it seems a little weak on it's own for a barleywine (OG 1.082 according to them), but I'd think that it would be a good place to start. First, the hops- I'm no expert yet, but that looks like a small amount of hops for a BW. I think I'd move the 2oz of Cascade to 30 or 20 min, move the 1 oz of Williamette to say, 5 min, and add a high AA bittering hop (like Nugget) to use for the 60 minute boil.

I'd also want to increase the fermentables- I'd be aiming at around 10% ABV at the minimum for a nice big BW. I'm not sure if I'd just add more malt, some sort of sugar (like honey or maple syrup) to ensure that the final product isn't too cloying, or a combination of both (probably the latter.) Maybe a pound or two of additional LME/DME, and a pound of some sort of sugar.

Lastly, after upping both the hops and the malt/fermentables, I'd wonder if just 1/2 lb of steeping grains would be enough for a good flavor/character. Maybe at least another 1/2 pound of say, a lighter crystal (like 40 or 60) to make it more interesting ;)

I like the fact that they give you a liquid yeast (especially considering the price of the kit.) This would be my first time using a liquid yeast, so that would be a good experience for me I think. I'd make a starter, and probably "step up" the beer as well (begin with the original ingredients, and then add my extra fermentables later.)

Your thoughts?
 
Sounds like you are thinking in the right direction.

I would not trust that yeast strain to get that high of an ABV though, I would recommend white labs irish ale or higher.

Let us know how it turns out.
 
If you want it to be a little dryer I would add in some simple sugar, maybe some Raw sugar or some Maple syrup. I used Maple Syrup in mine and was very happy with the results.
 
Cool, sounds like I am on the right track :mug:

If the yeast that comes with it won't cut it, That's not a big deal- I'll save it for something else. I thought it was similar to WP001, which from what I've read, should hit 10% ABV with a little love. Perhaps two packets of S-05 would do the trick?

I am interested in maple syrup, in particular, Grade B syrup for a little more flavor (cheaper, too.) What type/how much did you use Ryan, and in what type of beer? Raw sugar, and even brown sugar sounds interesting as well.
 
Chaos_Being said:
Cool, sounds like I am on the right track :mug:

If the yeast that comes with it won't cut it, That's not a big deal- I'll save it for something else. I thought it was similar to WP001, which from what I've read, should hit 10% ABV with a little love. Perhaps two packets of S-05 would do the trick?

I am interested in maple syrup, in particular, Grade B syrup for a little more flavor (cheaper, too.) What type/how much did you use Ryan, and in what type of
beer? Raw sugar, and even brown sugar sounds interesting as well.

I used grade A, but it might be interesting to use B. Also maple syrup is about as expensive as a fermentable as you get.

When I say raw sugar I mean, Turbinado sugar and such. Its sugar that is unrefined. You do not want to use Brown sugar, it contains a lot of stuff you dont want in your beer.
 
The yeast that is listed there (1056) is a very good choice. It is similar to WLP001 and S-05. According to Wyeast it can handle up to 10% ABV. I would either go with this yeast and make a BIG starter (http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html) or use the dry yeast (you might need 2 packs). What ever you do, do not use an English ale yeast, or something that can't get you to 75% attenuation at a minimum.

I also agree that if you want to add more feremntables, you should go with simple sugars.

I also agree with what you said about the hops. Be aware that Cascade is hard to find and Northern Brewer has been known to sub hops without telling you. I would call them to see what they are going to send you before you order any other hops. Cascade for flavor in BW would be good, IMO.
 
I have the american style barleywine kit from Austin Homebrew sitting on my table for brewing sometime reasonably soon. I also got the 1% alc boost and plan on adding a little honey as well. Going with the White Labs 099 high grav. yeast to make sure it is kicking. I have some hops in the freezer (perle, nothern brewer, cascade, fuggles) I might add an extra ounce but havent decided. Thats my plan just so you can compare strategies.:mug:
 
I used honey in my Beesting Barleywine, and I definitely liked the results (despite the fact that it was a combination of two Mr. Beer kits, some extra LME, and some honey made in the Mr. Beer keg I have since given away- shh, don't tell anyone! ;) )

I saw the "Sugar in the Raw" brand of turbinado sugar for sale at my supermarket today for a good price- I think I'm going to try using that for my first 5 gallon "real" barleywine. The recipie so far is looking to be like this:

Steeping grains- 0.5lb Crystal 90, 1lb Crystal 60

Initial Fermentables- 12 lbs Munich malt syrup

Later Fermentables (to be added to the primary fermenter ~1wk later)- 2lb turbinado sugar, perhaps 1lb light DME?

Hops- 1.5oz Nugget @ 60min, 2oz Cascade @ 20-30min, 1oz Williamette @ 5-10min

Yeast- 2pkgs of S-05 (I'll save the liquid yeast for something else I think.)


How's this sound? I'm still slightly iffy on the hopping schedule, but otherwise I think my plan is shaping up pretty well.
 
Chaos Being wrote:
Later Fermentables (to be added to the primary fermenter ~1wk later)- 2lb turbinado sugar, perhaps 1lb light DME?

I’ve been looking into this idea of incremental feeding of sugars during fermentation and am thinking about using turbinado sugar for this purpose. Did you brew this beer using it? How did it work out?
 
The Wyeast 1056 should be fine for a barleywine, I used it for mine which was 1.090 SG. Make sure you make a huge starter though.
 
I brewed a Barley Wine in October. It is Very good now, but it will get even better. This is an all grain(ish) recipe. Wouldn't change a thing.

Grains/Exptact
33 lbs Pale Malt (2-row)
2.5 lbs Crystal 80L
3..2 lbs Coopers LME-Light

Hops
1oz Kent 5.7AA 60min Pellet
1oz Perle 6.3 60 Pellet
1oz hallertrau 4.2 30 Pellet
1oz hallertrau 3.5 30 Plug
1oz saaz 3.6 15 Pellet
10z tettang 3.5 15 Pellet

Yeast
White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity Ale



This actually turned out to be a very balanced beer.

Good luck
 
I haven't brewed it yet- I will be soon though. I may end up going with Midwest's kit though and changing it up a little bit, as NB just jacked up the prices of their kits. Or I may just say the hell with it, get impatient, and get a bunch of supplies at the LHBS (more expensive though.)

I'll update once I brew...should be in a few weeks :mug:
 
What do y'all think about dry hopping with an ounce of Simcoe with this kit? NB sent me one too many ounces of Simcoe Pellets in their old Surly Furious clone kit a month or so back and I'm wondering what it'd do to this recipe.

Would it be better to add the Simcoe at 60 and move the other additions back as suggested early on in this thread?

If I don't get answers in the next hour or so I'm dry hopping!
 
I think you should be fine with the Simcoe as a dry-hop addition, considering it has been more than an hour since you started the countdown. :)

I believe that I had read somewhere that Stone Brewing Co. uses it quite liberally in the product offering and I know that I like most everything they have come out with.
 
I just threw it in at 60. Figured the NB kits uses all american hops and I wouldn't be messing anything up too much. Love those simcoe hops. Would really like to do a b-wine with Simcoe, Amarillo, Ahtanum and warrior just for ****s and giggles.

Thanks for the guidance. Maybe after a little gravity reading in a few weeks i'll dry hop it with Simcoe anyway.
 
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