Just finished a 5 gal barley wine. Had a great OG (1.092) I've never brewed one and was just wondering where you guys age your BW's. Do you leave it in primary? Secondary? Chill and leave in the fridge? Thanks a lot!
It all depends on your situation; If you have the space and temperature controls to keep it in your "secondary" to smooth out then I would do that; if you are space limited and need to brew more you could keg it and put it in your keezer - but that will just elongate the time needed for it to achieve greatness (things go slower in the cold) or you could keg and leave it at room temperature if your room is no hotter than 75F or so....
With an OG of 1.092 it will taste horrid at first but over time will mellow into a delicious treat.
Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
Thanks man....room's not an issue so I'll probably rack to secondary and forget about it. as far as length of aging.....what do you guys suggest? I keg, so I'd rather keg and carb when it's ready to serve instead of kegging and carbing pre-maturely just to sample it as time passes.
I know Im bringing back an old thread but it doesnt matter.
The reason is it shows up at the top of a google search for "rack time barleywine" and I notice not a single post provides any actual experience with this topic. Everyone just friggin plans to rack for 6+ months or whatever they seem to think is right.
Anyone have actual experience or science that will say that a certain time in primary or secondary will do anything?
Anyone have actual experience or science that will say that a certain time in primary or secondary will do anything?
I made an RIS that's ~9%. I didn't pitch more yeast when I bottled and it was carbed up within 3 weeks. It definitely needs more time for the flavors to mellow, but it gets a nice thick head when poured and is definitely drinkable.
MVKTR2: Are you pitching more yeast at bottling time? If yes, how much yeast? How long are your big beers taking to carb in the bottle?
I only let it sit in the primary for 5 weeks before I bottled it. I don't think there's much difference between bottle aging and carboy aging, but this is only a speculation, not from experience.
From my understanding adding more yeast is just to ensure that you'll get good carbonation in case the first batch of yeast is too tired from the big beer (high ABV).
I just finished a Mirror Mirror which was nearrly ruined by oak.
WOW! Really? Every Mirror,Mirror I have had has been amazing, IMO the best Barleywine out there. Was it a 2010?
Check out http://grou.ps/hbamm as it's my HB club's website and we have a group of folks from Starkville/Columbus who've joined. They apparently have had or are planning on getting together for brews.
Schlante,
Phillip
On my 8.5% Strong Scotch I did not pitch more yeast & it was carbed at 5 or so weeks when I tried one. On the 9.4% RIS, I did re-pitch about a half pack. Both carbed up just fine. I chose to on the RIS because it was sitting around so long & probably needed it a lot more than the Strong Scotch. I'm planning on repitching about a half pack on my BW as well as it's 10.4% abv.
Schlante,
Phillip
What are the negatives to pitching yeast into a BW before bottling, any more chance of bottle bombs?
Is it best to pitch a few days before bottling, or right at bottling time?
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