1st Barleywine/Winter Warmer Attempt

[Ichthy]

Hi All

EDIT: I didn't include in the title, but I need a critique.

I've never made a strong beer (>1.060) before so I am going with a 2.5 gal batch. I plan on aging till next fall till, at least Thanksgiving.

Winter Warmer - English Barleywine
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Batch Size: 2.500 gal
Boil Size: 4.063 gal
Boil Time: 60 min or however long to get to volume
Efficiency: 70%
OG: 1.089
FG: 1.018
ABV: 9.3%
Bitterness: 72.4 IBUs (Tinseth)
Color: 26 SRM (Mosher)

Fermentables
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Name Type Amount Mashed Late Yield Color
Pale Malt (2 Row) US Grain 8.000 lb Yes No 79% 2 L
Chocolate Malt (US) Grain 4.000 oz Yes No 60% 350 L
Special B Malt Grain 4.000 oz Yes No 65% 180 L
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L Grain 4.000 oz Yes No 74% 80 L
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L Grain 4.000 oz Yes No 74% 60 L

Hops
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Name Alpha Amount Use Time IBU
Northern Brewer 9.0% 1.000 oz Boil 1.000 hr 51.8
Kent Goldings 5.5% 0.500 oz Boil 1.000 hr 15.8
Kent Goldings 5.5% 0.250 oz Boil 20.000 min 4.8

Yeast
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Name Type Form Amount Stage
Danstar - Nottingham Ale Dry 2.232 tsp Primary

Mash
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Name Type Amount Target Time
Conversion Infusion 3.006 gal 152.000 F 1.000 hr
Batch Sparge Infusion 2.384 gal 168.200 F 15.000 min


My main concerns with the recipe are IBUs and yeast. First, I don't want this beer to be too sweet so I went fairly high on the IBUs, however, I don't want it to be too bitter, so I could use some advice as to how balanced this beer will be.

Second, should I use a neutral yeast such as Notty, or go with S04 (or something similar).

Third, is my mash temp too high - 155F for 1 hour? I see lot's of people adding sugar to their barleywines, and I assume it's to dry the beer out, without adding the residual sweetness from lots of Caramel malts??? So, should I mash lower, or replace some malt with sugar?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

 

[user 22118]

alrighty, I see good things about this and I see a couple of places that could use a little work maybe.

1. Mashing at 155 will give you a fairly high finishing gravity (1.016-1.025) relatively speaking. If you manage your fermentation well, you will get the lower end of the scale. If not, the higher end. Your process will make the biggest difference and since you haven't attempted this high a gravity, I will guess that it will finish between 1.020 and 1.025. I think that you might be overestimating the difficulty of getting 80% attenuation. I could figure closer to 70-75% just to be fair on your first time.

2. That isn't much bitterness truthfully on an ageable beer. I start about 60IBUs when making something I am going to age. It sounds like a lot now, but time will remove a lot of the bitterness. I have a friend that makes a barleywine with 1.100 gravity and 68 IBU's. That is similar to your recipe, just more bitter.

3. Unless you are going to drink this sooner rather than later, the aroma hop additions don't hang around much more than 6 months. So you might be better off dry hopping just before you bottle if you are trying to have a hoppy flavor/aroma when you drink the beer this winter.

4. You grains look like a tasty beer. I think you are going to have a good flavor in the finished product. There will be a lot of figs down the road though, so keep that in mind.

5. Nottingham is a good yeast, but I find it not as clean as US-05. It can throw some strange fruity characteristics when you ferment it too warm. I mean anywhere above 68*. So if you can't manage your fermentation, you might want to just go with something like US-05 as it is a little bit more forgiving and can attenuate like a madman.

Good luck sir! This looks like a tasty brew!

 

[Ichthy]

Thanks Matt, your advice is really helpful.

1. I'll mash a little lower, say 152F for an hour. I agree, getting 80%+ attenuation will be difficult (OG and FG are software estimates, should have done them by hand ).

2-3. Thanks a bunch here, I'll move some aroma additions to a longer boil and get the IBUs closer to 70.

4. Where will the figs be coming from?? I haven't used all of the malts (C80 and special B) in this recipe, I kind of hodge-podged this together from other recipes and malt descriptions.

5. I've temperature control so we're good here. :rockin:



I'll get this recipe updated tomorrow and repost, but thanks so far and keep em coming.

 

[user 22118]

figs come from the special B and higher roasted crystal malts.