MOAB recipe feedback desired

[Golddiggie]

This is my first big barleywine recipe (intentional barleywine at least)... Planning to be all grain (might need some help to hit my target OG, won't know until brew day, plan to have some extra light DME on hand, just in case)...

Name: MOAB
Type: All Grain
Style: 19B English Barleywine
Batch Size: 5.25 gallons
Boil Time: 120 minutes

Ingredients:
22# Pale Malt (2 Row) UK
2# Honey Malt
.5# British Crystal Malt II (65 SRM)
.5# British Dark Crystal Malt I (85 SRM)
1# Extra Light DME
1# Dememera Sugar
2oz Target hops (10.50% AA) 60 minute boil
1oz Goldings, East Kent hops (5.00% AA) 20 minute boil
1oz Fuggles hops (4.00% AA) 10 minute boil

Yeast 1: Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) harvested, 4-5oz slurry
Yeast 2: Lalvin Labs EC-1118 after 1 month in primary, if needed to hit FG (plan to use a starter to help the yeast)

Mash at 150-152F for 90 minutes (1.25-1.7qt/#). Unsure if I'll be able to sparge for this batch, or not. If not, then I'll probably sparge and use the runnings for another brew.

Target OG: 1.140-1.150
Target FG: 1.020-1.035
Estimated Color: 18.1
Bitterness: 42.1
Estimated Alcohol: 14.72 (target is 13-16%)

Plan for at least a month on yeast 1, and probably another 2-4 weeks on yeast 2. Plan to start this in March... Might age in a keg on some oak for 2-4 months before bottling it. Will probably add fresh EC-1118 just before priming and bottling it, to ensure at least some carbonation happens. Probably not going into bottles until sometime in August-October time frame. Hope to have it ready for drinking by the winter holiday season (2011)...

I am considering dry hopping with either Fuggles or EKG a week or two before bottling... Although I'm not sure how that will actually work out in the finished product, with the amount of time it will be bottle conditioning/carbonating... If anyone has done that, please post up your results and opinions on doing that with this brew...

Thinking of maybe using some Dememera sugar in this too (1#)... Thoughts on that?? Kind of like the idea of not using it...

Would you mash/sparge like for a 10 gallon batch, but then reduce/boil it down to the 5.25 gallon batch size? Which will give a better brew? I have a 60 quart and 32 quart pot I can use for this, so either option works (planning to mash in the 60, but I could try converting my 70 quart cooler into a MLT for this brew)...

 

[Oldsock]

With such a big beer getting it to dry out is goal #1. I would reduce/drop the honey/crystal malts and go with a pound or two of sugar (demerera would be perfect), that will help get the beer to finish below 1.030. You will get plenty of malt flavor just from the base malt, a bit of dark crystal would be a nice addition without adding too much sweetness. I'd also mash a bit cooler to ensure good attenuation as well.

Dry hopping before bottling is a great idea. Make sure to add enough bitterness that it will still be balanced after a year of aging. I would aim for 60 IBUs, but then I don’t drink many aged out English Barlewines.

A long boil can certainly add some character, just sparge to collect as much wort as you need for the length of the boil you want.

Hope that helps, good luck.

 

[Golddiggie]

Changed the grain bill a little, and added the DME/Dememera entries...

I'll probably make this after my Wee Heavy that I'm fermenting with honey malt in it is finished... That way I have a better idea of what the contribution will be. I used about 8% honey malt in the wee heavy, which is close to the % for this brew...

I do want the different flavors from the other malts, which is why I selected them...

I might increase the Target hops to 2.5 ounces for this one... Which would get me to about 53 IBU... Almost center for the style range...

Need to try something that was dry hopped with either EKG of Fuggles, so that I have a better idea on the flavors I'll get... Although either one would probably work just fine... Figuring an ounce of dry hops after it's aged would be a good start... Although considering it will probably be bottle conditioning for a good month or two before it's sampled, that ounce might be a little light...

I might have to dry hop some other brews between now and when it's time to dry hop this one... I have plenty of time to do that, so no real concern there.

I also updated the mash temp to be a little lower, but still in the medium body range (I hope)... I'll probably aim for 152F, but let it cool to 150 as I get rid of the dough balls... I really don't want to have to add more hot water to the mash tun during this one... I do hope that 90 minutes will be enough time to get the a good conversion... I'd rather not need to use the DME or too much sugar in this brew...

I also might go for a 90 minute boil... All depends on how fast the boil off is with my propane burner (arrived today)...