Big Brew-400 Bottles of BarleyWine Ready in 1 year

Hello All,

I'm about to embark on a very ambitious project. One of my friends has requested that I make the party favours for his wedding. Up Here in Alberta we're not allowed to serve homebrewed beer or wine for weddings so we settled on a bottle of homebrew for each guest to take home with them.

The Wedding will have approximately 300 guests so we figured we'd do 400 bottles of BarleyWine giving us enough extra in case we lose more than expected for trub, some for bachelor party, some for each of us to keep etc. etc.

My current plan is as follows. The recipe is:
5.5 gallon batches at 75% Efficiency:
16.25lbs 2-Row
1.5lbs Crystal 40L
3.00lbs Dextrose
2.75oz Columbus (14%) at 60 minutes
3.00 oz Cascade (5.1%) at 15 minutes
1 package s-04 yeast
Whirfloc tablet

OG: 1.108
FG: 1.024
IBUs: 93
Color: 10.4

While I'd love to have a 40 gallon setup sadly it's not in the budget. My plan is to use mine and a buddies regular homebrew setups and over the course of a weekend brew 8 individual 5.5 gallon batches with myself and the groom. After each batch is cooled it will be dumped into 1 giant fermenter for a 6 week long primary fermentation. Exactly what type of vessel I’ll use for this has yet to be determined. After that is complete it will be transferred into 7-8 carboys for a 3-5 month secondary fermentation. Then I’ll bottle up all 400 bottles, which will be completed with a label and an attached card explaining tasting notes, the bottles will then be waxed sealed and stamped with a large “M” for his last name to make quite a pretty looking package.

I've been researching large fermenter's and I'm thinking I'm going to get a large (50-55 gallon) rain barrel, cut a large hole in it and seal that with plexiglass, place it on the counter in my brew room and then dump each cooled batch of wort in once it's complete, to move to secondary I'm debating between a spigot placed near the bottom of the rain barrel or just siphoning the beer out to the 8 individual carboys. I'm concerned about the amount of heat that 40 gallons of beer is going to produce at peak fermentation, my fermentation room is a steady 62F during the summer but I can see the rain barrel easily hitting 75F at it's peak so I'm trying to figure out a cooling system, I'm also considering 2 slighly smaller fermenters. I should mention I do realize I could just do 8 separate primaries and secondaries but where's the fun in that right?

Anyways I'm in the process of ordering 3-55lb bags of 2-row, a full bag of crystal and several lbs of hops from hopsdirect right now so I can brew this on the 25th/26th weekend.

Anyone with input on larger fermenter's or operations of this magnitude that feels like adding their expertise I'd appreciated. I'll keep this thread updated with the progess I make throughout this process.

Woof. Godspeed, good brother.

For fermenters, why not 4 15 gallon kegs? Unless you will be buying a new 50 gallon barrel, I'd be a bit skeeved about putting that much work into a used plastic container which may leech whatever it held before into your beer.

You might consider a fresh used wine, wiskey, or other spirit barrel for aging.

TXCurtis said:

For fermenters, why not 4 15 gallon kegs? Unless you will be buying a new 50 gallon barrel, I'd be a bit skeeved about putting that much work into a used plastic container which may leech whatever it held before into your beer.

You might consider a fresh used wine, wiskey, or other spirit barrel for aging.

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55 gallon food grade plastic barrels designed for storing potable water can be purchased new for as little as $50. Just add a bung, and an airlock and its good to go.

I hope you also have a weekend planned to bottle and wax dip 400 bottles.

are all 300 or so wedding guests over 21?

Drinking age isn't 21 in Alberta, it's 19.

the principle of the question still stands.

Wow great idea.

I had no idea about that law. I have been to several weddings serving homemade wine.

I would build a keggle and up my batch size to 12 gallons.

I would definitely find something large enough to primary all the batches together in order to have a homogenous product in the end. The food grade 55 gallon barrel for primary and wooden wine barrel for secondary sounds great.

I would avoid a spigot at the bottom of a 40+ gallon fermenter. That sounds like a recipe for leaks to me.

Thanks for all the suggestions thus far I really want to do 1 or maybe 2 primaries although I'm trying to decide if the temperature will rise too high if all done at once. I'm looking for anyone who has done this before, I've been reading a few threads about primaries this large but no information about how much temperature raise they saw.
To answer the questions thus far: Yes all of the guests are over the age of 18 (not 19 but close BigRob).
I am leaning away from the spigot after reconsidering how much pressure would be on it.
And ShakerD the law has only changed in the last several years, you used to be ok serving homemade wine and beer but once that got too popular and the government saw a dip in revenue they changed the rules.

Speaking from experience...

1st off Love the idea and all the ambition going into this project!

2nd off I would change just about everything you are doing and here is why...

Very few people IMO like barley wine compared to say a mead (Which is VERY wedding oriented) I personally love BW but most folks I serve it to wrinkle up their faces and hand me my glass back. I would bet the majority of it would go "down the drain" instead of getting ingested.

If it were me going to drop that much on ingredients it should be for something that is "main stream" enough that it would be enjoyed by most people...

Now, for the rain bbl idea. I did exactly what you are talking about doing. The 1st batch had an odd off flavor that I was able to get to go away but it was NOT easy...and the second batch got infected...bad. I dumped it bad, it was the only batch of beer I could not save...needless to say it is going to be converted into a rain bbl...I am sure there are people that have had success using these but once again you are talking about a lot of money+time that may end you with something undrinkable...

I 2nd the fermenting in 1/2bbl sanke kegs. I am moving to using these and if it were me and I just had to have a bigger than 15 gallon fermenter(s) drop the extra cash on a few SS 55 gallon bbls. You will be much happier with them in the long run IMO.

best of luck!

If you do 55 gallons at once, consider running an stainless steel tubing through the fermenter and if you check the temp and its too high, consider running cold water through the tubing to cool it down. You would need to sanatize the tubing, and have a way to monitor the temperature in there. its an idea, and may be a bad one, but there it is. Good luck, and tell the groom congrats on the wedding.

If you need larger fermentors there are a few on kijiji.

I use the glass demis they are 54 Liters 14+ gallons

http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-hobbies-crafts-Wine-Making-Supplies-W0QQAdIdZ288108992

http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and...s-and-Fermentation-Barrels-W0QQAdIdZ286766876

http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-hobbies-crafts-6demi-johns-W0QQAdIdZ284905425

I have rain barrels that I constructed out of 50 gal pickle barrels with a spigot on the bottom. 4 years later, still no leaks. I dont think a heavy duty spigot would be a problem.
Depending on what you have available for equipment, I would take a look at a couple or 25 gal containers that you could put into a fridge to control the temp. I have a guy not too far from me that imports all types of barrels, having contained a variety of things. Should be easy to find someone in your area that does barrels and get something containing something benign.
I agree with Zamial on the Mead vs Barley wine. You know your audience, or at least the groom should. Take a poll of some of the guests.

Is it 18 in Alberta too? Thought only Quebec had that distinction, regardless you've gotta love a province that has Liquor Barn and Liquor Depot stores among others.

I used a 60L Delex HDPE fermenter once, but I brewed 3x 20L batches and homogenized them as you mentioned, aside from a craptastic recipe and horribly uncontrolled fermentation temps it works beautifully.

I think I would split it up into 3 of these.

http://www.homebrewhq.com/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=2266

They are bulk LME containers, so taste leaching shouldnt be a problem.

mlyday said:

I think I would split it up into 3 of these.

http://www.homebrewhq.com/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=2266

They are bulk LME containers, so taste leaching shouldnt be a problem.

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Now that looks great. Have you bought one? If the shipping cost is half decent that could be a great deal.

jeepinjeepin said:

Now that looks great. Have you bought one? If the shipping cost is half decent that could be a great deal.

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No I havent, but there are a few people on here who have. I dont have the equipment to brew that big.... Yet.

Ill see if I can did up the threads.

Here is one thread where people are talking about those.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f85/my-25-15-gallon-fermenter-70873/

You should be able to get there usernames from there and contact them if need be.

This is totally awesome. I only had to do 2 5-gallon batches to have 1 bottle for each guest at my wedding. Slight difference in guest list size!

Don't be worried about doing a really big, imposing beer style. SWMBO and I did a Imperial Oatmeal Stout aged in bourbon barrels. If they don't like it, oh well, it's the bride and groom's celebration, and we made what we like.

And wax dipping the bottles, that's super-fancy. We just capped them, and then made escort cards (saying the name of the guest and where they sit) out of do-it-yourself business cards, and on the back is a really goofy explanation of the beer. The ribbon that holds the cards onto the bottle is one of four colors, and that tells the wait staff what meal that person ordered. Yea, we thought this out to the nth degree.

Are you doing 22oz bombers? I mean if I were giving away barleywine I'd probably do it in 7oz bottles or even just standard 12oz bottles.

A few updates as this process continues to evolve:

I think I'm going to go with 3 of the large glass demi-johns, for a bunch of reasons:
they are reasonably priced
at 14.5 gallons I could use them again on 11 gallon batches
controlling temperature will be much easier than 1-45 gallon batch
they are small enough that I can move them if I have to

We're going to be using standard 12oz bottles, I think it's the perfect size because with BarleyWine that means you have enough for 2 servings of 6oz which I think is enough for most people.

on a final side note can someone tell me what the correct spelling is? Is it:
BarleyWine
Barley Wine
Barleywine

Veinman said:

on a final side note can someone tell me what the correct spelling is? Is it:
BarleyWine
Barley Wine
Barleywine

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^That would be door #3, good sir.

Those will be really heavy when full. Make sure they are where you plan to keep them. Or build a little wheeled base with some 2x6 or 2x8 and some casters.

My thoughts for FWIW:

Be sure you have your temp control nailed down, I can see hot fermentation temps/fusels being a problem here,, especially at the scale you are talking about (most homebrewers can control the temp of 5-10 gallons, but how to do it for 40 gallons?).

Also, be sure you know the specs of your ingredients. At the scale you are brewing, small changes in ingredients specs are magnified into large shortages/overages when you talk about 40 gallons.

For example, you are thinking of using Columbus at 14% AA and have determined the weight of hops you need based on this. What if you order and find that your Columbus is at 12%, even worse at 9%? You may find you might be a 0.5lb (or more) short when looking at a 40 gallon recipe. My hypothetical numbers might be off, but you get my point. Just something to consider.

Also, what is your plan for yeast? You are going to need alot of it. Doing starters for that much volume wort at that starting OG is going to be a b*ich to manage. I'd probably first make 5-10 gallons of standard pale ale, just to have enough yeast for the 40 gallons of BW. Maybe more...again, you need to nail this down with the calculations...

Do you have an oxygenation setup? I'd get one if you don't. Don't want to chance underattentuation at the scale you are talking about.

I'd scrape the idea of having this beer ready for the bachelor party....why go through all of the effort to make it a special brew, only to "let the cat out of the bag" at the bachelor party? My idea: At the bachelor party serve the pale ale that you brewed for the yeast to ferment the BW!

Another option for fermentation....brew this baby over the course of 4 weekends, 10 gallons/weekend. Ferment in smaller batches (easier to temp control) then blend for secondary or bottling, in a larger container. You draw the brewing out over a longer period of time, but you save yourself headache of what to do with 40 gallons of fermenting wort, all at once.

I went to order my hops today and found out that hopsdirect is out of columbus which was quite annoying.
morebrew has them but to get 2lbs of Columbus is going to be $60 shipped. at hopsdirect I can get Magnum instead for $11/lb which would be about half price when all is said and done. Would their be a noticeable difference between the two hops assuming I adjusted amounts to produce the same IBU's.

Second I'm looking at a number of yeast options:
First question: Why are s-05 and Nottingham vastly different prices? The best I've found for S-05 is $2.90 whereas Nottingham I can get for $1.75 an 11g pack. I've used them each several times and have never seen a marked difference between the 2 performance wise. I think I'm going to order 16-11g packets of nottingham from williamsbrewing at $1.50 a packet.
I considered buying a bulk yeast brick, I found a 500g brick of s-05 at williamsbrewing but for $85 it really isn't that great a deal, I suspect this is around the going rate for a 500g brick though.

For the yeast, brew a small beer then pitch onto the cake or washed yeast.

jeepinjeepin said:

Now that looks great. Have you bought one? If the shipping cost is half decent that could be a great deal.

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I just bought one. Shipping was $20 to Muncie, Indiana.

Veinman said:

I went to order my hops today and found out that hopsdirect is out of columbus which was quite annoying.
morebrew has them but to get 2lbs of Columbus is going to be $60 shipped. at hopsdirect I can get Magnum instead for $11/lb which would be about half price when all is said and done. Would their be a noticeable difference between the two hops assuming I adjusted amounts to produce the same IBU's.

Second I'm looking at a number of yeast options:
First question: Why are s-05 and Nottingham vastly different prices? The best I've found for S-05 is $2.90 whereas Nottingham I can get for $1.75 an 11g pack. I've used them each several times and have never seen a marked difference between the 2 performance wise. I think I'm going to order 16-11g packets of nottingham from williamsbrewing at $1.50 a packet.
I considered buying a bulk yeast brick, I found a 500g brick of s-05 at williamsbrewing but for $85 it really isn't that great a deal, I suspect this is around the going rate for a 500g brick though.

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Try www.wholesalehops.com they ship to Canada flat rate for two lbs($14)

2 packs of Nottingham per Demi should be good(I think)? If you need 6 or so I have extra and will be in Edmonton this Tuesday. PM me it you want them.

ShakerD said:

Try www.wholesalehops.com they ship to Canada flat rate for two lbs($14)

2 packs of Nottingham per Demi should be good(I think)? If you need 6 or so I have extra and will be in Edmonton this Tuesday. PM me it you want them.

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Thanks for the link they were one I hadn't heard of so didn't check. Sure enough they have Columbus and decent shipping rates ($14 like you said) to boot.
Are you saying 2 packets per 6 gallon demi or 15 gallon demi? I was thinking 2packets of yeast per 5.5 gallon batch would be about right, mr. malty suggested 14 packets of yeast.

Veinman said:

Thanks for the link they were one I hadn't heard of so didn't check. Sure enough they have Columbus and decent shipping rates ($14 like you said) to boot.
Are you saying 2 packets per 6 gallon demi or 15 gallon demi? I was thinking 2packets of yeast per 5.5 gallon batch would be about right, mr. malty suggested 14 packets of yeast.

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If its the 11g packages, then one per 5.5 gallons is plenty.

In the past I have only ever put 12 gallons in the Demi's and I used two 11 gram packets with no issues and very good beer. That being said I haven't made a beer this big yet.

Are you going to oxygenate the wort up to 12 ppm.?