First time brewing a BIG Barley Wine

[av8er79]

First of all happy new year. I am planning my first big barley wine and have a couple questions before tackling this beast. Here is the recipe that I have come up with. Please feel free to make recommendations.


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.94 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.24 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.25 gal
Estimated OG: 1.117 SG
Estimated Color: 16.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 94.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 68.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 82.8 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
20 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 87.2 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 2 2.2 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 3 2.2 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.2 %
4.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 5 1.1 %
3.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 6 0.8 %
1 lbs Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 7 4.4 %
2.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 8 62.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 30. Hop 9 24.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 10 4.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Liberty [4.30 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 11 3.5 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 Yeast 12 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 22 lbs 15.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 30.62 qt of water at 163.5 F 150.0 F 75 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 3.71 gal water at 168.0 F

Questions:

1. My first question is will I be able to mash in with a 10 gallon cooler (7.5 gallons and 23 lbs. of grain)?
   
2. I assume that much grain will really cool the water down. Beersmith recommends heating strike water to 163.5, from my experience on smaller beers that seems really low and would result in a low mash temp once the grain is added.
   
3. If I am using Mr. Malty correctly it recommends 1 gallon starter with liquid yeast on a stir plate?
   
4. I am aware that pitching big enough starter for a beer like this is critical. Any other concerns or recommendations?

Thanks!

 

[humann_brewing]

First of all happy new year. I am planning my first big barley wine and have a couple questions before tackling this beast. Here is the recipe that I have come up with. Please feel free to make recommendations.


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.94 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.24 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.25 gal
Estimated OG: 1.117 SG
Estimated Color: 16.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 94.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 68.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 82.8 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
20 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 87.2 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 2 2.2 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 3 2.2 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.2 %
4.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 5 1.1 %
3.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 6 0.8 %
1 lbs Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 7 4.4 %
2.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 8 62.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 30. Hop 9 24.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 10 4.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Liberty [4.30 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 11 3.5 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 Yeast 12 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 22 lbs 15.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 30.62 qt of water at 163.5 F 150.0 F 75 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 3.71 gal water at 168.0 F

Questions:

1. My first question is will I be able to mash in with a 10 gallon cooler (7.5 gallons and 23 lbs. of grain)?
   
2. I assume that much grain will really cool the water down. Beersmith recommends heating strike water to 163.5, from my experience on smaller beers that seems really low and would result in a low mash temp once the grain is added.
   
3. If I am using Mr. Malty correctly it recommends 1 gallon starter with liquid yeast on a stir plate?
   
4. I am aware that pitching big enough starter for a beer like this is critical. Any other concerns or recommendations?

Thanks!

Rackers says you could do 23 lbs with a 1.25 ratio in 9ish gallons
http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml
I think you are good, it will be close though.

I would error on the side of cooler than a warmer mash temp. You are going to want to make this reeeealy fermentable. I use beersmith and trust it's numbers for things like the infusion temps. Just make sure you enter all the numbers like the grain temp, mash tun temp etc.... to be as accurate as possible.

A huge starter is a must, I actually made like a 4.5g simple pale (1.046) as my starter and worked pretty well You want growth from the yeast but in reality you are using such a neutral yeast you shouldn't get a lot of esters from it giving a proper fermentation.

 

[coosabrew]

absolutly make a starter. i like to make a full strength beer (1.050 or better) and ferment it out all the way using the settled yeast. a lower mash temp will help as to ferment well. 148* is good. if you can, a longer boil will help the carmel taste in the beer. just extend the boil prior to hop schedule.

 

[helibrewer]

The grain will take up 23 X 0.08 "gallons" of space = 1.84 added to the mash volume of 7.65 gallons = 9.49 gallons of mash tun space.

3.71 gallons of sparge water doesn't seem like enough. With my 1.107 Belgian Dark Strong I had 10 gallons in the BK that I had to boil down to 6.25

Another option is to replace some of the grain bill with light DME to give yopu more breathing room in the MLT and less boiling time to get down to volume.