First Barley Wine

Hello.
In a few weeks I will begin my first barley wine. I have not yet finished making the grain build yet, nor have I decided on other factors.

If anyone has any advice or suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated!

Also I currently use a 5 gallon rubbermaid for my mash tun. I have a 15 gallon one I can use, that would be my best bet right? It would be an easy switch.

Thank you, Zach

*I have an 8 gallon kettle and this will be all grain.

Go listen to Jamil's podcast on the brewing network. It should get you going.

Others may very well prove me wrong, but I'm going to say don't plan on doing a 5 gallon batch with an 8 gallon kettle. Personally (so take it for what it's worth) I start my small/mid sized brews with 8.25 - 8.5 preboil volume. You're also probably looking at a 90min boil.

Basically what I'm trying to say is you can totally do it with the equipment you say you have, just don't plan on a 5 gallon batch.

yea I was worried about the volume of my kettle being too low. Thanks

Couldn't he just boil down his runnings till he gets his desired starting volume?

As I said, others may prove me wrong . I guess that would be an option. Not something I've done, so not something I've thought of or have experience with.

Kilted Brewer said:

Others may very well prove me wrong, but I'm going to say don't plan on doing a 5 gallon batch with an 8 gallon kettle. Personally (so take it for what it's worth) I start my small/mid sized brews with 8.25 - 8.5 preboil volume. You're also probably looking at a 90min boil.

Basically what I'm trying to say is you can totally do it with the equipment you say you have, just don't plan on a 5 gallon batch.

Click to expand...

I don't think that an 8G kettle would be the big problem. You may just sacrifice efficiency to get the OG you need. You could also hold out a few gallons of sparge water, boil down for an hour and add remaining sparge.

You will need to move to the 15G MLT to fit that much grain.

Kilted Brewer said:

As I said, others may prove me wrong . I guess that would be an option. Not something I've done, so not something I've thought of or have experience with.

Click to expand...

Yeah I don't have experience with this either but I think it is an option. I will hopefully get some experience with this this weekend since I have a 8 gallon BK and I plan on brewing an Old Rasputin RIS which the recipe calls for collecting 10 gallons total and then boil down to 7 gallons to start the hop schedule.

Beernip said:

I don't think that an 8G kettle would be the big problem. You may just sacrifice efficiency to get the OG you need. You could also hold out a few gallons of sparge water, boil down for an hour and add remaining sparge.

You will need to move to the 15G MLT to fit that much grain.

Click to expand...

It can be done. I brewed the 999 Barleywine this way. I had a 10 gallon cooler and a 7 gallon kettle. I also had a couple of smaller 1 and 3 gallon pots to hold the extra runnings until I had room for them in my main kettle. I started with close to 9 gallons of runnings and boiled it down to 5.5. It only took 2.5 hours to get there. While not ideal, it can be done. And I second the 15 gallon MLT, my 10 gallon was full to the very top (got some overflow when I put the lid on).

Keep us posted and post your recipe here so we can give you inputs on that. Any thoughts yet on whether this will be an English or American barleywine?

Cheers,
Terje

so far I have come up with this:

13 lb 2 row pale malt
6 lb Thomas Fawcett Optic pale
1 lb Carapils
12 oz Simpsons Extra Dark Crystal

2 oz Chinook pellets, bittering
2 oz Northern Brewer pellets, 30 min
2 oz Cascade pellets, 7 min

White Labs super high gravity ale yeast

I should get:
OG: 1.113
FG: 1.023
IBU: 81.1
SRM: 16.4
ABV %: 11.8

Any suggestions for the dry hop...i was thinking Glacier

Just curious what efficiency you plan for on a Barleywine65-70% or lower. I'm planning one myself.

I planned for 60% on my 999.