I'm Thinking... 09/09/09 Barleywine

Good call, I need to pull a grav to see how my Cry Havoc did. It's been sitting undisturbed in primary this whole time.

I actually went from about 1.118 to 1.024. In August I thought it was done at 1.030. I think time will take it down a few more points if that's what you're looking for.

TerapinChef said:

So I've bounced from 1.114 to 1.040. No change in last five days. Can I hope to get this down a little further with some fresh yeast, or should I just call it FG? No temperature change, steady at 67, swirled a bit every other day to keep yeast in suspension...I was rolling with the Cal Ale V, just so you all know....

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I'm calling mine done at 1.04 too. But then again mine started at 1.150. I would think yours would get a little lower. Maybe your mash was hotter then you thought.

Yeah I would think you would be 1.030 or lower. I did a step mash 131*F 15 minutes, 150*F 60 minutes and it went from 1.119 - 1.023 with SafAle US-05 in 12 days.

Beersmith estimated my FG at 1.047 but I find beersmith to run a bit on the high side in this category. I mashed at 150-152* for an hour...no mash out, very little sparge. I missed my target OG by 0.052, quite a bit, but I had a huge grain bill filling a 70Q cooler, and not much experience with big beers (which I hope to change soon). I did rack this to secondary already, but I'm wondering if I can pitch some fresh yeast (starter slurry, of course) and get it come down a bit further...

Well, I am not in the swap, but I got my first half of this great recipe brewed up tonight as a commemorative brew for my pending daughter. I did 1/2 of the grain bill and did the second runnings for a "free beer". Going to do it all over again tomorrow. Probably going to boil the BW for an extra 20-30 minutes to get the SG up a little... Round one ended up at 3 1/2 or so gallons at about 1.092. Quick look while cleaning, haven't finished measuring yet.

TerapinChef said:

Beersmith estimated my FG at 1.047 but I find beersmith to run a bit on the high side in this category. I mashed at 150-152* for an hour...no mash out, very little sparge. I missed my target OG by 0.052, quite a bit, but I had a huge grain bill filling a 70Q cooler, and not much experience with big beers (which I hope to change soon). I did rack this to secondary already, but I'm wondering if I can pitch some fresh yeast (starter slurry, of course) and get it come down a bit further...

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I don't think it could hurt.

I'm upset that i started all grain brewing too late. I may just brew the recipe for the hell of it.

FSR402 said:

...But then again mine started at 1.150.

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Good God man. Did you have to use a spoon to scoop that wort into the fermenter?

Kinda missed the point of the 9-9-9 huh? (1.119) And I mean that in a good way.

BierMuncher said:

Good God man. Did you have to use a spoon to scoop that wort into the fermenter?

Kinda missed the point of the 9-9-9 huh? (1.119) And I mean that in a good way.

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Uh....I feel really stupid right now.

btw, i had a friend who brews BW's taste my "infected" batch and he said it tastes like a flat young Barleywine. I'm not totally convinced but I am hopeful.

I'm glad that you might not be infected...I think...I've recently developed a bit of an interest in bugs after tasting New Holland's Bam Noir and a Flanders Brown, so I have to admit I was kind of pulling for both your BW to be Brett/Lactobacillius, and to draw you in the swap. Does that make me a bad person, or just one who really wants a few sour beers? Only time will tell...

I've been drinking my "small" beer that I ran off after the barleywine and it is very unique. I've never really had anything like it before. First off I way overhopped it as it is very bitter. I think it may be like a very traditional IPA (without the dry hopping...yet). It is really nice, still cloudy though. I think I'll bottle some of this up and take it to a local brewpub and see what the brewmaster has to say.

If it's a bit too bitter for you, let it age for a while. From what I understand, the hoppy bitterness mellows out significantly after about six months or so...

Looking back I brewed this about 3 months ago. The OG on the "small" beer was 1.065 so it wasn't a baby itself. Left it on the yeast for 2 months (got busy) though some of that time was spent cold crashing it.

I'm not sure why it never cleared, I may have forgotton the irish moss.

Some age should do it well I think

I have a small problem.

Tonight I finally got around to moving mine from the primary to bulk age. I initially pitched onto a cake of Cry Havoc from a pale ale. My OG on the 999 was way over at 1.156 (or close to since my scale stops at 1.150). This was my second attempt at an all grain and I must have had beginner's luck on the efficiency. Also boiled for neary 2 1/2 hours to get down to 5 gallons so that might have helped/hurt. My sample tonight was 1.060 and has been for a week, so I don't think it's going any lower. I swirled frequently for the first month in the primary to try and keep the yeast in suspension. Most of my beers start lower than this thing is finishing.

Any ideas on how I can get this beast to drop about 15-20 points now? Or, am I just stuck with 4 gallons of sweet but tasty beer?

Thanks,
Terje

Sounds like the yeast are done with you and on strike.

You could try a high gravity yeast like WLP099. Make a small starter in a big vessel, once it gets going good, add some of your wort every 12 hours until the volume is doubled or tripled, then pitch it at full krausen. Hopefully that way the yeast will continue fermenting your beer and not just drop out from alcohol shock.

Update on my 999 batch

10/18 Brewed OG 1.114 Pitched two rehydrated US-05 packs for 4 gallons wort

Left in primary for 29 days @ 65*F

11/15 Racked to secondary and took first SG reading SG 1.020

80% Apparent attenuation for a 12.3% ABV brew, thus far. It might get a few more points.

Drank most of the hydro sample. Very noticeable alcohol, but not a hot alcohol. You feel this warming down deep after you drink that just made me smile. Smells awesome, nice caramel and malty sweet aroma. Still green and thin but I'm fairly optimistic! Sticking this out of the way for a few months and then keg/carb and BMBF after some dry hopping. Thinking .5 oz Cascade and .5 oz Willamette for something a little different.

Thought I would check on this beer tonight. It has been in the secondary for about a month. I think I am going to keg sometime soon. I forgot to check the FG when I racked to secondary, check today and it is well below 1.020. The US-05 yeast is a beast. This beer has dropped brilliantly clear. This beer has a beautiful malt derived aromas, the hop flavor is still there but dropped out substantially. Some dry hops in the keg right before bottling will add to this beautifully.

Anyone else find it difficult to take a photo of beer? I took a picture quickly as I was in the middle of cooking dinner.

Man guys, all this beer pr0n is making me want to take a hydro sample even though I already know mine is 1.023.

BierMuncher said:

Good God man. Did you have to use a spoon to scoop that wort into the fermenter?

Kinda missed the point of the 9-9-9 huh? (1.119) And I mean that in a good way.

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Yeah it plugged my CFC twice.

I ended up brewing my 999 on 11/1/08 s.g at 1.086
racked it tonight 11/25/08. It was 1.024
Used the White labs 027 Scottish yeast as that was the only viable starter I had on hand.
Dry hopped it tonight with 1.5 oz combo of Cascade and Centennial.

Brew Tracking as of 11/26

I've cleared those names who have not confirmed a brew date.

42 confirmed Barleywines brewed for this swap.

I'll look towards February or March to start matching up names to allow for any further fall out.

Alamo_Beer - (Brewed 8/16)
Amiaji - (Brewed 9/8)
bashe - (Brewed 10/26)
Beerrific - (Brewed 9/6)
beerthirty - (Brewed 9/7)
BierMuncher - (Brewed 8/27)
CBBaron - (Brewed 9/19)
chriso - (Brewed 10/03)
conpewter – (Brewed 8/24)
Couevas – (Brewed 8/4)
deathweed – (Brewed 8/26)
Doog_Si_Reeb - (Brewed 9/7)
eddie - (Brewed 8/31)
EvilTOJ - (Brewed 9/8)
FSR402 - (Brewed 9-7-08)
Glibbidy - (Brewed 11-1)
Hagen – (Brewed 8/23)
HarvInSTL - (Brewed 10/12)
jmulligan - (Brewed 9/13)
Kilted Brewer - (Brewed 7/13)
KingBrianI - (Brewed 9/6)
korndog - (Brewed 9/23)
Liquidicem - (Brewed 9/1)
MikeFlynn74 - (Brewed 9/28)
mmb - (Brewed 10/18)
MNBugeater - (Brewed 9/6)
Mustangj - (Brewed 9/21)
nealf - (Brewed 9/14)
niquejim - (Brewed 9/29)
olllllo - (Brewed 9/7)
Pirate Ale - (Brewed 9/6)
Ridemywideglide - (Brewed 8/31)
Saccharomyces - (Brewed 9/13)
SporkD2 - (Brewed 9/4)
Stratotankard - (Brewed 9/13)
SUMO - (Brewed 10/12)
TerapinChef - (Brewed 10/22)
TexLaw (Brewed 9/21)
uglygoat - (Brewed 9/28)
Warrior = (Brewed 9/27)
wildwest450 - (Brewed 9/12)
xiang – (Brewed 8/26)

I will be traveling to my undisclosed Northern AZ cache to rack over the weekend.

When do you guys plan on bottling this bad boy? Or, do most of you plan on BMBF'ing?

Neal

'prolly this spring, maybe around paddy's day...

and i'm bottling this beast for sure. i'd drink it all up in a keg in a week. god what a week that'd be.

nealf said:

When do you guys plan on bottling this bad boy? Or, do most of you plan on BMBF'ing?

Neal

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BMBF after getting the carb level right and cold aging for a while. Hopefully aging in the cold box will help clear things up even more.

Well, I checked out my try at this recipe today.

I brewed 18 days ago - pitched 1.108 wort in two batches a day apart onto a full yeast cake of WP001. I am sitting at 1.035 right now and it tastes pretty darn good. I hope to get it down to about 1.02 or so, in order to knock off the last little bit of the sweetness, but I guess only time will tell. I really thought it would be done by now and ready for the secondary.

nealf said:

When do you guys plan on bottling this bad boy? Or, do most of you plan on BMBF'ing?

Neal

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I'm going to draw a sample in February and decide if it will benefit from some oak or some additional dry hopping. Then age it another month and then chill for a month to clear. Force carb and then BMBF for posterity (and shipping).

I kegged up mine on Turkey day and now it's set to age a few months befor I carb it and bottle.

nealf said:

When do you guys plan on bottling this bad boy? Or, do most of you plan on BMBF'ing?

Neal

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I'm bottling mine to get the full aging potential of the bottle conditioning. Being on fresh live yeast will impart small changes to the beer over time, IMHO.

I bottled mine about a week ago. I'll open one in a couple months to make sure they carb ok.

Well, it seems like I am stuck at 1.035 - I went ahead and racked to a secondary and repitched some S-04. Hopefully I can get it down another point or so.

Once the outside temps started to dip below 25, I decided it was time to haul the corny off the front porch and into the garage.

Tis a nice constant 45 degrees in there. After two months + in the keg, I'm tempted to drag a picnic tap out there and draw a few ounces...in the name of science of course.


Alamo_Beer - (Brewed 8/16)
Amiaji - (Brewed 9/8)
bashe - (Brewed 10/26)
Beerrific - (Brewed 9/6)
beerthirty - (Brewed 9/7)
BierMuncher - (Brewed 8/27)
CBBaron - (Brewed 9/19)
chriso - (Brewed 10/03)
conpewter – (Brewed 8/24)
Couevas – (Brewed 8/4)
deathweed – (Brewed 8/26)
Doog_Si_Reeb - (Brewed 9/7)
eddie - (Brewed 8/31)
EvilTOJ - (Brewed 9/8)
FSR402 - (Brewed 9-7-08)
Glibbidy - (Brewed 11-1)
Hagen – (Brewed 8/23)
HarvInSTL - (Brewed 10/12)
jmulligan - (Brewed 9/13)
Kilted Brewer - (Brewed 7/13)
KingBrianI - (Brewed 9/6)
korndog - (Brewed 9/23)
Liquidicem - (Brewed 9/1)
MikeFlynn74 - (Brewed 9/28)
mmb - (Brewed 10/18)
MNBugeater - (Brewed 9/6)
Mustangj - (Brewed 9/21)
nealf - (Brewed 9/14)
niquejim - (Brewed 9/29)
olllllo - (Brewed 9/7)
Pirate Ale - (Brewed 9/6)
Ridemywideglide - (Brewed 8/31)
Saccharomyces - (Brewed 9/13)
SporkD2 - (Brewed 9/4)
Stratotankard - (Brewed 9/13)
SUMO - (Brewed 10/12)
TerapinChef - (Brewed 10/22)
TexLaw (Brewed 9/21)
uglygoat - (Brewed 9/28)
Warrior = (Brewed 9/27)
wildwest450 - (Brewed 9/12)
xiang – (Brewed 8/26)

I'm going to brew mine on Jan. 1

BierMuncher said:

Once the outside temps started to dip below 25, I decided it was time to haul the corny off the front porch and into the garage.

Tis a nice constant 45 degrees in there. After two months + in the keg, I'm tempted to drag a picnic tap out there and draw a few ounces...in the name of science of course.

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I sampled mine about 2 weeks ago, my wife thought it tasted nasty
you know what that means:rockin:

niquejim said:

I sampled mine about 2 weeks ago, my wife thought it tasted nasty
you know what that means:rockin:

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I'm trying to keep all my taps full just so I don't hook up.

Though I'm not as lucky as you, my wife thinks it's great. Going to have to put a lock on that tap.

Mine has been in the secondary for about 9 weeks (after 5 wees in primary). I may move it to a keg and cool store it for another month or two over Christmas time. I'll then force carb in the keg before BMBF'ing.

Mine got stuck at 1.060 so I am making a starter using WLP099 to try and get it going again.

Bottled mine yesterday. 2 months in primary, 1 month in secondary, and now the true wait begins.

When does the actual shipping take place? Anytime before the hottest time of year? Or are we going to wait until September to ship? This is my first swap so pardon me if this is a silly question

nealf said:

Bottled mine yesterday. 2 months in primary, 1 month in secondary, and now the true wait begins.

When does the actual shipping take place? Anytime before the hottest time of year? Or are we going to wait until September to ship? This is my first swap so pardon me if this is a silly question

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I'll vote either early May or mid September to avoid having beer sit in hot trucks for days across country.

Unless I win the lotto, then I'll drive mine to my recipient.