Barleywine IBUs

[danorocks17]

I'm wanting to do a big barley wine pretty soon. I plan on using lots of malt and some pureed dates as well. according to beer smith my OG should be around 1.130. I tend to like maltier barley wines but I've never made one. I'm wonder what should be a good IBU range I should shoot for? :fro:

 

[Amity]

BJCP guidelines say anywhere from 50 to 120 IBU for an American Barley Wine.

 

[Golddiggie]

Depends on which style of barley wine you're going after... If American, then you want 50-120 IBU. If English, then 35-70 IBU... I would suggest reviewing the BJCP style descriptions and then pick which you like better.

If you're mashing the grain, then plan on lower efficiency than you normally get. If you're using extract, then all bets are off. You could hit the OG, but have a much higher FG than you want.

I'm plugging in 65% efficiency right now for my barley wine recipe. I'm not planning on using any extract in my recipe. Right now, that means using about 27# of grain (total, 25# 2 row) to hit close to 12% ABV...

As for the dates... You might want to hold off on that. I would suggest using grains and a yeast that will give you the same kinds of flavors. Much easier to control. Otherwise, just crush the fruit, adding it during the aging process and getting off of it once it hits the desired flavors. I would plan on that being a short amount of time. You also might need to age for more time with the fruit addition.

What yeast are you planning to use? Have you done anything close to the OG/ABV level yet? If not, probably a good idea to do a couple close to that target first. I plan on doing a couple in the 9-10% range before my barley wine. I've already done up to about 8.5% so these won't be too much of a stretch. It will also allow me to get a better idea of the efficiency I should see (roughly) with the big brew...

 

[lumpher]

at that upper end malt you're shooting for, to balance it out, i'd shoot for a higher ibu, but not too high, say 95-100

 

[Calder]

Go for it; 100 IBUs. It is just about the limit of taste perception.

I have a couple of cautions for you:

1) OG = 1.130. If you select the yeast correctly and treat it correctly, it might make a 95 point drop (12% abv) = 1.035 FG (at best). That is sweet in my book, and it probably will not carbonate. Do you really want that. You might find it better (and easier) to make a 1.100 beer and end around 1.020 (10.5% abv).

2) What are you going to do with 50 bottles of 12% beer. I've made a number of beers around 9% (I confess I have never tried to make one above 10%), and find it takes a long time to get through them; they are not session beers. ....... so saying that I'm currently drinking an Oaked AB clone at 9%.

 

[danorocks17]

Thanks for all the tips gents/gals. I was wondering about the dates myself and think I might hold off on that, since I've never brewed with them before, I hate to do something this big and run into problems with them. I plan on doing a low OG pale ale, and pitching this right on the yeast cake of 1056, then after a few weeks pitching some champagne yeast. I don't plan on drinking this for a year. I graduate from grad school next may, so this is going to be like my celebratory brew. I agree with you Calder about getting through that many strong beers, I made a 90 min style clone which was about 9% almost a year and a half ago, and still have 15. but they age really well. I should have specified that I will be using extract with some specialty grains. I was planning on shooting for 100 IBUs.