1.142 Barleywine

I have some friends and we decided to make a memorable beer to lay down for a couple years. We decided a bourbon barley wine would fit the bill.

I had read about reiterated mashing and thought that would be fun to try so we did a triple mash using all Golden Promise and a truck load of hops (mostly in the C family). The mashing took all day, but the results are crazy. I got an OG of 1.142 and the wort was a great golden color. We made 30 gallons. I fermented it cool and slow, raising the temperature near the end. It finished at 1.036.

The plan had been to brew a second batch and put it in a bourbon barrel, but I really did not want a barrel. I ended up buying a 30 gallon cornie type tank and we added a fifth of bourbon and some American oak cubes.

The yeast was a large slurry of 1056 from a local micro. I aerated with O2 inline and gave it a couple blasts of C)2 along the way to "stir" things up. It will sit for a while in the cold room and some day down the road it will all get bottled and waxed.

Anyway, that is my latest brew. I will let you know how it came out in a year or two!

Nice! If next time you want a little more attenuation, try WLP099. I used it for my RIS (1.150 -> 1.027), however I am about to use it for a dark english style barleywine whenever I get around to it. O2 is key in beginning in big beers like this. As for waiting a year, while it might be better then, sounds like it should be great now. My RIS was awesome from the fermenter. Still is over a year later. I'm about to brew it again with some bourbon barrel staves, rather than an actual barrel or cubes. Hopefully that works out.

The idea from the beginning was to age it, but you are right, it tasty very nice at transfer. I had designed it with the hope it would get to this range and was pleased to have succeeded. I want to get the character that aging will bring.

The next brew of this nature is going to be an RIS. I haven't made one in a couple years and so I figure it is time.

Any special occasion? Or just because it's awesome?

Sounds fantastic.

Just because I hope it will be awesome!

ODaniel said:

4085248 Still is over a year later. I'm about to brew it again with some bourbon barrel staves, rather than an actual barrel or cubes. Hopefully that works out.

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Is there a benefit to staves over cubes, spirals, or chips?

I'm hoping so, never tried it. I figure there would be if done right, since you are using part of an actual bourbon barrel. I plan to scrape the outer char off the inside, and sand down to the soak line. Since it's only 5 gallons, and maybe 1 stave, seems about right.

Brewpastor said:

The idea from the beginning was to age it, but you are right, it tasty very nice at transfer. I had designed it with the hope it would get to this range and was pleased to have succeeded. I want to get the character that aging will bring.

The next brew of this nature is going to be an RIS. I haven't made one in a couple years and so I figure it is time.

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Awesome. Yea I am trying to save mine as long as possible. I only have one every couple months or so. Some people around here seem to think big beers like this need years to age before they are any good... If done right, they are great immediately.

Sounds awesome. Do you think you're going to get it to carb up naturally in the bottle or will you bottle from the keg?

I'm jealous! Sounds awesome.

greenbirds said:

Sounds awesome. Do you think you're going to get it to carb up naturally in the bottle or will you bottle from the keg?

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I will force carbonated it and bottle from the keg with a beer gun. After capping I will seal with wax and let the dust settle!

Not to tell you what to do but wouldn't bottle conditioning be more desirable? I have always read its ideal for beers you want to age for a while and the beer is supposed to stay stable longer.

jtejedor said:

Not to tell you what to do but wouldn't bottle conditioning be more desirable? I have always read its ideal for beers you want to age for a while and the beer is supposed to stay stable longer.

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With a beer this huge, bottle conditioning is a big risk. It may take months to carbonate or it may never carbonate at all, which is a huge disappointment (just ask Tomme). Force carbing big beers is a safer bet for me, I do on anything that requires 'freshness' or anything above 10% abv.

Thanks for the suggestion of bottle conditioning, but I don't want to mess around with this beer. I want it carbonated at the right level and I am not worried about stability here. At @14% and over 100 IBUs it is pretty stable. I also brewed and fermented with great care and an eye towards aging. Besides, with a fifth of bourbon and toasted american oak, I think it will be hard to tell the difference. I am wax sealing these to help control O2 pick-up as well. They will also be sitting in my dark cold room at a constant 45 degrees. I would like to see taste the micros that can match the quality control this beer has been through!

Yea I did exactly what you're doing, force carbed until I got the perfect carbonation - a touch on the high side, for the style, to make up for a little lost from bottling. I did a lot of quality control (samples) on this step . Bottled with the blichman beer gun, waxed, and a year later perfect carbonation and flavor. I used homebrew store wax beads (pricey). It should be black but it's a touch purple when thin. I layed it on fairly thick though. I have also heard of glue sticks and crayons (add until you reach the color you want). Going to try that next time.

ODaniel said:

I used homebrew store wax beads (pricey). It should be black but it's a touch purple when thin. I layed it on fairly thick though. I have also heard of glue sticks and crayons (add until you reach the color you want). Going to try that next time.

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http://www.swanscandles.com/store/candle_making_supplies.html#2720

Yea the homebrew wax was like that, just a dollar or 2 more per pound. I was thinking the glue (gun) sticks and crayons would be a lot cheaper. While you get a bunch of sticks, it looks like the total weight is under 5 ounces (25 sticks), for $4. Maybe I'll just get those wax beads and toss some crayons in color adjustment. I'm about to wax one and I want a deep red. Thanks for the link.

We recommend melting the beads in soup cans in a double broiler; no mess to clean up and any unused portion may be left in the can for remelting later on.

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That's a hell of an idea. I'll have to try that.

Yea that's what I did. Next time I may use a bigger bean can, especially since I'm doing 750s.