Barleywine help

[riored4v]

Tossing around a few ideas for a barleywine that i'll be brewing with some buddies.

I'm looking to go with an American Barleywine.. something real hoppy like Old Guardian or Bigfoot. I wanted to use beersmith, but since I'm at work, and was bored, I tossed this together on the Beer Recipator site.

LMK what you guys think, and what might be some good changes. This is going to be a 10gallon batch. We'll probably be splitting the batch and using a different yeast for each of the 5 gallons. Was thinking White Labs California Ale 001 (10-15% alcohol tolerance) for one batch and not sure on the other.

OG 1.110 FG 1.026
10.9% ABV
23 SRM
87 IBU
Extract w/grain
Boil volume 11.50
Finished volume 10.00
90 min boil

Steep:
2.00lb Crystal 10L
1.5lb Crystal 120L
1lb CaraPils
.5 Chocolate

23lb Light DME

2.5oz Chinook 90 min
.5oz Nugget 90 min
.5 Chinook 45 min
2.5oz Nugget 45 min
1oz Cascade 20 min
1oz Cascade 5 min

1oz for each 5 gal for dry-hopping

 

[Professor Frink]

Looks like a real good recipe to me. Make a monster starter for the yeast.

 

[Arneba28]

maybe a bit more chocolate malt and i would add black patent or black roasted barley. This will be an expensive as hell recipe though. at my LHBS this would cost about 130$ to make.

 

[riored4v]

Looks like a real good recipe to me. Make a monster starter for the yeast.

you think maybe 2 vials for each 5 gallons??

any ideas for a 2nd yeast for the other batch?

 

[riored4v]

maybe a bit more chocolate malt and i would add black patent or black roasted barley. This will be an expensive as hell recipe though. at my LHBS this would cost about 130$ to make.

i was tossing around the idea of black patent or more chocolate.. i'll definitely take that into consideration.

you think maybe a .5lb of black patent? i don't want to get to carried away with the roasty flavors.

and yea, the cost is something we're prepared for. this is why we decided to split the cost up between the 3 of us

 

[shafferpilot]

keep the black patent pretty low. It doesn't taste roasty so much as burnt. I'd say a quarter to half pound is about right. Have you considered holding back some of the DME till several days into primary? That can help you get all the way to your FG. Even when you use yeast with high alcohol tolerance, they will try to poop out early.

 

[riored4v]

keep the black patent pretty low. It doesn't taste roasty so much as burnt. I'd say a quarter to half pound is about right. Have you considered holding back some of the DME till several days into primary? That can help you get all the way to your FG. Even when you use yeast with high alcohol tolerance, they will try to poop out early.

Naw, didn't even think about that actually.

I figured with a big starter (2 vials), yeast nutrient and a yeast with high tolerance that would be enough

 

[TexLaw]

Keep that black patent far, far away from your barleywine! Black patent has no business here! Hell, I do not even like the chocolate too much in these sorts of recipes, but a half pound actually can be somewhat interesting. Anything more, and you might turn it into a big brown ale, rather than a barleywine. Now, if you want a big brown ale, go nuts.

I recommend dropping the 10L crystal and adding a some in the 40-60 range to add some more straightforward caramel flavors and aromas. Go on the higher end of the range if you want a little more nuttiness, go on the lower end, if you want a little less.

On the yeast, just how different do you want the strains to be? If you want to stick around the Northwest, go with California V or Pacific Ale. Both will finish a bit maltier.

If you want something not so clean, go with a English or British Ale yeast. With your hop bill, you are still in the American Barleywine camp. It will just finish a bit sweeter (but, with that hop bill, it certainly will not be sweet!)


TL

 

[riored4v]

Keep that black patent far, far away from your barleywine! Black patent has no business here! Hell, I do not even like the chocolate too much in these sorts of recipes, but a half pound actually can be somewhat interesting. Anything more, and you might turn it into a big brown ale, rather than a barleywine. Now, if you want a big brown ale, go nuts.

I recommend dropping the 10L crystal and adding a some in the 40-60 range to add some more straightforward caramel flavors and aromas. Go on the higher end of the range if you want a little more nuttiness, go on the lower end, if you want a little less.

On the yeast, just how different do you want the strains to be? If you want to stick around the Northwest, go with California V or Pacific Ale. Both will finish a bit maltier.

If you want something not so clean, go with a English or British Ale yeast. With your hop bill, you are still in the American Barleywine camp. It will just finish a bit sweeter (but, with that hop bill, it certainly will not be sweet!)


TL

I'll have to discuss with the buddies more on the preferred style, but from what i've seen, we all like the more american style. I personally prefer mildly sweet but with a nice malt kick and obviously some hoppiness. I'll looking into the two Northwest ones you mentioned.

Thanks on the black patent mention. Now that i think about, when reading Designing Great Beers i don't think black patent was a very highly used ingredient, so i'll keep that out and will definitely consider the 40-60 crystal. I just want to avoid to much of a raisin flavor, so i think the 40-60 would end up being perfect for that and then do as you said with the caramel notes. What about ditching the chocolate all-together and just doing with a bunch of 40-60, or maybe a combo of both?

Thanks Tex.

Feel free to keep the suggestions coming. I'll probably purchase beersmith this weekend and punch everything in once talking with the buddies and re-post to get thoughts again.