Just got done brewing two 5.5 gal batches. An English Barleywine (recipe below) and a White IPA. I read up on typical issues encountered with brewing a barleywine so I felt pretty prepared. I lowered my typical efficiency by about 10% and purposely targeted a higher gravity than desired so I could dilute it worst case. I prepared a big old 2L yeast starter last night and that bad boy went nuts!
I use a 52 qt Coleman Xtreme as a mash tun and that sucker was full with about 25 lbs of grain and 7.5 gallons of strike water. Decided to mash at 149 F and mashed for 75 mins to try to extract as much sugar as I could from the grain.
My preboil gravity came in about 5 points low at 1.088 which I was pretty thrilled with. I then recalculated my targets off my preboil measurement. Got the boil going but never really got a vigorous boil. As a result my starting gravity came in about 5-6 points low. I was still thrilled with this as it got me close to my actual desired ABV target. After brewing so many batches and hitting my targets dead on, this felt weird having to adjust on the fly and over compensate to hit desired targets.
Definitely a bit unpredictable but researching ahead of time really helped limit mistakes. Felt I learned a lot from this batch and really enjoyed the process. All things considered, I'd call it a successful brew evening.
English Barleywine
5.5 gal
OG 1.112
IBU 65
ABV 12.5%
SRM 21
Mash @ 149 F for 75 minutes
60 minute boil
Maris Otter (2-Row) 21.5 lb
Crystal 80L 1.5 lb
Carapils 15 oz
Victory Malt 15 oz
60 min Progress 3.75 oz
15 min Irish Moss 0.5 tsp
15 min East Kent Goldings 1 oz
15 min Maple Syrup 1.55 lb
5 min East Kent Goldings 1 oz
Dry English Ale WLP007 2.0 L starter
Dry Hop East Kent Goldings 1 oz
I use a 52 qt Coleman Xtreme as a mash tun and that sucker was full with about 25 lbs of grain and 7.5 gallons of strike water. Decided to mash at 149 F and mashed for 75 mins to try to extract as much sugar as I could from the grain.
My preboil gravity came in about 5 points low at 1.088 which I was pretty thrilled with. I then recalculated my targets off my preboil measurement. Got the boil going but never really got a vigorous boil. As a result my starting gravity came in about 5-6 points low. I was still thrilled with this as it got me close to my actual desired ABV target. After brewing so many batches and hitting my targets dead on, this felt weird having to adjust on the fly and over compensate to hit desired targets.
Definitely a bit unpredictable but researching ahead of time really helped limit mistakes. Felt I learned a lot from this batch and really enjoyed the process. All things considered, I'd call it a successful brew evening.
English Barleywine
5.5 gal
OG 1.112
IBU 65
ABV 12.5%
SRM 21
Mash @ 149 F for 75 minutes
60 minute boil
Maris Otter (2-Row) 21.5 lb
Crystal 80L 1.5 lb
Carapils 15 oz
Victory Malt 15 oz
60 min Progress 3.75 oz
15 min Irish Moss 0.5 tsp
15 min East Kent Goldings 1 oz
15 min Maple Syrup 1.55 lb
5 min East Kent Goldings 1 oz
Dry English Ale WLP007 2.0 L starter
Dry Hop East Kent Goldings 1 oz