English Barley Wine

[amrmedic]

Ok, I am brewing my Barley Wine. This is for an English Barley Wine. I have posted my recipe before but I have made adjustments based on your recommendations. I downsized the batch to fit my equipment.

I am going to do a 2.5 gallon batch as to be able to accommodate my equipment. Plan for a 120 minute boil

Uk Pale Malt 11 lb
UK Amber Malt 2 lb
UK Crystal 55 1 lb

Hops:
Admiral .5 oz full boil
UK Phoenix .5 oz at 60
UK Brambling Cross .25 oz at 30
UK Fuggles .254 oz at 15 min

Going to use Wyeast Old Ale Blend 9097 with a starter

Ok, my questions are:
1) How much strike water to use? I plan to get 4.5 gallons and boil down to 2.5 gallons

2) Do I sparge and if so how much? Or do I sparge and take those runnings and make a second beer?

I plan to ferment in primary for 3-4 weeks, 3 months in secondary on oak chips and then bottle for 8 months.

 

[Oldsock]

You need a minimum of 3.5 gllons of water so you'd have a 1 qrt/lb.

How much you sparge will depend on how much dead space you have in your tun. If you wanted to do a no-sparge you'd have to add about 6.5 gallons of strike water (assuming the grain soaks up .1 gal/lb and your tun has .5 gal of dead space). You can divide that 6.5 gal up however you want between the strike and sparge.

With the Brett in that blend you may need to give it more time in secondary, keep an eye on the gravity and don't bottle until it is stable for a month.

Sounds like a good recipe, hope it turns out well. I did an Old Ale with Brett C and oak ~4 years ago, really complex, but the body was a bit too thin in my opinion. You might want to add some flaked rye or something to add body even if the FG drops low.

 

[StAnthonyB]

Ok, I am brewing my Barley Wine. This is for an English Barley Wine. I have posted my recipe before but I have made adjustments based on your recommendations. I downsized the batch to fit my equipment.

I am going to do a 2.5 gallon batch as to be able to accommodate my equipment. Plan for a 120 minute boil

Uk Pale Malt 11 lb
UK Amber Malt 2 lb
UK Crystal 55 1 lb

That UK Amber Malt can come through real strong. You may consider scaling it back to half a pound.