English Barleywine Fireside Barleywine

When I used ProMash I found the recipe to be 57% mash efficiency. I scaled to 65%. You can multiply each grain by 57/65 [or any other higher efficiency] to decrease the amounts for higher efficiency. Also scale grain sugar & hops linearly for the batch size difference.

I'm about 6 weeks into the secondary and can't wait to bottle this in the new year.

DSmith said:

When I used ProMash I found the recipe to be 57% mash efficiency. I scaled to 65%. You can multiply each grain by 57/65 to decrease the amounts for higher efficiency. Also scale grain sugar & hops linearly for the batch size difference.

I'm about 6 weeks into the secondary and can't wait to bottle this in the new year.

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I aimed for 70.2% mash efficiency. Landed at 68.7%. Close enough.

However, I anticipated coming out with 14.2 gallons (cutting it close on the BK), but actually ended up with 15.2 gallons by the time it expanded at boil temp.

Was a pretty scary proposition in a keggle. Lost about a tenth of a gallon to boilover and the protein break baked on, creating a huge mess.

At 170F or so:




At 210F:



Somehow my boiloff rate got jacked way up in BeerSmith from the actual 1.4 gal/hr to 1.85 gal/hr. That's why I had all the extra liquid. Thus, the 120 minute boil turned into a little over a 180 minute boil. All hops additions were pushed back, of course.

I'm hoping to brew this on Sunday, but a quick question first.

I'm new to Strong Ales/Barleywines and I'm not sure how much krausen to expect. Would a 4 gallon batch in a 5 gallon carboy be a bit extreme or am I safer going straight to a bucket?

Cheesy_Goodness said:

I'm hoping to brew this on Sunday, but a quick question first.

I'm new to Strong Ales/Barleywines and I'm not sure how much krausen to expect. Would a 4 gallon batch in a 5 gallon carboy be a bit extreme or am I safer going straight to a bucket?

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If it were me, I'd use a bucket. 1 gallon of headspace isn't really enough for a beer this big, especially if you aren't going to ferment at the lower end of your yeast's range.

Would it be a good idea to put it in a bucket first then after a few months rack to a secondary carboy?

Cheesy_Goodness said:

Would it be a good idea to put it in a bucket first then after a few months rack to a secondary carboy?

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Yep, though theres no need to wait months. 2-4 weeks would be fine for primary.

Beautiful, thank you sir!

One more question. I brewed this on 12/22.
Would I be better off racking my 4 gallon batch into a 5 gallon carboy or just letting it go as is in the primary for another month before bottling? The recipe calls for a secondary but I'm worried 4 gallons in a 5 gallon carboy might be too much headspace.

I bottled my batch that I brewed per post #35 (Wyeast 1028, Corn Sugar) after 2 months in secondary. It's a very smooth beer already for being 10.5% ABV. The smoke flavor is distinct, along with fruity contributions from the dark crystal malts.


[EDIT] Picture of carbonated beer added

Cheesy_Goodness said:

One more question. I brewed this on 12/22.
Would I be better off racking my 4 gallon batch into a 5 gallon carboy or just letting it go as is in the primary for another month before bottling? The recipe calls for a secondary but I'm worried 4 gallons in a 5 gallon carboy might be too much headspace.

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Bump. Been in the primary a month now, concerned about headspace in a 5 gallon secondary. Better to keep it in a bucket for another month or rack to secondary?

Cheesy_Goodness said:

Bump. Been in the primary a month now, concerned about headspace in a 5 gallon secondary. Better to keep it in a bucket for another month or rack to secondary?

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I'd let it go to 6-8 weeks in the primary and bottle and plan to age it.

Another option is to fill a 3 gallon carboy for a secondary (mine are more like 3.25 gallons) and somehow bottle the rest. It's good to plan around filling the secondary with a little extra to spare when recipe planning if that step is used.

Thanks DSmith.
That's sort of what I was leaning towards. It's in a 5 gallon (really closer to 6) bucket now but since I haven't peeked at it I assume it's still a mostly C02 environment in there. If I were to rack into a 5 gallon carboy...not so much.

My plan was to bottle this when it's ready then age until fall/christmas time...we'll see if I've got the patience

Brewed this today, used 3# smoked cherrywood malt and I was super nervous at mash out at how intensely smokey it was. But nearing the end of the boil now things have calmed down substantially and now I'm really looking forward to see how this turns out. Preboil 7gal 1.065, it's down to 5 gallons with 15 mins left. I added 10oz sugar and 8oz light dme since that's all I had around, and subbed nugget for the 60 min addition


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1.096 og, 1.016 fg for 10.5 abv after a week, the yeast took off like a rocket. Gonna get another week in primary, then transfer to a keg to secondary until the winter. Sample was super boozy as expected but the smoked cherrywood seemed nice.


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Have any updates on it?

MrTheKing said:

1.096 og, 1.016 fg for 10.5 abv after a week, the yeast took off like a rocket. Gonna get another week in primary, then transfer to a keg to secondary until the winter. Sample was super boozy as expected but the smoked cherrywood seemed nice.


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Does the beer end up being bitter at all? It just seems like kind of a lot of IBUs for a barleywine. Would it be ok I i backed it off to around 70 or 80 or would that make it too sweet?

Just brewed this a few weeks ago. Got a little better efficiency than I expected so I dropped the sugar a to hit my OG (ended up with 1.098)

I also used demerera and light brown sugar instead of table. Ended up with 2.75 in fermentor but still pitched two nottingham packets. Hope I didn't over pitch too much. Primary ferment is over but I haven't pulled a sample. Just gonna wait til I transfer it to pull a sample.


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Soperbrew said:

Have any updates on it?

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Tasted a sample recently and enjoyed it. A lot of the smokiness I was worried about has toned down quite a bit, thankfully. It's still sitting "secondary" in the keg, once some room in the kegerator opens up i'll carb it up then bottle it.

So the beers has now been in the secondary for about 2 months. It went from 1.098 to 1.014 so an ABV of 11%. The booziness has mellowed a lot and I am ready to bottle. I'm trying to decide if I should add fresh yeast or just use the siphon to pull a small amount off the bottom before I bottle. Any suggestions?

If I could do my batch over again, I would definitely pitch fresh yeast. Mine never did carb up, even after adding a dropper full of slurry to each bottle after about 5 months in.

Ok. I think i might make a small starter at a highish (1.065 or so?) gravity with nottingham and pitch her in at bottling. I don't wanna mess around with it not carbing.

I'm brewing this beer a 2nd time, a little over a year since the 1st. I have bottles from the 1st still that are great. I omitted the smoked malt this time, subbed that portion with American 2 row (Maris otter still used for the pale malt), added about 2oz of carafa special II for a browner color and used a big pitch of Wyeast 1028 again. It should make a good English barleywine.



I had 1.097 original gravity -> 1.018 final gravity the first time I brewed it.

I have 1.099 original gravity this time. [edit] -> 1.016.

I am going to run this recipe in August. I have a question. Why not put the sugar in at the start of the boil? This should develop the caramel flavor within a 60 minute boil and cut down on boil time. I am going to
do 2 all day IPA's before I do the Barley.

My IPA's involve a 30 qt. boil and a 20qt boil. In theory when I do a 50 qt. recipe I am always do a parti-gyle that I combine when cooled and then ferment usually giving me 8.5 to 9.5 gallons of beer . I am thinking the second 20 Qt. I will add sugar at the start and see what happens. but any feedback would be helpful. The 30qt will have honey added making a hop slam clone. the 20 qt. a session ale around 3 gallons of beer.

Adding this recipe to my upcoming list of brews.

3 weeks a go I did a hop slam with a partiqyle. I used 18 lbs Maris otter
Igot 1.091 before adding honey and 1.094 after.

The parti-gyle game out at the start of boil at 1.033. I added 2 lbs table sugar at the start of boil and got 1.063 to start primary ferm. when fermentation head dropped I racked parti-gyle. I separated a 1/2 gallon
of beer into a separate gallon container and add just enough Dark roasted French oak to lightly cover top.
had my buddy over last night to sample. beer has started to clarify.
the oaked beer tasted of oak and a light smoke. and both jugs had a light caramel taste. I am going to bottle both versions shortly. So in 2 weeks
They should be carbonated and cooled for sampling. I fermented with wyeast 1098 at this point it is dry and crisp with no sweetness.

My game plan since smoked malt is an unknown here, I plan use oak
for the smoke and double the recipe and use either London ale or London ale3 yeast. OG should solidly be in the 1.100's in my 30 gt kettle and
adding 2lbs sugar to small kettle OG should be 1.065. the small batch to bottle in late November, the large batch early next year. Only unknown is the effect of the other specialty grains since they were not in this test run.
which may solve my sweetness problem.

Clarification - the 1.5lbs of sugar used.... it says table sugar. Is this just like granulated sugar you cook with in the kitchen? Or is this something you buy at your LHBS as sucrose?

Could you substitute dry malt extract or something instead? Why table sugar?

Thanks

CraigKing said:

Clarification - the 1.5lbs of sugar used.... it says table sugar. Is this just like granulated sugar you cook with in the kitchen? Or is this something you buy at your LHBS as sucrose?



Could you substitute dry malt extract or something instead? Why table sugar?



Thanks

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Yes it means table sugar like the stuff in the kitchen. No, you wouldn't substitute malt extract. Table sugar provides more of a tastless fermentable, and also ferments completely out, so it plays a different role than malt extract. It will help the beer finish dry with a lower FG.

Now, homebrew shops don't have table sugar, they will sell you dextrose (corn sugar). Not going to go into the details there but if you google corn sugar vs table sugar for brewing you will get about an hours worth of reading there.

When I made this, i actually used Demerara sugar, it came out quite good, although I am still waiting for the beer to age some more.

Thanks for the clarification. So basically by using table sugar with this recipe, we are jacking up the alcohol content without changing the flavor?

CraigKing said:

Thanks for the clarification. So basically by using table sugar with this recipe, we are jacking up the alcohol content without changing the flavor?

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Yup yup. Plus it does encourage a lower final gravity. Which I think contributes to a thinner body. I used to think the main point of adding sugar was to dry out the beer but there is more to it than that.

You can introduce flavor with sugar, this was my goal with using Demerara. But that sugar is kind of delicate I probably wouldn't have noticed the difference between that and table sugar.

Just cracked my parti-gyle. I tasted light carmel so you can add sugar at the start of boil and increase the carmel flavor. The botlles I oaked with French oak had as expected a light oak flavor and I could taste the smoke from dark toasting. Two things I learned help anyone doing a party-gyle
add sugar to jack up the apv . the beer was a very nice 7% ipa . Second thing adding sugar early can slow down long boils. I will be doubling the recipe but dropping the smoke. The yeast will be either wyeast London ale or London ale 3. since 18.5 lbs of Maris Otter got me1.094 with the parti-gyle at 1.061, I need to see what adding 3 lbs of sugar gets me. Since I have already a 30 qt at boil OG 1.103 with a 20 Qt at 1.065 which equaled 1.092, I have a guide. If the 30 Qt comes in over 1.110 and the 20 qt at 1.061,I will probably combine or I my not and have a really big Oaked barleywine and drink the parti-gyle oaked also.

I would like to thank you for the posting of the recipe. I will also post when I rack to secondary fermentation the results. Also thank you for the idea of adding sugar, This is a plus for us who regularily part-gyle

My barleywine has been in the bottle about a year now and is just wonderful. I love the smoky aspect, it's noticeable but not overpowering.

Finally got it done. Doubled recipe dropped the smoked malt(NA) used Wyeast recommendation for an English BW.London Ale 1028. I did a 30 Qt sparge and boil and a 20 Qt. sparge and boil. Did a 60 minute boil and added 2lbs of sugar to each boil at 30 minutes into boil. I did the 30 QT kettle first and when racking off trube, I took a qt for a starter. the 30 qt gave me 5 gallons at 1.113 and the 20 qt gave me four gallons at 1.063. To replace the smoke flavor I will add dark roasted French oak
when I rack to carboys after the yeast head collapses. 2months in carboy for the 4 gallons at 1.063 then bottle for a month. Than four - six months for the big one before I bottle. Now it's time to wait.

Why are guys pitching new yeast in at bottling? Is it because after you primary and secondary it for 1-3 months total, the yeast are inactive?

If you have 4gals at the end of secondary and you are ready to bottle, do you just dump in a yeast pack, stir, then bottle? Or do you have to add some DME or priming sugar? Or is there still enough fermentable sugars in the beer that the yeast can eat?

CraigKing said:

Why are guys pitching new yeast in at bottling? Is it because after you primary and secondary it for 1-3 months total, the yeast are inactive?

If you have 4gals at the end of secondary and you are ready to bottle, do you just dump in a yeast pack, stir, then bottle? Or do you have to add some DME or priming sugar? Or is there still enough fermentable sugars in the beer that the yeast can eat?

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I added yeast. I figured one month primary, two months secondary at about 11.5 abv that the yeast could use a little help. I rehydrated some notti and added it to bottling bucket along with the sugar and beer.

I didn't use a whole pack though, I think I looked up pitching rates for bottling and aired on the high end (like the belgians).

CraigKing said:

Why are guys pitching new yeast in at bottling? Is it because after you primary and secondary it for 1-3 months total, the yeast are inactive?

If you have 4gals at the end of secondary and you are ready to bottle, do you just dump in a yeast pack, stir, then bottle? Or do you have to add some DME or priming sugar? Or is there still enough fermentable sugars in the beer that the yeast can eat?

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I wish I had pitched some at bottling - my batch never did carbonate.
It might have been a losing battle with the super high ABV of this beer but after all the money you spent on the grain bill on this one, it's probably best to shell out a few extra bucks for fresh yeast and hope for the best. YMMV though.

While this is my first fireside BW, Every year for the last 15 years I have made 2 5 gal Car boys of Russian imperial stout and Scottish Ale. I have NEVER had it not carbonate. However I make sure there is yeast in each carboy.
A week ago on Monday I put the yeast to my barley wine. Last night the yeast head had started to collapse. this is my signal to rack to carboys for secondary. I racked and added oak towards the end of the rack I stirred up the bottom of the carboy which brings yeast into secondary fermentation. The one with OG of 1.113 was down to 1.040 will sit for 4-5 months before I bottle. as I rack into a pail I will mix in1/4 cup of corn sugar into the beer and I WILL LIGHTLY Stir the bottom of the carboy to get the some yeast off the bottom as I get towards the end of the sugar and the yeast rack. I also make sure I stir the beer to spread this through the beer before I put into my bottles. The bottles sit a minimum of a month before I start to drink. The key is to keep the yeast in the beer.
I also never paper filter. It removes every thing. The one with 1.063 OG I definetly gave a big stir. It was down to 1.010. It will sit for 2 months before I bottle. since I brew in my garage,my next brew will be in March and I will not have much inventory. so it might not make a month in the bottle. May and June I will brew my Scottish ale and my gentlemans coffee stout. which will be bottle in November and December to drink through the winter. This BW tasted like I will be making it again next November for xmas 2017. Hope this helps

it's February, my second running is at 1.010 from 1.063 and I will bottle shortly. my first running at 1.113 is at1.038, I will let it sit until I need the carboy or august, than I will bottle for December consummation. They are 2 different beers. the 1.063 is bold and distinct. The 1.113 like a sweet wine with the flavor muted but drinkable. Will definitely make again, however I will not add the sugar to the primary batch or change the yeast to Scottish to raise the alcohol tolerance to 12% from 11%. I tried heat the car boy up but it did not result in formation so I am assuming the yeast has reached its alcohol tolerance'

Well my beer is about 1.5 years old now and is just phenomonal. Best thing I've made so far I think.

Not sure if the OP still visits here, but was looking for suggestions on brewing this without the smoked malt and to try to emphasize some of the other flavors like the malt and caramel and toffee that I get from it. Not that the smoke is bad, I want to do another one with the smoke malt too!

I just bottled my parti-gyle of this recipe. It is 7% and I used no smoke malt but added toasted dark French oak for smoke. I like the flavor this is a great recipe. I used London ale yeast, next time I'll use Scottish.
My first running OG was1.113 and is 1.038 currently. APV of Scottish is 12% which I hope will get me into the low 1.020's. Otherwise I just doubled the recipe and dropped the smoked malt. Also had to use Galena hop because it was available and the other was not. No smoke okay but this is a Barley wine. to go for more chocolate would bend it more towards a Scottish Ale.