Barley Wine Fermentation

[Acaciadrian]

Hello all,

My brother-in-law and I recently brewed a decently big Barley Wine(All-Grain-OG 1.100) and let it sit in the primary for 2 weeks, then racked to the secondary where it has been for just shy of 3 weeks. The problem is I made a rookie mistake of dry hopping(.5 oz East Kent Golding whole hops) it once it went into the carboy(secondary). I had completely forgetting about hop vegetal flavors this could add. So now we are in a jam as to what to do.
Should we bottle it and let it condition in there? Rack to a different fermentation vessel without the hops?
OR let it sit?
Our original plan was to let it sit int he secondary 4-6 months before bottling.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[turkeyjerky214]

The only thing that bulk conditioning does vs bottle conditioning is ensure that the entire batch is exactly the same. Instead of adding the risk of moving it to yet another fermentation vessel, I'd just bottle it.

I have several friends that age their beers this way. They always use the oxygen absorbing caps when bottling something they're going to age for an extended period of time.

 

[ajwillys]

How sure are you that its done fermenting? If you're going to store it for an extended period in bottles you want to be SURE its done fermenting. I'd either rack or bottle but definitely don't leave it on hops for a long time. I personally rack my barleywine's with a co2 push so I'm not worried about oxygenation but I can understand the concern.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

I would rack and allow it to bottle condition personally. Rather than the an additional step in that allows for oxygenation.

 

[Acaciadrian]

How sure are you that its done fermenting? If you're going to store it for an extended period in bottles you want to be SURE its done fermenting. I'd either rack or bottle but definitely don't leave it on hops for a long time. I personally rack my barleywine's with a co2 push so I'm not worried about oxygenation but I can understand the concern.

I am fairly certain that it is done fermenting, I hit the FG I was looking for and its stayed consistent for 2 weeks now. Any suggestions to make sure?

 

[blackbeer]

what yeast and what FG?

 

[ajwillys]

I am fairly certain that it is done fermenting, I hit the FG I was looking for and its stayed consistent for 2 weeks now. Any suggestions to make sure?

Nope, sounds like you are right and its done. Since you're bottling, I agree with the others, just go ahead and bottle it. After about the second month, you could go ahead and start testing them, a bottle a month or so. Depending on recipe, gravity, etc... some barleywine's seem to hit there peak after a few months and others are still getting better after a year or more.