Barleywine fermentation stopped at 1.032 - advice needed

I brewed an extract barelywine on July 3 - using the "Old Monster" recipe from Jamil's Brewing Classic Styles book (slightly modified), and ended up with a measured OG of 1.122. I pitched it directly onto a Wyeast 1056 yeast cake from a 5 gal. batch of medium gravity ale. After about a month of vigorous fermentation in primary, I racked it to secondary and put it away in the corner of my basement. Gravity was at 1.032. I know I probably made a mistake there, and probably should have left it in primary a bit longer if I wanted a lower final gravity. I really don't recall what I was thinking at the time, but such is life I suppose.

I checked it this past weekend for the first time since early August, and the gravity is still at 1.032. The taste is honestly not too bad if one is expecting a very sweet, alcholly drink. However, I really would like it to drop a bit further - perhaps to 1.026 or .028 so if possible. I am going for a very strong ale of course, but was hoping for something more clean and malty rather than sweet.

I've heard of people pitching dry yeast and other tricks to get a bit more attenuation from a beer that is "stalled", but I don't think mine is stalled, its just finished. I'm just looking for some advice as to whether I should try to get this a bit lower, or just bottle it. I'd appreciate any personal stories or suggestions from anyone who has been through a similar situation.

many thanks home brew forum posters!

that's right around 1056's alcohol tolerance. I've pushed it closer to 15% before but pushing it right to it's limit might be part of your issue. You might want to try pitching a more alcohol tolerant strain of yeast or some champagne yeast to eat up any leftover sugars. What temp did you mash at?

It was an extract batch (with steeping grains), so no mashing. The approx. recipe is:

17 lb Light LME
1 lb Corn Sugar
1 lb C15
1 lb C80
0.25 lb Pale Chocolate
0.25 lb Special B

I pitched on a yeast cake, added oxygen every 12 hours or so for a couple days, kept it in the mid-to-upper 60's pretty much the entire first month.

Adding champagne yeast won't hurt but I bet you don't see any change. Just give it plenty of time to age.

74% attenuation and almost 12% abv. I would say you are done. You might get a little more if you pitch an active starter of WLP099 or a high alcohol Belgian yeast, but there is no guarantee.

If you bottle it now, you should probably add some champagne yeast to help prime it.

My 17.5% abv barleywine that is aging for another 4 years finished at 1.040...it's og was 1.170...it's done..When a beer is finished, it's not necessarily about the numbers, but how it's going to taste. Barleywines tend to be on the sweet side anyway.

Also, that's 2.25lbs of crystal malts. Not surprising it didn't finish lower.

Big_Belgian said:

I brewed an extract barelywine

Click to expand...

apparently i can't read since i asked about mash temp.
extracts don't ferment out real dry so you're probly done. i'd do as the others said and add a little extra yeast to bottle with and wait a few months

Big_Belgian said:

It was an extract batch (with steeping grains), so no mashing. The approx. recipe is:

17 lb Light LME
1 lb Corn Sugar
1 lb C15
1 lb C80
0.25 lb Pale Chocolate
0.25 lb Special B

I pitched on a yeast cake, added oxygen every 12 hours or so for a couple days, kept it in the mid-to-upper 60's pretty much the entire first month.

Click to expand...

thats a llot of extract! sounds interesting. if anything you could try adding more corn sugar to dry it out, but as revvy said, id just let it age and see what happens. my bet is it's done

Revvy said:

My 17.5% abv barleywine that is aging for another 4 years finished at 1.040...it's og was 1.170...it's done..When a beer is finished, it's not necessarily about the numbers, but how it's going to taste. Barleywines tend to be on the sweet side anyway.

Click to expand...

Are you aging it in bottles or leaving it in a carboy? Just curious. I've got plenty of patience and several empty carboys, so could do it either way.

Thanks everyone for the help. I think I'm going to leave this one sit a while longer, either in the carboy or bottles, and try something a bit different for my 2012 version.

gstrawn said:

if anything you could try adding more corn sugar to dry it out

Click to expand...

Adding more sugar at this point will most likely only sweeten it. I wouldn't go that route.

OP, if you want a less sweet barleywine, there are a number of things you can do (all looking towards your next recipe, unless you want to try the wlp099 route). Increase the percentage of simple sugar, decrease the percentage of crystal malts, lower the OG, or increase the bittering hops. Given that you can't control attenuation with a mash, these are your best options.

Big_Belgian said:

Are you aging it in bottles or leaving it in a carboy? Just curious. I've got plenty of patience and several empty carboys, so could do it either way.

Thanks everyone for the help. I think I'm going to leave this one sit a while longer, either in the carboy or bottles, and try something a bit different for my 2012 version.

Click to expand...

It's been in a tertiary for a year, It was brewed in Sept. of last year. It will probably be bottled between Christmas and New Years. I'm trying to do a nice thing on the stubby bottles I want to bottle it in. I tried acid etch and it didn't work. I may end up going with a label, but trying to get a nice bottle has been what's preventing me from bottling it. Though it's fine either way.