Recipe Critique

[JuanMoore]

I recently found out that I'm going to be a father, and my wife suggested I do a special brew this week that will be ready to drink when the baby's born. We thought it would be cool to hand out beer to friends instead of cigars. I think I'd like to do something with a med-high gravity that likes to be aged since I'll have ~7 mo to age it. Here's what I'm thinking so far:


Batch Size: 10.00 gal
Boil Size: 12.55 gal
Estimated OG: 1.086 SG
Estimated Color: 33.0 EBC
Estimated IBU: 69.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 78.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 lb Light Dry Extract (15.8 EBC) Dry Extract 10.71 %
2.00 lb Cane (Beet) Sugar (0.0 EBC) Sugar 7.14 %
19.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (3.9 EBC) Grain 66.86 %
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (3.9 EBC) Grain 3.57 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (78.8 EBC) Grain 3.57 %
1.00 lb Caramunich Malt (110.3 EBC) Grain 3.57 %
1.00 lb Special B Malt (354.6 EBC) Grain 3.57 %
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 18.2 IBU
1.00 oz Nugget [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 18.2 IBU
1.00 oz Sorachi Ace [10.90 %] (60 min) Hops 15.2 IBU
1.00 oz Sorachi Ace [10.90 %] (15 min) Hops 7.6 IBU
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (15 min) Hops 9.0 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 2.8 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-SteepHops

Mash @ 149 for 75 min, double batch sparge

The DME is in there because my larger MLT comfortably holds ~23# of grain, and splitting the mash between two vessels was a PITA the last time I did it. (a new larger MLT is under construction)

I think I'd use US-05 yeast for one fermenter to end up with something like a lower gravity American barleywine, and WLP-575 Belgian blend in the other one to end up with a hoppy Belgian dark strong ale. I'd probably dry hop the barlywine, but not the Belgian. Do you think I should just choose something closer to a true belgian or true barleywine instead of splitting the difference and doing both? I'm not worried about style guidlines at all, I just want to end up with some delicious beer. Any other thoughts or suggestions?

 

[snailsongs]

go barrleywine and up your dry malt a few lbs to get a true BW gravity.....in 7 months it will be delicious....dry hop the hell out of it too, but wait until just before you bottle to preserve as much aroma as possible. I am biased because I am sitting on a really good barleywine of my own brewing as we speak, and I am in love. Barleywines are exceptional. that said, my other reason for recommending one is that your hops schedule and recipe in general look more barleywine than belgian.....

here's a crazy idea to ponder. you could sort of partigyle it like this. Run a first mash that is large enough to gather 6-7 gallons of first runnings, then cap off your mash with some biscuit, a couple oz of roasted barley & chocolate and some crystal of your choice along with a couple more pounds of base malt, mash again (30 minutes would suffice) as you are boiling your barleywine (the first runnings), then you can use different hop schedules for each along with different yeasts......

I've did a similar thing with my BW, last minute off the top of my head, and the second smaller beer which was fermented with a belgian strain was delicious....I had to hide it from my wife, damnit!