Barley wine help

[ProblemChild]

Hi all,

Been brewing for a while, but have only hit a few big beers. Never hit a failure, but never tried anything this big. In any event, I an going after an American Barley Wine. (22c)

I am going for big everything. ABV, IBU, dark, chewy and hoppy. First time throwing balance out the window.

Here is what I have so for. Please provide feed back on the below recipe

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: 0318 Barleywine
Style: American Barleywine
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.99 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.99 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.95 gal
Estimated OG: 1.105 SG
Estimated Color: 17.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 80.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 76.7 %
Boil Time: 120 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
11.00 lb Pale Ale, Golden Promise®™ (Simpsons) 51.2 %
8.00 lb ESB Pale Malt (Gambrinus) (4.0 SRM) 37.2 %
1.00 lb Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM) 4.7 %
0.75 lb Extra Special (Briess) (130.0 SRM) 3.5 %
0.50 lb Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) 2.3 %
0.25 lb Special B (Dingemans) (147.5 SRM) 1.2 %

1.50 oz Galena [12.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min 44.5 IBUs
1.50 oz Strata [10.20 %] - Boil 20.0 min 22.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Galena [12.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min 9.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Enigma [13.00 %] - Boil 2.0 min 5.2 IBUs

1.0 pkg Thames Valley Ale (Wyeast Labs #1275)

1.50 oz Enigma [12.50 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days 0.0 IBUs
2.50 oz Strata [10.20 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days 0.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 21.50 lb
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 6.35 gal of water at 168.87 F 152.00 F 90 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 3.52 gal water at 168.00 F
Notes:

 

[MizzouFermentationScience]

Sounds huge, neat. My only input is that the guys I used to brew with in PDX would age barley wines for a year. We’d drink old barley wine while making new ones, true dedication. A year may be extreme but I think time can only help integrate such strong flavors.

 

[ProblemChild]

I just cracked open a Brett-Rye Barley wine that has been sitting for a year.

A year is nowhere near extreme.

 

[Shenanigans]

I have no idea what your planned FG is but according to the Wyeast site the alc. tolerance for that strain is 10% so you might be pushing it. Also if you are going for an American BW then maybe better to stick with an American strain?

 

[ProblemChild]

I have no idea what your planned FG is but according to the Wyeast site the alc. tolerance for that strain is 10% so you might be pushing it. Also if you are going for an American BW then maybe better to stick with an American strain?

Good observation. I actually do that on purpose. I go for the character of the yeast that i like and if necessary, chase it with something a bit stronger. Redstar Champagne yeast is a great addition to get up to 12%. Add that to secondary. I have broken 10 on a couple occasions and each time with the 1275 - so we will see.

Additionally, I may decide to use t his method to drive it down to an FG of about 1.012 and add Omega Bit o Funk. Did this before with smashing results. One would think it would be dry, but there was enough from the grain bill to have a ton of body without the sugars.

 

[cmac62]

I once did a English style BW and it called for way more hops than what you have listed for your ABW. Because of all of the malt I believe you may want to bump the bittering hops. I used like 10 oz total 2 at 60, 2 at 30, 2 at 10, 2 at 5 and 2 at FO. It was not overly hoppy for the style and actually won a second place at a local comp. It takes way more hops than you think to balance the amount of malt. I have brewed a lot of big beers, but this one called for way more hops that I expected. I usually use tasty brew calculator to design my recipes, which doesn't take into account the yeast and a lot of other stuff, but it gets me into the style range. Anyway, just my one experience with brewing BW.

 

[ProblemChild]

I once did a English style BW and it called for way more hops than what you have listed for your ABW. Because of all of the malt I believe you may want to bump the bittering hops. I used like 10 oz total 2 at 60, 2 at 30, 2 at 10, 2 at 5 and 2 at FO. It was not overly hoppy for the style and actually won a second place at a local comp.

thank you for that perspecitve. Greatly apprecaited.

What hops did you use? I was wondering if I should go bigger, but want to check agains the Alphas of your hop schedule..

 

[cmac62]

thank you for that perspecitve. Greatly apprecaited.

What hops did you use? I was wondering if I should go bigger, but want to check agains the Alphas of your hop schedule..

I'll check my recipe, but they were most likely EKG and Fuggles, not so high in AAs.

 

[imasickboy]

One thing to keep in mind is that if you miss gravity by a fair amount, (likely possibility with big grain bills), the beer will be way different than you intended, and possibly suck. Keep DME on hand to make sure that gravity is where it is supposed to be.

 

[ProblemChild]

One thing to keep in mind is that if you miss gravity by a fair amount, (likely possibility with big grain bills), the beer will be way different than you intended, and possibly suck. Keep DME on hand to make sure that gravity is where it is supposed to be.

I was set for that eventuality. Fortunately the beer gods were smiling on me (might have been gas, hard to tell). A slightly thin mash, good water, hitting a ph of 5.3 and perfect crush, I hit gravity target spot on at 1.105 and even came got an extra quart into the fermenter.