Tropical Oak aged Barleywine?

[JonBrew]

Hi. I've been pondering over this recipe for a few weeks now. I'm pretty hyped about it but as brew day approaches i'm starting to wonder if i'm attempting too much or needlessly over complicating the brew.

The base beer is an American style barleywine, shooting for around 12% abv. I'll bitter with amarillo, and finish with simcoe and citra. I also intend to dry hop with a little more citra. I don't want this to be a hop bomb though and would like the malt bill to come through quite a good bit.

I also plan to secondary the beer on some mango and/or pineapple which I will first roast to caramelise. My hope is that the fruit will be sweetened, not acidic and will work in harmony with the citra hops.

Finally I plan to age this beer on oak chips, possibly soaked in bourbon, tasting as I go until the desired effect is reached. I'll then bottle condition for the appropriate period.

My question is, is this too much to pull off in one beer? Has anyone attempted anything similar and could offer a view or advice?

Cheers

 

[JonBrew]

Anyone?

 

[Zippox]

Well you made my mouth water.

Sorry I can't provide any useful feedback but my 2 cents says try exactly what you are thinking and post your results in a couple months after cracking open a bottle!

 

[JonBrew]

Zippox - thanks for your comments. I'll be brewing tomorrow and will post back the results in the future. The idea is particularly based on a beer I had here in the UK which was a triple Ipa aged on mango and cedar. So I know it can work in that form but I was keen for input on gow these flavours would translate to a significantly more malty brew.

He who dares!

 

[Zippox]

Do you have a plan for how many lbs. of mango/pineapple you are going to use? From what I have read, getting flavor from a fruit takes a lot of fruit.

 

[JonBrew]

i've not planned on a specific amount but i know that lighter flavored fruit need to be added in fairly large quantities. i'm not using the pineapple any more as i learned that it was very high acid whereas mango is very low acid. i reckon i'll need to use around 5 lbs of mango.

 

[BakerBrew]

I just racked to secondary a high ABV mango ale. Its going to be about 9%.

I peeled and diced up 12 semi-ripe and ripe mangos, put them in bags, and froze them for about 1 week. This sterilized the fruit as well as broke down some of the sugars.

Racked to secondary on top of 6, then added the other 6 mangos, 3 days later. Your hop profile looks good, and the fruit would be better matches with less hops and more malt. Your definitely on track. Nelson Sauvin would be another good choice in hops to use.

 

[JonBrew]

Thanks bakerbrew - i'd be keen to know how your ale turns out. How long do you plan to secondary on the mangoes?

 

[BakerBrew]

Anywhere from 10-14 days would be my guess for best results. Will need to taste test frequently toward the end to make sure. I'll let you know how it turns out.