Back Sweeten a Barleywine, then Force Carbonate

[goldy222]

I have a barleywine that finished with a lower than planned final gravity. Nottingham took it from 1.090 to 1.012. I wanted it to finish around 1.018 - 1.020. The mouthfeel is too light, I’m thinking about adding potassium sorbate, backsweetening with enough maple syrup to bring the gravity up to 1.018 or so, and then force carbonating. Anyone have experience with this? I’m not seeing a lot of info out there on the topic

 

[Rhaop]

Most people will use lactose to bring mouthfeel and some residual sweetness, the maple syrup could make your beer cloyingly sweet

You could also take a small sample and add the syrup and also try the lactose in a small sample before you tinker with a full batch

 

[goldy222]

Good idea. I just tried a sample with maple syrup and it was too sweet. Lactose might be just what it needs. I’ll try that and report back

 

[goldy222]

I tried the lactose and didn’t like it. I went back to maple syrup, but a smaller amount. This is what I want to go with. 1 cup (8 fl oz)maple syrup in 3 gal will bring the gravity to about 1.018 where I want it. This small amount made a big difference without going too sweet. Also gonna add 3 cups of Jim Beam as the intension here initially was a bourbon barleywine. I added this in as I was testing my samples and it went along nicely. It’s pretty much where I want it now. This might sound crazy, but I’m also considering dry hops. Any thoughts?!?!

 

[MrPowers]

Food for thought: the maple syrup will ferment out almost completely if there are still any active yeast in there. So either filter the beer into the keg or, after you add it, keep it cold and keep the yeast dormant. I would not recommend bottling with the maple syrup.

 

[goldy222]

I was planning on using potassium sorbate to prevent further fermentation, then force carbonating. Any experience with this?

 

[FatDragon]

I dry hopped my barleywine and it was both a good idea and a dumb idea.

It was a good idea because the dry hopped samples out of the fermenter were delicious and aromatic.

It was a dumb idea because I planned to age the beer for another 8 months in bottles, so by the time I started cracking bottles with any regularity, the dry hop contribution was basically nil.

I don't know how a dry hop would play with bourbon, though. I feel like they might clash, but it may just depend on choosing the right varieties for the flavors to complement each other. If you've got something small to do samples in, like baby food jars, you could try doing dry hop trials or even dry hop some shots of whiskey directly and see how you like it.

No idea about the potassium sorbate, I'm afraid. They use that to kill the yeast in wine and cider making, right? My instinctive guess is that it will probably work, but get an experienced source on that before going ahead with it.

 

[goldy222]

I’ve been doing some research on the potassium sorbate. Others are reporting some refermentation when using sorbate alone and that sulfite/campden may need to be used to keep the sugar addition from fermenting out. I’m already hesitant in adding sorbate due to possible unwanted flavors, so definitely don’t wanna add anything else that could make it even worse.

Guess I’m back to the drawing board on how to fix this barleywine that’s too dry. I am using a recipe from BYO magazine whose recipes are usually solid, this was a sucaba clone. One of the yeast choices in their recipe was Nottingham, which I feel was not a good option. I think they shouldn’t have listed that as an option and just included the white labs and wyeast choices that probably wouldn’t have such a high attenuation.

At this point I think I’m gonna skip the backsweetening. And skip the extra bourbon which actually thins out the body even more. I may just add a big dry hop addition and hope for the best. Any other suggestions on how to fix this batch would be welcomed.

 

[Rhaop]

Another suggestion is brew another beer with a higher % of crystal malts or do a long boil, but make a small batch of it, then try blending in different proportions Never done it myself but should be plenty of info on Hbt about it


Just start off in small amounts so you don’t mess up a full batch


Or dry hop it right before you force carb and enjoy