Kveik Barleywine - feedback and early results

[evolutionary]

Put together a kveik hothead yeast Barleywine and looking for feedback especially from the just over two week mark tasting.

18 lb maris otter
1lb vienna
1/2 crystal 80
3lb light dme
1 oz warrior (60)
2 oz chinook (15)
1 oz simcoe (5)
Two handfuls wet hop ctz (5)

Started with 7 gallons h20 in a reiteration mash and got down to 4.2 in fermenter. Used some yeast nutrient too along with about a 2L starter of kveik hothead (aerated well). Fermenter set to 80 degrees and took off in just under a day.

OG was 1.123 and down to 1.023 15 days later. Has bit of fruit from the kveik im guessing and gives it a weird sweetness. Just mild alcohol heat despite the abv of 13.7 already.

My thought is that I should’ve used more hops despite BeerSmith saying it’s 89.7 ibu - I don’t taste anywhere near that bitterness and think it could use more to balance it out. If so, could I just make a 1 gallon aggressively hopped version to blend in? Also thinking some oak in there would be good. I know it’s super early and plan on putting this one away in bulk storage for awhile, but any tips on this massive brew would be appreciated as it’s the first we’ve done over 1.1.

 

[IslandLizard]

You'd need 2 oz of Warrior (18% AA) at 60' to yield ~75 IBU (6.5 gallon boil @1.100 preboil gravity). Could that be an error in the recipe?
2 oz of Chinook (15% AA) at 15' gives you another [EDIT] ~15 ~30 IBU for a total of 90 105 IBU.
But you may need to use more hops as Tinseth's formulas may not be all that accurate at high gravities.

Now Rager's calcs are a lot more optimistic, by as much as 50% (150 IBU per Rager).

Also, sweetness tends to subdue bitterness sensation, as does lack of carbonation.

 

[IslandLizard]

could I just make a 1 gallon aggressively hopped version to blend in?

[EDITS] If you want to boost your current 4.2 gallon batch at 60 68 IBU by an additional 30 IBU, you'd need to add 1 gallon at 216 224 IBU (90 98+126). It's possible.

 

[Miraculix]

[EDITS] If you want to boost your current 4.2 gallon batch at 60 68 IBU by an additional 30 IBU, you'd need to add 1 gallon at 216 224 IBU (90 98+126). It's possible.

I'm afraid that wort cannot hold more than 100 ibus under normal conditions, so it's not possible with wort. Water can solve more ibus, without the presence of proteins, but this would water down the beer.

 

[IslandLizard]

I'm afraid that wort cannot hold more than 100 ibus under normal conditions, so it's not possible with wort. Water can solve more ibus, without the presence of proteins, but this would water down the beer.

I knew there are IBU limits for wort, didn't know it was that low.
How about using water for making the 224 IBU potion.
Then add half a gallon of super high gravity wort (e.g., a gravity of 1.200) to compensate for the dilution. That said, the OP may as well make a DME syrup or pour straight (fresh) LME from the jug... and some sugar.

 

[Miraculix]

I knew there are IBU limits for wort, didn't know it was that low.
How about using water for making the 224 IBU potion.
Then add half a gallon of super high gravity wort (e.g., a gravity of 1.200) to compensate for the dilution. That said, the OP may as well make a DME syrup or pour straight (fresh) LME from the jug... and some sugar.

Maybe this would work. Aren't there those hop shots around? These concentrated isomerised alpha acids? Maybe these would work. Boiling then in a small amount of water might be ok, dilution would be minimal.

 

[evolutionary]

Racked it to a carboy and put in the closet for now. Have room for adding a super hopped addition of water or weak wort.

It’s strong enough that I’m not sure that adding any mixed ferm would really want to survive unless it got diluted down a bit. Some oak and Brett would be nice if I went the route of adding weak overhopped wort. Will post with updates over the next year or so.