Not that any of you were hanging on your seat - but took a gravity reading/ taste today. My lord.
OG: 1.122 // FG: 1.010.
15.1%?!
I included a decent dose of orange blossom honey & a 2hour boil. Brewed on 6/7/14 and still fairly hot (duh) from the alcohol. The aromatics are awesome though - a fairly confrontational red wine and honey character in the nose, but not acidic. The most wine-y smelling BW I've witnessed.
I wonder if a wild yeast is present in the raw honey that I used?
After digging into sour beers (I have not brewed one yet, but reading my books, and picking up a couple bottles a week to get a feel for the 'styles') and experimenting with wild yeast capturing - It would make sense to why I am still seeing co2 rafts after 3 months. It could also explain why this is less malty/thin then my 154F mash would suggest. I guess it is hard to address the body of this beer so early on. The alcohol is definitely adding body too. Either way, this one still needs a LONG time to come together before consumption. Any opinions on how long I should bulk age?
When was the honey added, in the boil? If so, there's definitely no wild yeast coming from the honey. Even if it were added after the boil, my understanding is that honey is an awful environment for yeast/bacteria to hang out in, so the likelihood of yeast coming from there is still pretty low. Not saying there aren't other sources you could have picked up wild yeast from, but I truly doubt it's the honey.
EDIT: Just saw the note in the recipe on when the honey was added.
At this point, you shouldn't even be concerning yourself with the yeast/CO2 "rafts." It could be any number of reasons, even something as simple as a temperature change. If you form a true pellicle, and you will know when you do, then you know it's been contaminated. Before then, unless it starts to taste sour or funky, you have nothing to worry about, so don't even think about it.
Bulk aging will depend a lot on what temperature. If you bulk age at a colder temp, you will see less yeast autolysis, but it might not change as much over time. If you age warmer, you might get more pronounced flavors from autolysis. Taste can tell you a lot. Were it my beer, I would bulk age longer, at a warmer temp (50's-60's) but rack every couple of months. BUT I have very little experience bulk aging barleywines. I usually age mine in the bottles held at cellar temps.
Autolysis won't be an issue if you rack to secondary. Once. Not every couple of months. The more you rack, the greater the risk of contamination, and there's no need to rack more than once. Just get it off the yeast cake, and you'll be fine. BIB, I'm not meaning to step on your toes, but this is the first time I've ever heard anyone suggest racking more than once, let alone as often as every couple months.
I'd let it sit at room temperature, and plan on aging it a year. You can taste it every few months, but I think this will really come into its own after a good long rest. It will need to sit to let the alcohol mellow at the very least.
