Critique my plans for a first attempt at a Barleywine

So, I came up with a recipe in an attempt to clone a local one shot favorite of mine. Saint Arnolds Divine #6

Reserve No. 6: American Barleywine
Cases Made: 1,172
Kegs Made: 24 half-barrel kegs
Date Brewed: April 21, 2008
Date Bottled: June 4, 2008
Original Gravity: 1.094
Final Gravity: 1.019
Alcohol: 10% ABV

Description:

This is a big, malty, hoppy barleywine. Yet with all of the intense flavors, they meld together to create a well-balanced big beer. The nose has a strong resiny hop note. The taste starts with a combination of the malty sweetness and spicy hops with both flavors magnified by the high alcohol level. The spiciness carries through the middle and finishes with a satisfyingly dry bitter. It was brewed with 2 row pale, Caramunich and Special B malts with brown sugar added in the kettle and hopped with 225 lbs of Columbus hops including 44 lbs that were dry hopped. We used our Saint Arnold yeast strain which gives a rich, creamy mouthfeel to the brew. It is unfiltered and will clarify with aging. Enjoy at 45°F or warmer. This beer will age well.

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So this is what I came up with for a 1.75 gallon attempt.....

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 1.75 gal
Boil Size: 4.00 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 90 min Equipment: Brew Pot (7.5 gal) and Cooler (48 qt)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00


Ingredients

5 lbs 7.7 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 83.17 %
7.3 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 6.93 %
2.4 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 2.31 %
8.0 oz Brown Sugar, Dark (50.0 SRM) Sugar 7.59 %
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 66.9 IBU
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (25 min) Hops 46.5 IBU
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (0 min) Hops -
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
8.0 oz Brown Sugar, Dark (50.0 SRM) Sugar 7.59 %

Est Original Gravity: 1.094 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.024 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 9.27 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.65 %
Bitterness: 113.5 IBU Calories: 43 cal/pint
Est Color: 18.3 SRM Color: Color


My plan is to try to keep it really simple... a single infusion mash... 152-153 for an hour and then run 170 degree sparge water through till I get my boil volume. I try for pretty much equal parts water.

I was planning on using one pack of US-05. Ferment around 65 degrees and then leave on the yeast three weeks or so and then move to a secondary for a period yet to be determined. This will be bottled eventually.

I'm a newbie and I've been trying to keep my first attempts extremely basic. Pretty much mash and sparge with equal amounts of water, boil it down, add the hops, and do the cool down thing, and then add the yeast. I feel once I dial this process in, it will give me a base line to measure what if anything various different changes might make.

Do you see any major issues?

Any advice on when to add the brown sugar? I was assuming around 60 minutes, but thats an uneducated guess.

I read a lot about how difficult the big beers can be and since I'm figuring nine months minimum to glass, I want the process I'm choosing to be workable.

Thanks in advance!

I would add the brown sugar at 5 min or less, you may or may not get any flavor from it, but the less you boil it the better your chances of getting some flavor profile out of it, good luck on this big beer

You'll get some molasses flavor out of the brown sugar from my experience.

KerryD said:

I was planning on using one pack of US-05. Ferment around 65 degrees...

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I recommend that you pitch two packets and aerate the hell out of it due to the high gravity. That will help avoid a stuck fermentation and promote better attenuation.

lamarguy said:

I recommend that you pitch two packets and aerate the hell out of it due to the high gravity. That will help avoid a stuck fermentation and promote better attenuation.

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Even shooting for a 1.75 gallon batch you'd go with two packets?

You missed a decimal point on your measued OG (hopefully...)

You said you measured 1.010 OG and 1.005FG for an ABV of 0.65%.

Hoping you meant 1.100. Or you haven't brewed it yet so you just fudged the numbers.

KerryD said:

Even shooting for a 1.75 gallon batch you'd go with two packets?

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Ha, I missed the small batch size....Then I retract my previous comment.

You missed a decimal point on your measued OG (hopefully...)

You said you measured 1.010 OG and 1.005FG for an ABV of 0.65%.

Hoping you meant 1.100. Or you haven't brewed it yet so you just fudged the numbers

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.

That's all copy and paste.

Ha, I missed the small batch size....Then I retract my previous comment.

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Cool! I was wondering!

Well, missed this one. Overshot my volume and after 1:45 I was still at 2.15 or so gallons so I called it quits. Measured to 1.080 so quite a bit short. I'm not sure how I should proceed from here... do I treat it like a regular beer and primary for 3 weeks and bottle or what... oh well... again, any advice is appreciated.

I'd just let it go and give it another shot some other time. I'm sure it'll still be some damn good beer.