Barleywine conditioning?

I am thinking of making a barleywine. Should I just let it sit in the primary for a year? or rack to the secondary after its done fermenting?

i did 2 months 4 months and then i am doing 6 in the bottle till i try it.

A year in primary is too long unless you have a conical and can dump the yeast - otherwise the yeast will die and start to break and decompose (autolysis). I would not exceed 2 months in primary assuming a cold temperature.

I'm bulk aging a barleywine now. One month primary, 6 month secondary, bottle and wait until the winter time to try it. I wouldn't let the beer sit on the yeast for a year; rack that sucker to secondary.

Boiling a 1.100 right now!

I sparged again for a mild (parti-gyle). Hope that one comes in at 1.055.

I'm gonna go 3wks primary, rack to secondary, 3 months there, then bottle. First drink, Christmas! Hope it is carbed a little.

I'd leave it in the fermenter for a month after the fermentation stops. Even if you don't keg, buying one for bulk aging a barleywine is a good idea.

Brewing one up next weekend so this is good to know. Think I'll do 4 weeks primary, then a while in the secondary, and finally a week on some oak chips .

The last barley wine I made, I fermented 3 weeks, put in a corny for 3 months and racked to another corny. It was awesome after 6 months. Ever go to a tasting with 5 gallons of barley wine?

Nothing like that for me now, I try to keep it under "60".

David

Edit: I had that keg for a year. It didn't taste any different from 6 months.

david_42 said:

I'd leave it in the fermenter for a month after the fermentation stops. Even if you don't keg, buying one for bulk aging a barleywine is a good idea.

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If I did that, I would still have to put gas on it, right?

While boiling Barlywine jr. (2nd batch of parti-gyle) Barley Sr. Blew the airlock.

I guess if you 1) pitch on a 1) full yeast cake, 2) add additional nutrients, 3) blow pure O2 for a couple of minutes, 4) add 5.5g of 1.120 wort, there might be some quick activity.

Durn. I was gonna change over to a blowoff after boil #2, but now I have a swamp in the bottom of my freezer. Yahoo, I love this ****.

passedpawn said:

3) blow pure O2 for a couple of minutes

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Well that was awfully silly of you. The only purpose of aerating before pitching is so the yeasts can perform respiration (an aerobic process, hence the O2) and multiply. I'd worry about having similar effects you'd get from over-pitching...

Reno_eNVy_446 said:

Well that was awfully silly of you. The only purpose of aerating before pitching is so the yeasts can perform respiration (an aerobic process, hence the O2) and multiply. I'd worry about having similar effects you'd get from over-pitching...

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Yes, you are right. With a full yeast cake, I guess the O2 wasn't necessary. Still, I want this thing to attenuate fully, so I threw the kitchen sink at it.

passedpawn said:

Yes, you are right. With a full yeast cake, I guess the O2 wasn't necessary. Still, I want this thing to attenuate fully, so I threw the kitchen sink at it.

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Fair enough

My 5 gallon batch took 4 weeks on primary to ferment out OG:1.110 FG:1.010, In secondary at the moment, has been for 2 weeks and I'm planning another 2. I'll keg most of it and bottle the rest. Planning on leaving the bottles until later this year or sometime next year until sampling. Possibly just a 'celebration' beer.