barley wine

[epistrummer]

I just went out of my way today to find my first barleywine after reading some posts about it, and all I can say is "WOW"! I've got to brew some of this! I don't care that I have to wait a year or more for it to mature, I'm loving it. So, does anyone have any recommendations as to which recipe to try?

 

[phoenixs4r]

I just recently went through this. Most barley wine recipes lack a lot of detail I'm assuming because they take so long to brew. I believe revvy came up with a very interesting recipe for a special occasion. If I stumble a cross it I will will link it.

 

[ktblunden]

Which barley wine did you try? That may help steer you to particular recipes. There's a big difference between English and American barley wines.

 

[Braufessor]

I brewed my first barley wine this past february. I went with "old stoner" - glad I did. It was amazingly good when I transferred from primary to secondary. Will be bottling it in the upcoming weeks. It is a tried and true recipe that was highly recommended.
http://www.tastybrew.com/brews/view/50

 

[ao125]

I'm a huge fan of the barleywine in my sig. I think the recipe turned out great, and I plan to brew it again this Christmas.

Christmas 2013, I have plans for a pecan barleywine, as soon as my chunks of toasted pecan wood have done their thing in the rye whiskey they're in now.

 

[Cavemann310]

Google gravity bomb barleywine, its in extract form but I'm sure you can convert it using beer smith or something. I have it in secondary now for 3 weeks with oak cubes and then bottling. Tasted it when i transferred from primary and it tasted awesome already minus the heavy booze kick on the end but that will mellow with time of course.

 

[epistrummer]

Which barley wine did you try? That may help steer you to particular recipes. There's a big difference between English and American barley wines.

It was Old Foghorn by Anchor Brewing Co in San Francisco. Just a flavorful, pleasant brew. I only bought one bottle because it sells for about $16 per 6 pack, but they let you buy singles where I go. So anyway, it is an American barley wine.

 

[epistrummer]

Google gravity bomb barleywine, its in extract form but I'm sure you can convert it using beer smith or something. I have it in secondary now for 3 weeks with oak cubes and then bottling. Tasted it when i transferred from primary and it tasted awesome already minus the heavy booze kick on the end but that will mellow with time of course.

I googled that and found an all grain version. the recipe says to wait 3 weeks after bottling before drinking. I was under the impression that barleywine takes a lot longer than that to age. Should I wait 6 weeks? 6 months?

 

[Cavemann310]

When you Google it all grain pops up first and extract version is second link, at least when i checked a moment ago, I know barleywine takes time usually so i was going to bottle and let it sit for quite a few months anyway but since it already tasted decent out of the primary i will for sure give a try after 3 weeks in the bottle. I also scaled the recipe down to a 3 gal tester batch.

 

[hogwash]

I think you're going to want to wait more than 3 weeks. I brewed one in march that has been in secondary now for a few months, I plan to bottle in a couple weeks and then I'm going to wait until January 6th (my 40th birthday) to open one.

Barleywines typically need a few months, at least, and will continue to improve for years.

 

[usfmikeb]

I typically let my barleywine age a minimum of six months before moving to keg or bottle.

 

[Cavemann310]

I guess ill have that 3 gallon carboy tied up for quite a while then.....Time to buy another one, and I just dropped another $100 on midwest this morning...hopefully the lady friend doesn't see the packages, she just notices the middle bedroom or "brewery" gets a little more cluttered each week and makes comments

 

[ao125]

I guess ill have that 3 gallon carboy tied up for quite a while then.....Time to buy another one, and I just dropped another $100 on midwest this morning...hopefully the lady friend doesn't see the packages, she just notices the middle bedroom or "brewery" gets a little more cluttered each week and makes comments

Mine gave up on comments for the most part - though I did move a bunch of my homebrew stuff to my friend's place. Most of the comments now are about beer I'm cellaring.

 

[ktblunden]

It was Old Foghorn by Anchor Brewing Co in San Francisco. Just a flavorful, pleasant brew. I only bought one bottle because it sells for about $16 per 6 pack, but they let you buy singles where I go. So anyway, it is an American barley wine.

It's made by an American brewery, but it's an English-style barleywine. That means it's malt focused and on the sweet side. American-style barleywines tend to be very hop oriented and can be as bitter as some big Imperial IPAs.

 

[looneybomber]

hopefully the lady friend doesn't see the packages, she just notices the middle bedroom or "brewery" gets a little more cluttered each week and makes comments

My wife used to do that too with my home audio/theater obsession. It was a fun talk when the pro-audio amps and 15" subs showed up. After that debacle, she doesn't care about what I do with beer brewing.:rockin:

 

[Cavemann310]

yeah she actually came into the brewery (middle bedroom) yesterday and sat there and spit balled ideas with me for like 20 mins, i wash shocked, shes come around haha, we even discussed shelving ideas and equipment, reeeeelllling her in!

 

[Sheldon]

I just bottled my barleywine yesterday and will let it sit for at least six months like usfmikeb said.

Sheldon

 

[Bigbeavk]

My first Barleywine was the extract kit from Northern Brewer with specialty grains. I did a 2L starter with WLP001 as well as the secondary in a carboy for 6 months before bottling. It came out close to a Sierra Nevada BigFoot taste wise. It's one of those beers that will put you to sleep for sure. With over a case left I'm savoring everyone of them.

 

[epistrummer]

I'm going to make one soon but it will have to be a 2 1/2 gal batch because my all grain kit can't handle 17-20 lb grain bills. I did a 10 lb grain bill with it and it was full enough.