My first barleywine any helpful hints

[Gordzilla]

Im brewing my first barleywine later this afternoon and wondering if there are any helpful tips the experts can give me. This is a barleywine kit from midwest supplies (bigfoot barleywine)

-ive had a starter going for the past 2days
-i plan on adding 3/4lb of light brown sugar during the last 15 during the boil
-gonna utilize a blow off tube for the first couple days of fermentation

being new i know some of you guys have to have some great suggestions on how to make this an awesome beer 9-10months down the road.

Thanks in advance

 

[Bensiff]

BW's are all about the yeast. Don't skimp on starter size, step it up if that is what is needed to get your cell count. Don't waste time pulling off the blow off tube unless it gets clogged, otherwise leave it on until you are ready to bottle/keg or move into a secondary if you are aging it for months on end. To that end, don't rack to a secondary pointlessly, 3 months on the yeast won't hurt a thing and will actually improve it...but if you want it to age for half a year you might consider racking it. Anyway, back to the yeast, good oxygenation, add nutrients, temperature control, and I personally start ramping the temp up after around 3 days of active fermentation to help drive the attenuation.

 

[Gordzilla]

I have a good starter, i actually made 2 starters one is 2.5l the other is a 1liter starter my plan was to pitch the 2.5liter starter then 3days later mon/tues pitch the 1liter starter. I will be leaving in the primary for 6-8week before conditioning in the bottle. My plan was to add the campaign yeast around week 7 to insure a good carbonation when i bottle.

 

[Legin]

Right. Really depends on the yeast and setting up the best environment for them. (Bensiff covered this well.) I recently did one with high gravity yeast which has never disappointed. The downside is it is a little more bland than English or even American yeast. Did a 2L starter (should have gone bigger like yours), oxygenated the hell out of it, and cooled it several degrees below optimum ferment temperature before inoculation. With oxygenating, using an oxygen tank is the only way to reach the recommended level for the wort, although just do the best you can. I used no nutrients (it was all-grain). O.G. 1.106. F.G. 1.007.

Now to you: Glad to see you are really going all out with the starters. Although unless you are pitching two different yeast, I would just pitch them at the same time. It will take some of the stress off the 2.5L starter.

Also, I would recommend bulk conditioning. This would be transferring to a secondary at about a month and then leaving it in the secondary for as long as you can stand (probably less than a year). Off-flavors rarely appear from leaving a beer on a cake, but they are also very dependent on the yeast health. Yeast health greatly diminishes in high alcohol beers.

If you decide to follow through with your aging and two month bottling plan, you will most likely not need to add the champagne yeast. Really this is only necessary if you are aging for a long time, past 3 months is what I have heard and this often just to be safe. Just know that carbonation will be slow and will take longer.

 

[LVBen]

I'm planning on making an 11.7% abv barleywine with a big starter, but with no oxygenation except normal exposure to air. This will be my first barleywine.

Would it be better to age in bottles or in a carboy?

 

[Gordzilla]

i really just wanted this beer to tbe done around the holidays, is it recomended that i leave in the primary for a couple months on the yeast cake then transfer off to the secondary with the campaign yeast for another month or so to condition

 

[Bensiff]

Legin gives some good advice, I would also pitch all yeast up front. However, when it comes to bulk conditioning I would go longer on the primary, 2 months. I would use something like S-05 for priming and not involve the champaigne yeast.

 

[jjones17]

Yeah pitch it all. As for conditioning, personally I have had huge success with a 3-4 week primary and bottling right away. I tasted one of my barleywines last night actually - way too young, but SO good. I added some homemade Crystal Malt that was about 115 Lovibnod.... some plum and caramel coming through

 

[Gordzilla]

not familiar with s-05...what is that?