Lager a Barleywine?

[DeadYetiBrew]

I was thinking the other day, "Yeti, what would a lagered barleywine be like?", that posed more questions like:

What would lager yeast do to the flavor profile of a barleywine?
What would said yeast do to the mouthfeel?
How long would it take a Lagered barleywine to condition well (would lagering speed up the maturation)?
Would it really be worth the experiment?
And has it been done by the good folks on HBT?

I've had only 2 barleywine's, Anchor's and a Barleywine my LHBS guy had (it was aged 9 years in oak barrels and was 20% ABV, the BEST thing i've ever had). But from my understanding barleywines are usually made with Ale yeast... So, thoughts?

 

[thebikingengineer]

If anything, it would slow down the maturation process. You would most likely be limited by the yeast as to how high a gravity you can go to. You'd obviously want to do all of the tricks for maintaining yeast health (wort additions, oxygenation, waking the yeast, etc). Additionally, you'll want to give each step plenty of time. I'd venture to guess that it will take 6 months MINIMUM before you can think about kegging/bottling, and you'll need to force carb to get carbonation.

Look at Doppelbock brewing, that's probably the closest brew to what you're looking to do.

 

[DeadYetiBrew]

If anything, it would slow down the maturation process. You would most likely be limited by the yeast as to how high a gravity you can go to. You'd obviously want to do all of the tricks for maintaining yeast health (wort additions, oxygenation, waking the yeast, etc). Additionally, you'll want to give each step plenty of time. I'd venture to guess that it will take 6 months MINIMUM before you can think about kegging/bottling, and you'll need to force carb to get carbonation.

Look at Doppelbock brewing, that's probably the closest brew to what you're looking to do.

Yeah, that's one of the things that got me thinking about it was the fact that Bocks (was planning out my bock) can get pretty high... I would probably do a step up fermentation... take a good 9 months before i bottle (by that time keg) and maybe use some higher % yeast to get it to carb up... It was just a thought....