Barleywine for the End of the World

[urbanmyth]

Anybody planning a barleywine or the like to brew soon and drink on December 20th as the world ends? I have a mead conditioning right now, but I would love to try my hand at a barleywine.

Any ideas?

 

[unionrdr]

Try searching the recipes at the top of the forums page.

 

[urbanmyth]

At current, I am only able to put together extract recipes (other than little tiny grain bills).

Anybody out there have a superb, tested extract recipe for barleywine?

 

[Zamial]

Hey I have a tread running here that is very much like this one: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/anyone-planning-end-world-beer-brew-day-2012-a-290463/ There may be a tasty bit of something there that sparks an idea or 2.

As for an extract BW. While not impossible it is going to expensive and may end up with a much higher FG than anticipated as a fore warning.

 

[urbanmyth]

Thanks a bunch, Zamial!

Groovy signature, by the by. I learned just how much of a professional I used to be once I moved to Chicago for college. I have slowed down a bit lately. Probably for the better, ha.

 

[urbanmyth]

I have decided on a SMaSH English Barleywine with Maris Otter and East Kent Goldings (I know I stated I can only do extract, but I am buying a 10 gallon Igloo cooler this week to do AG). Also, I am going to try and brew a small beer, perhaps an ESB with EKG and Fuggles, from the second runnings. Maybe I'll keep that one a SMaSh, too. Would be interesting to show friends how the same four ingredients can be made into two completely different beers...

Anyway, this is what I am thinking for two five gallon batches of SMaSH barleywine and ESB:

15 pounds of Maris Otter gives me an OG of 1.075. From the tables here: BT - Parti-Gyle Brewing

I can extrapolate a "big" beer of 1.100 and a "small" beer of 1.050, both of which are right in the wheel houses for barleywine and ESB, respectively.

So, starting with a 1.100 barleywine, I shall follow this hop schedule:

2 oz EKG at 60 mins
1 oz EKG at 45 mins
1 oz EKG at 30 mins
1 oz EKG at 5 mins

Plan to use Safale 04 with a 2 liter starter.

For the ESB, starting with 1.050 or wort,

2 oz EKG at 60 mins
1 oz EKG at 5 mins

This puts both beers right on style. I am looking for anybody with partigyle experience to critique this approach. I want to brew these beers by the middle of February, so the barleywine has a good long time to age on some bourbon soaked oak chips.

 

[urbanmyth]

Oh, and using Safale 04 for the ESB, as well.

 

[Phunhog]

Urbanmyth....
I did the exact same thing last week!

 

[Phunhog]

Urbanmyth....
I did the exact same thing last week!

5 gallons of English Barleywine and 11 gallons of ESB....partygyle of course!! My SMaSh barleywine was also MO and EKG with a SG of 1.095 I went with 3 oz for 60, 2 oz for 30, and 2 oz at flameout. My ESB was based on Common Room ESB in the recipe section. I used WL 007 for the Barleywine and S-04 for the ESB. Good luck:rockin:

 

[urbanmyth]

How'd it turn out?!

 

[urbanmyth]

So how much MO did it take for the 1/3 2/3 split? Not really too well versed in ESBs, but the thought of two batches intrigues me. Could fiddle with another strain of yeast or the like.

 

[Phunhog]

I used 33 lbs of MO. I get 77% efficiency in my system. I also capped my mash with approx 2 lbs of specialty grains for the ESB. It was only my second partigyle but I usually try to split it more like 60/40 and save some of the first runnings for the second beer.

 

[urbanmyth]

Groovy! Thanks a lot. Your grain bill sounds enormous compared to mine. Am I missing something, or is it just because you split it three ways?

 

[Phunhog]

It was big because I made 5 gallons of Barleywine and 11 gallons of ESB!!!

 

[nukinfuts29]

These threads will come all year, so I will protest them all.

Except this one, cuz i'm here already. I plan on telling SWMBO every brew I make is for the end of the world. I'm going to milk this brew day excuse for all it's worth.

 

[urbanmyth]

I plan on telling SWMBO every brew I make is for the end of the world. I'm going to milk this brew day excuse for all it's worth.

This is kind of how I feel. I think it is my way of rationalizing spending money on a cooler and grains and such. My first batch was brewed pretty much exactly three months ago and I have already brewed five other beers and some seven odd gallons of cider and mead. But with the Doompocalypse on the horizon, I can just tell everybody I need good brew to drink as I watch it all go to hell

 

[mikeysab]

So if its a great beer, your best ever, and the world ends the next day, would you be happy that you brewed your best beer, or be pissed that you won't be able to enjoy it anymore?

 

[urbanmyth]

Both. All at the same time.

 

[nukinfuts29]

So if its a great beer, your best ever, and the world ends the next day, would you be happy that you brewed your best beer, or be pissed that you won't be able to enjoy it anymore?

I'll be too busy unloading rounds on the devil and his horses to put too much thought into it, but I'll be sure to take a few bottles to hell with me.

 

[urbanmyth]

i'll be too busy unloading rounds on the devil and his horses to put too much thought into it, but i'll be sure to take a few bottles to hell with me.

+1,000,000

 

[nukinfuts29]

By the time the dust clears you will all be calling me Neo and begging to join my crew.

 

[Biobrewer]

I have decided on a SMaSH English Barleywine with Maris Otter and East Kent Goldings (I know I stated I can only do extract, but I am buying a 10 gallon Igloo cooler this week to do AG). Also, I am going to try and brew a small beer, perhaps an ESB with EKG and Fuggles, from the second runnings. Maybe I'll keep that one a SMaSh, too. Would be interesting to show friends how the same four ingredients can be made into two completely different beers...

Anyway, this is what I am thinking for two five gallon batches of SMaSH barleywine and ESB:

15 pounds of Maris Otter gives me an OG of 1.075. From the tables here: BT - Parti-Gyle Brewing

I can extrapolate a "big" beer of 1.100 and a "small" beer of 1.050, both of which are right in the wheel houses for barleywine and ESB, respectively.

So, starting with a 1.100 barleywine, I shall follow this hop schedule:

2 oz EKG at 60 mins
1 oz EKG at 45 mins
1 oz EKG at 30 mins
1 oz EKG at 5 mins

Plan to use Safale 04 with a 2 liter starter.

For the ESB, starting with 1.050 or wort,

2 oz EKG at 60 mins
1 oz EKG at 5 mins

This puts both beers right on style. I am looking for anybody with partigyle experience to critique this approach. I want to brew these beers by the middle of February, so the barleywine has a good long time to age on some bourbon soaked oak chips.

I literally made damn near the same english barleywine 2 weeks ago the SMaSH approach with Hugh Baird Maris Otter and EKG. Just put it on 20 g French oak and 1 g Palo Santo wood soaked in 150 ml Crown Royal. Tastes great already!

Good luck with the bitter. One thing I would recommend, as I have done partigyles before, is to keep some DME on hand incase the bitter's gravity is too low. The temptation to oversparge and collect as much wort as possible for the bitter will be great. Avoid this temptation at all costs! Monitor gravity to avoid oversparge and leaching of tanins. Other than that, I think it looks great though! Partigyle ho!

 

[urbanmyth]

Good luck with the bitter. One thing I would recommend, as I have done partigyles before, is to keep some DME on hand incase the bitter's gravity is too low.

Will do!

In regards to the oaking, has anybody ever tried racking onto apple chips before? I have some branches from a McIntosh apple tree my family cut down a few years ago. Maybe going halfsies with some French oak and this apple wood in some nice Basil Hayden's for a while before racking?

 

[urbanmyth]

Also, what kind of mash temp am I looking at for each running? Just the standard 155ish for 60 mins for both?

 

[Biobrewer]

Also, what kind of mash temp am I looking at for each running? Just the standard 155ish for 60 mins for both?

I would mash on the lower end for such a big beer, maybe 150. Remember, with such a big beer, the barley wine will be naturally sweet, to an extent. Since the wort will be highly fermentable, the bitter will also be on the dry side, in keeping with the style.

I certainly would not go over 152-153 F, otherwise the barleywine may finish WAY to sweet.

 

[urbanmyth]

Thanks Biobrewer! I will keep this in mind.

I plan doing a BIAB in an Igloo type 10 gallon cooler, draining straight from the unmodified spigot. Trying to keep it as simple, stupid as I can.

 

[Phunhog]

Also, what kind of mash temp am I looking at for each running? Just the standard 155ish for 60 mins for both?

I mashed at 151-152.

 

[urbanmyth]

Now the real question: is there anyway in hell or earth to pull either of these brews off with a five gallon stock pot?

 

[Phunhog]

Yes...but you will only be making 2-3 gallons. I think that is fine though for a special Barleywine. So what if you only make a case...

 

[urbanmyth]

True. I may just adjust my grain for two 3 gallon batches until I up my stock pot size.

 

[urbanmyth]

No more need to scale down, just obtained a 60 quart aluminum stock pot from my grandfather! The possibilities seem endless now.

 

[urbanmyth]

Okay, so the more I think about this, the more confused I get. Do I plan the grain bill around doing only 5 gallons (assuming I do two 5 gallon beers), or do I plan a 10 gallon grain bill. Part of me says the first way works, but another part of me says I am a simpleton who underthinks things.

Any insight?

 

[JollyIsTheRoger]

Okay, so the more I think about this, the more confused I get. Do I plan the grain bill around doing only 5 gallons (assuming I do two 5 gallon beers), or do I plan a 10 gallon grain bill. Part of me says the first way works, but another part of me says I am a simpleton who underthinks things.

Any insight?

You want a 5 gal grain bill for a big big beer. I forget if you said an OG but go for around 1.09+ in my opinion. Then after you get your first runnings collected (enough for a 5 gal batch of barleywine), you will resparge to get the next batch by collecting all the sugars that are still in the mash tun. There will be alot left over since you are aiming for such a high OG. I don't really know of a way to calculate what your gravity of your small beer will be. You can add more grain on top of your mashed grains and remash for your small beer if you want too, but I like the idea of just using the leftovers. Adding more almost seems like cheating to me, haha.

 

[urbanmyth]

You want a 5 gal grain bill for a big big beer. I forget if you said an OG but go for around 1.09+ in my opinion. Then after you get your first runnings collected (enough for a 5 gal batch of barleywine), you will resparge to get the next batch by collecting all the sugars that are still in the mash tun. There will be alot left over since you are aiming for such a high OG. I don't really know of a way to calculate what your gravity of your small beer will be. You can add more grain on top of your mashed grains and remash for your small beer if you want too, but I like the idea of just using the leftovers. Adding more almost seems like cheating to me, haha.

Even if I mash thin (1.25 quarts/lb), I will still be short of 5 gallons for the boil (~4.7 gallons in strike water). Topping this with water seems to me wrong - if I top off with water, my OG will be lower than if I sparged the grainbed. On the otherhand, even if I mash thick for the 10 gallon grain bill (1.00 quarts/lb) I still get 7.5 gallons to boil down, without my OG suffering.

Only thing is, doubling the grain bill doesn't seem to be the huge money saver this was historically.

I'm with you, though. No topping off the grain bed. This is intended to be my attempt at simplest, most economic way of getting two beers to bottle. I really, REALLY like the idea of showing my non-beer nerd friends how the exact same grains, the exact same hops, water and yeast can be manipulated into two completely different brews.

 

[funkstrman]

Ohhhh! I definitely need to brew a beer for the end of the world! Great idea!

 

[urbanmyth]

Ohhhh! I definitely need to brew a beer for the end of the world! Great idea!

Thanks! Happy brewing

 

[JollyIsTheRoger]

Even if I mash thin (1.25 quarts/lb), I will still be short of 5 gallons for the boil (~4.7 gallons in strike water). Topping this with water seems to me wrong - if I top off with water, my OG will be lower than if I sparged the grainbed. On the otherhand, even if I mash thick for the 10 gallon grain bill (1.00 quarts/lb) I still get 7.5 gallons to boil down, without my OG suffering.

Only thing is, doubling the grain bill doesn't seem to be the huge money saver this was historically.

I'm with you, though. No topping off the grain bed. This is intended to be my attempt at simplest, most economic way of getting two beers to bottle. I really, REALLY like the idea of showing my non-beer nerd friends how the exact same grains, the exact same hops, water and yeast can be manipulated into two completely different brews.

Then sparge off to your kettle until you get your boil volume and then collect the rest for your esb. Your esb will be alittle lighter but it will still be there. Loving this idea, almost did it with the rye old ale I just brewed but it was already a double brew day, didn't need it to turn into a triple after working that day haha.

 

[urbanmyth]

Groovy. It seems like I am just being overly picky with the technique. In the spirit of our brewing brethren of centuries past, I suppose the "make it work" mantra is the real one to follow.

 

[urbanmyth]

I finally brewed these beers a couple weekends ago. I ended up collecting enough runnings for 2.5 gallons of barleywine and 5 gallons of mild. The OG for the barleywine was somewhere are 1.095, I think, and the mild somewhere closer to 1.025. I didn't have any DME on hand, so I let it slide. I might boil a pound or two of DME and add it to the small beer. Anybody have experience adding DME this far after primary fermentation has ended?

 

[Xtant]

The Mayans did not have a leap year when they developed their calendar...Their Dec 20, 2012 has already come and gone ;-)