Critique my recipe please

It's already brewed so a bit too late but since there's going to be a long long time between today and when it's ready for consumption I wanted to check your input on my recipe and maybe brew a "corrected" batch if need be.

We just had our first kid at the end of August so I thought I'd brew some big beers for a party on his first birthday. I brewed this one as a "leftover" brew. I brewed two stout porters, both have been a staple in my brew schedule but I kicked em up a bit for a 10month aging. I made my bourbon-soaked oak aged porter and oaked vanilla porter but bumped the OG from 1.080 to 1.100 on both. I had a handful of specialty grains leftover so I figured I'd use the lighter grains to make a barleywine.

Style: English Barleywine ...kinda. Maybe a strong Belgian style barleywine? I don't tend to stick true to style guidelines.

OG (actual) 1.128

15# Maris Otter
~0.75# Caramel 80
~0.5# Special B
~0.5# Belgian Aromatic
~0.5# Flaked Barley
~0.5# Caramel 120
2# candy sugar adding to primary after initial fermentation settles

"Handful" (maybe 1oz, maybe less-no scale) Galena from my only 1st year flowering hop vine @ 75min
"Half handful" Galena @ 60min
1oz Chinook @ 45min
1oz Willamette @ 15min

Yeast: Wyeast Neobrittanica
Started the yeast in a 2L 1.040 starter, Added 1L 1.080 wort twice to make a 4L starter.

I've never "stepped up" a yeast starter and didn't really research it, or any part of this recipe so I don't know if I did that right. Kinda wanted to see if it would work out without outside input. Which is part of the reason I wanted to check after the fact to see what you think of this.

75 min boil

I'm planning two weeks in primary-1week for initial fermentation, 1week for candi sugar fermentation and then rack to secondary on 6oz oak cubes until around newyears and from there carbonate in keg and bottle age until August.

My rationale for the grain bill other than "that's what I had on hand" was to utilize "body adders" to combat the potential for drying out a barleywine using the belgian sugar. I suppose I could've skipped the sugar but it's been in the freezer for a while; had a belgian that I either pitched dead yeast or got massively infected somehow. Never fermented, just got a fuzzy oil slick on top, my only infected batch after 40+ batches.

So, think it'll work? It will work, but do you think it'll be worth drinking? If anything's way off or if you've got some suggestions, I may brew a second batch as a backup. I've got room for 40 gallons in fermenters (3 primaries and 5 secondaries) so with 3 tied up so far, I can still do one more big beer without hindering routine brewing.

I think you should not fixate on 2 weeks in the primary, but rather, wait after the sugar addition until it clears, then transfer - so probably 3 weeks at least for this big beer. It'll let the yeast do some more work on absorbing their fermentation by products before you transfer. This should work - take a gravity reading before you transfer to secondary to age, and if it tastes ok, then you don't need a re-brew. Advice on the starter, always use 1.040 wort for the starter, don't use the higher gravity stuff at 1.080 - it stresses out the yeast a little - but based on how you did it this time, I'm possitive itll turn out fine - it just wasn't "ideal" growth conditions. You'll make beer, your sanitation and temp control will make more impact than the yeast pitch.

danmdevries said:

I've never "stepped up" a yeast starter and didn't really research it, or any part of this recipe so I don't know if I did that right. Kinda wanted to see if it would work out without outside input. Which is part of the reason I wanted to check after the fact to see what you think of this.

Click to expand...

I think it was Neva from White Labs talking on video at NB who explained that adding 1L to a 1L starter is not the same as a 2L starter. The yeast assess the added food, and if not sufficient to fuel more reproduction, they won't increase population. So you probably have close to a 2L starter mass of yeast rather than 4L. I think you would have been better off going from 1 to 4L or even going straight to a full 4L from the smack pack if fresh. I haven't gone beyond a 2L starter, but for those I pitch a vial (actually usually just a half of a vial) direct to the 2L. I do use a stir plate.

Hopefully you aerated it extremely well. If you have the means, I'd add oxygen again at 12-18 hours. If no O2 stone system, but in a bucket, stir it. In a carboy you could shake again, but do a quick test to make sure you don't have any CO2 in suspension which will create an almighty gusher.

Check your gravity before adding the candi sugar. If it hasn't attenuated where you want, then wait it out. Since it's a long term project, there's no harm in that. I'd also add the sugar when you rack to secondary on the oak. The reason being that the fermentation from the sugar will help scrub any oxygen picked up in the transfer. Heck, you could simply add half the sugar then, and the final half when you rack it off the oak. I think that's what I'd do. Even with a British strain flocculating out after primary, I think there will be plenty of yeast to wake up on those simple sugars each time.

Quaker said:

I think it was Neva from White Labs talking on video at NB who explained that adding 1L to a 1L starter is not the same as a 2L starter. The yeast assess the added food, and if not sufficient to fuel more reproduction, they won't increase population. So you probably have close to a 2L starter mass of yeast rather than 4L. I think you would have been better off going from 1 to 4L or even going straight to a full 4L from the smack pack if fresh. I haven't gone beyond a 2L starter, but for those I pitch a vial (actually usually just a half of a vial) direct to the 2L. I do use a stir plate.

Hopefully you aerated it extremely well. If you have the means, I'd add oxygen again at 12-18 hours. If no O2 stone system, but in a bucket, stir it. In a carboy you could shake again, but do a quick test to make sure you don't have any CO2 in suspension which will create an almighty gusher.

Check your gravity before adding the candi sugar. If it hasn't attenuated where you want, then wait it out. Since it's a long term project, there's no harm in that. I'd also add the sugar when you rack to secondary on the oak. The reason being that the fermentation from the sugar will help scrub any oxygen picked up in the transfer. Heck, you could simply add half the sugar then, and the final half when you rack it off the oak. I think that's what I'd do. Even with a British strain flocculating out after primary, I think there will be plenty of yeast to wake up on those simple sugars each time.

Click to expand...

I started with a 2L starter at 1.040 and it sat on the stirplate for two days then I added 1L at a higher gravity twice, two days at a time. Before I pitched I turned off the stirplate and let it settle for the brewday, about 5 hours and there was a good 2-2.5" yeast cake. Normally with a 2L starter I have 1-1.5" cake. My reasoning was to add enough fermentables for the yeast to restart reproduction. Next time I'll just do a 4L starter. I only had a 2L flask when I first pitched the starter and ended up buying a 5L flask when I stopped at the brewing store for a new hydrometer.

My dates were just rough estimates. Generally I rack to secondary after it's cleared up which is about two weeks in. I leave lighter weight beers in primary if they'll finish in 3-4 weeks but because I haven't figured out a good method of filtering out the trub after boil, I get a lot of crap in primary that seems to cause the beer to be bitter/soapy if it sits too long. I don't get those flavors if I get it off the crap layer after 2-3 weeks. Once it's been in primary 4 weeks or more is when I notice it.

Oxygen: I don't yet have the means to aerate but I've been thinking about doing it for a while now. I got a stirplate a while back to help with starters but never jumped to wort aeration. Maybe I'll stop at lhbs and pick up a stone, filter, and tubing. I don't want to buy another cylinder and lugging my 80cf welding cylinder downstairs has kept me from doing it. I could get one of those tiny propane sized cylinders and give that a shot.

As far as the recipe is concerned though, seems to be decent?

The recipe is fine, should make good beer. You may not know for sure the IBU's because of the homegrown hops but if its bitter, and tastes right at transfer you'll know you did well. I think it looks fine.

Do you think my "choice" of adjunct grains is sufficient for adding body? They were all leftovers so I just tossed em all in. My wife's favorite beer is 3Floyds Behemoth and I've never found a clone recipe nor have I been able to get my hands on enough bottles (usually 2-3/yr) to attempt a clone myself. But it's moderately rich, not as chewy as say darklord or mephistopheles but definitely "heavier" than most. If I want a heavier body, should I forego the candy sugar altogether? I was going to add it to bump the abv since it's been sitting here anyways but I don't want to dry it out too much. Will 2# of candy sugar lighten the body significantly given my grain bill?

Another question for the future... When bottling, should I carb in the keg and bottle age for 6-8mo or should I go straight to bottle w/o sugar? Or keg carb and keg age with bottling a few weeks before consumption? I'd much prefer to bottle age over keg aging because I only have room for 4 kegs and would rather not give up a slot for the better part of a year. Barleywines tend to be very low on carbonation, so is there enough fermentable sugars to self-carbonate to a low level without adding sugar? My fear is that if I keg carb and bottle age, there may be enough activity over the extended aging period to leave me with an over-carbonated brew where one doesn't expect more than minimal carbonation.

You have several questions.

1. You will have enough body developed from your choice of grains, but idealy you would have mashed a little higher as well say between 154-158. The yeast will stop and it will not attenuate dry.
2. You may have enough sugar to self carbonate but the yeast is going to be really tired with this high alcohol beer. I would bottle carbonate, and if you are anywhere around 1.015 FG you'll want to add some sugar. The grains you have that produce non fermentable dextrines will raise your FG - so its "ok" if it finishes higher.

I think part of the issue here is you're trying to guess how this is going to turn out - you should wait till fermentation is complete, then you'll know more and be able to make some decisions.

I transferred the wort out of the bucket and into a carboy. Not even calling it secondary because that wasn't my purpose.

Excessive trub in the fermenter left what looked like lingering high krausen. I sanitized a spoon and scooped some out, it was just a "shell" of mixed krausen and trub with a good 1" above the beer still white healthy krausen. So maybe it was too early. Regardless, I wanted the beer off the trub and I wanted it in a carboy so I could see what it was doing. I only use the buckets for fermenting when I don't have any carboys free. I hate not being able to see what it's doing.

Normally when I go from kettle to fermenter I run it through a fine mesh bag but I didn't have any on hand for brew day. I picked up a few and racked into a carboy with the mesh bag and filtered quite a bit of crap out. Added the sugar and fermentation picked up wildly. Blowoff tube is in a glass milk bottle with grain alcohol and it's already doubled volume from the start. I have a feeling my 5g batch that ended up being 4.25 is going to only be 3g when it's all said and done.

Gravity reading when I transferred from bucket to carboy was 1.030. Small taste sample was very good, very chewy and slightly too sweet but that should improve.

I've never had a brew behave like this. After the Kaboom it settled down but the krausen didn't fall. I attributed this to the body builders in the wort and excessive trub in fermenter since the krausen was a hollow shell over the beer.

It was pretty obvious the yeast were nowhere near done with their mission once the candi sugar was added. Absolutely violent reaction when the sugar was added. Under an hour and the krausen was hitting the blowoff tube.

So now it will sit a while until it clears again. I've got oak cubes soaking in cabernet sauvignon. Hopefully the wine doesn't spoil and I end up with oak cubes soaked in vinegar.... I didn't expect fermentation to go from sedate (no airlock activity for days) to violent blowoff-required so I put the cubes in a beer bottle, poured the wine in, and capped it with the plan being once the yeast had finished the candi sugar I would add the oak in the carboy and then let it sit. But it's gotta settle down first. I'll check it in a few days and see where the gravity's at.