Barleywine Critiques

[Matteo57]

Wanted some critiques on a barleywine.
I don't want it overly bitter or a huge bitter bomb. I would rather it a bit more aligned with a english style barleywine where you taste more malty flavor. I would do an english styled one but I have some yeast I want to use up on this batch.
Will be brewing a batch of 11.5g and splitting into two fermentors. 1 with a big yeast cake of San Diego super strain 090, and the other 3 packets of safale 05 (although I have 04 as well... so I guess I could use that subbed for the 05?). Also using the extract in there to get rid of it! I don't usually do extract anymore and figured this would be a good place to just use it to up gravity.

I would like this a medium to thick bodied beer, will the brown sugar lighten it up too much? Would regular table sugar be better to use for flavor/non flavor contribution?

Thoughts on finishing hops? Should I just stick with more fuggles and EKG or think that those two might be pretty good?

Mash 149 for 120 minutes
Boil 90 minutes

EST. OG: 1.115
Est. FG 1.025-1.030
IBUs 95
SRM: 18

24 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) 54.7 %
4 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)9.1 %
2 lbs Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) 4.6 %
8.0 oz Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM) 1.1 %
6.4 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) 0.9 %
9 lbs Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) 20.5 %
4 lbs Brown Sugar, Dark (50.0 SRM) Sugar 7 9.1 %

4.00 oz Warrior [15.70 %] - Boil 60.0 min 66.7 IBUs
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 45.0 min 13.7 IBUs
2.00 oz East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.00 %] - Boil 15 min 5.3 IBUs
2.00 oz Fuggles [5.30 %] - Boil 15 min 5.6 IBUs
1.50 oz Kohatu [6.80 %] - Boil 5.0 min 2.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [6.80 %] - Boil 5.0 min 1.4 IBUs

Thanks on any feedback! Much appreciated!

 

[Matteo57]

No thoughts at all?

 

[RonPopeil]

For an english barleywine aim for 1.090's and ~60 IBU. they tend to be lower alcohol and less bitter compared to the american version.

Simplify your recipe. Hop additions can be more like 60, 20. These beers are typically aged for a few months and hop flavor will subside so no sense in late additions.

90 minute boil should give you a touch of caramel/maillard products. I would skip the cara/crystal grains and focus on a base grains. a small amount of smoke malt would be a good addition to this.

1.030 probably won't happen. you have a healthy amount of brown sugar in this which will drive your FG down a good bit. I would even consider reducing the brown sugar because of this. you'll want to finish around 1.018 if you can. make sure you pitch a ton of yeast and leave it in the fermenter for a while.

I gave mine 3 weeks in primary, 2 months in the keg and 7 days in the keezer before i touched it. stayed on tap for about 4 months and was only getting better when it floated.

 

[mrphillips]

All my suggestions are based on your recipe being a 5 gallon batch.

I love the grain bill, but I think you need to dial back the hops a bit. It looks just about right for an AMERICAN Barleywine, but even then I think that the IBU's are a little high. If you want it more English/malty, maybe only ONE ounce of warrior hops for bittering. I recently had a friend bitter a stout with 1 oz warrior, and it cam out WAY too bitter. Granted that your beer will be at a much higher gravity than my buddy's stout, but 4 oz. seems like way too much. The other hop additions seem very nice.

I'm basing my suggestions on a strong ale I put together a month ago. The OG wasn't quite as high as yours (mine was 1.082), and my FG was lower than your prediction (1.012). I bittered with 34 grams of chinook (slightly less AA's than warrior) @ 60, 17 grams of Kent Golding @ 20, 34 grams Hallertau @ 5, and another 34 hallertau dry hopped. My result was a 9.2% beer with around 45 IBU's. With that many IBU's, there is hardly any bitterness noticeable, and the malty sweetness is restrained but present.

If you're looking for a less bitter barley wine, 95 IBU's seems like too much...even for a beer this large.

Keep us updated as to how it comes out if you decide to brew it!