brewing barleywine

[jjphillybrew]

I will be brewing a barleywine next week, my first high gravity beer. Considering the time commitment, I want to make sure that I know what I'm doing ahead of time. A few questions:

1. Northern Brewer recommends liquid Wyeast using a starter. How necessary/important is this? I purchased the dry yeast (Safale US-05), but can easily go to LHBS to get Wyeast pack. How much ahead of time should I do the yeast starter? Is 24-48 hours ok?

2. What type of yeast should the bottling yeast be? Is the Safale US-05 I bought ok?

3. Is the timeline as per the instructions good?
1) 2-4 weeks primary
2) 4-5 months in secondary (carboy)
3) 2-4 week in bottle

4. Any other general advice for brewing a barleywine would be great.

Thank you!

Jeremy

 

[HexKrak]

You'll still want to use a starter or multiple packs of yeast. Use the a pitching calculator like this one
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html
to figure out just how much you'll need to pitch.

What's your target OG, or even better, what's the recipe?

 

[Nateo]

this article covers a lot of the issues you're asking about, and a few you might not have thought of yet:
http://beerdujour.com/Howtobrewabigbeer.htm

Never listen to any instructions that give lengths of time for fermentation. Fermentation is done when it's done, not according to any timeline.

The best thing you could do is take whatever yeast you want to use, brew a session beer with it, then use the whole yeast cake for the barleywine.

 

[jjphillybrew]

OG is 1.082

Recipe:

Specialty Grain: 0.5 lbs Briess Caramel 90
LME: 3 lbs Amber (60 min) and 9 lbs Amber (15 min)
Hops: 2 oz Cascade (60 min) and 1 oz Williamette (15 min)
Yeast: Wyeast 1945 NB Neobritannia or Safale US-05

I thought I read somewhere on this site that it wasn't recommendable to just add more dry yeast packs? If I can just add more dry yeast packs, what is the advantage of using a Wyeast pack with starter?

Thank you

Jeremy

 

[seabass07]

There are more varieties of liquid yeast. It just gives you more options for different results. I've never heard of problems pitching multiple dry yeast packs. Just rehydrate them first.

 

[WHYB]

Because of the time your commiting, I'd recommend maybe staying safe and sticking with the dry yeast on this one, US-05 is good, as it's clean and attenuates well. You'll probably need atleast 3 packets

Try to get as much O2 into the carboy as you can, letting the hose splash into the fermentor when your transfering from the boil kettle does a good job with that. Best bet would be to get yourself a tank so you can blow pure 02 into the head space with, if you don't, I think you'd still be ok with splashing/shaking.

 

[WHYB]

OG is 1.082

I thought I read somewhere on this site that it wasn't recommendable to just add more dry yeast packs? If I can just add more dry yeast packs, what is the advantage of using a Wyeast pack with starter?

Thank you

Jeremy

Liquid yeast gives you a better variety/options, flavor ect... the pitching rate is the same though weather you use dry or liquid

 

[mmonacel]

Yeast health is critical when brewing a high gravity beer. I'd suggest (as others have) of either doing a starter or pitching enough packs per Mr. Malty's calculator. I would also pick up some yeast nutrient and follow the directions (usually put it in the last 10-15 min of boil). Aeration / O2 is also very important. Get as much O2 into it that you can via whatever method you usually use.

 

[Calder]

Stick with dry if you are not confident with liquid yeast. Use 2 packs. No need for additional yeast at bottling, there will be plenty of yeast still in suspension. 1.082 isn't that high; probably produce a beer around 8.5%.

Don't worry about needing an O2 tank, just aerate the heck out of it and you will be OK.

Try and keep the temperature in the mid 60s for a clear ferment.

If it's finished and clear, you can bottle in 4 to 6 weeks.

 

[BrewStooge]

Barlywine is best left to be forgotten after the primary. I just bottled one last weekend that went from 1.103 to 1.026 in the course of something like 5 months. Now I expect it to sit for another 4-6 at least while others get brewed including today. Ultimatly, if you balance it right in the first place (malt/hops wise) it's pretty tough to mess up.

As for yeast, I stick with wpl 500 Trappist for most anything high gravity. It's actually very forgiving and tolerates the high abv better than most.

 

[Calder]

Barlywine is best left to be forgotten after the primary. I just bottled one last weekend that went from 1.103 to 1.026 in the course of something like 5 months. Now I expect it to sit for another 4-6 at least while others get brewed including today. Ultimatly, if you balance it right in the first place (malt/hops wise) it's pretty tough to mess up.

As for yeast, I stick with wpl 500 Trappist for most anything high gravity. It's actually very forgiving and tolerates the high abv better than most.

He has a 1.082 extract, with half a pound of crystal and relatively low amount of hops. Not particularly complex. Not going to benefit too much from long aging, except to maybe lower the alcohol bite.

Not sure a trappist yeast fits any style of Barleywine.

 

[cklages]

You have gotten some good advice so far. My only addition would be that your plan of 2-4 weeks in bottles is pretty optimistic for higher gravity beers. They like taking their sweet time carbing up sometimes. You could be very well looking at months rather than weeks, just so you don't get caught be suprise.

 

[BrewStooge]

Not sure a trappist yeast fits any style of Barleywine.

Not sure about any traditional styles yeast, but I do know it's the one recipe I've made that didn't get modified the 2nd, 3rd, etc time around. Most of mine are on a few generations evolution by now.

Tell ya what though, If you make it to MN in the near term you can try it for yourself and let me know what you think.

 

[ajwillys]

I did my first one pitching "lightly washed yeast". Basically, I remove a yeast cake using filtered, boiled, cooled water. Then, let it sit in the fridge a couple days to settle and pour off the excess water. I did this from a pale and used a little less than half the cake. It worked perfectly and was fantastic. The second time, I used us-05 (three packs I think) and it's ok, but I can definitely tell some odd esters, which I'm attributing using the less active yeast.

When I do it again, it will be using the first method. As far as time, go by hydrometer of course. For a BW, I would do 3 weeks before even taking my first hydro test. If it seems low enough, give it another week and check again. If its the same reading, transfer to secondary. I leave mine in secondary for another month before kegging, carbing, and then aging warm.

 

[jjphillybrew]

This link (http://beerdujour.com/Howtobrewabigbeer.htm) talks about "rousing" the yeast 3 times a day. So I should shake it 3 times a day during first two weeks or so?

 

[dcp27]

This link (http://beerdujour.com/Howtobrewabigbeer.htm) talks about "rousing" the yeast 3 times a day. So I should shake it 3 times a day during first two weeks or so?

shouldnt be necessary with this. S-05 is a beast and 1.082 isnt that high.


Brewstooge: I'm with you on belgian yeast in big beers, except I use 530 instead of 500.