oaking, bourboning, and dry hopping my 1st barleywine

[AjiLemon]

Hello beer gurus,

I just finished fermenting my first extract barleywine. It's an American barleywine with OG:1.099 and FG:1.015. I have no idea how I got such great attenuation, maybe it was the bee pollen I put in as a yeast nutrient and the honey I added.

Anyways, I would like to soak 2 oz. medium toast French oak cubes in 6-8 oz. of bourbon, throw that in and dry hop it a few weeks before I bottle it.

It's in secondary now, should I add the oak and bourbon to it after a few months, wait until it tastes to my liking, and then transfer to another carboy to dry hop it again after a few months? I was wondering if this was good in case it took more than 2 weeks for the oak and bourbon to flavor the beer to my liking. I wouldn't want to throw my hopps in for 4 weeks if it ended up taking that long.

Or, should I throw it all in at the same time and oak and dry hop for 2 weeks simultaneously at the end of secondary?
I should also say, throwing a bag in my beer for easy retrieval of either hops or oak, makes me uncomfortable (contamination fears).

Thank you!

 

[solbes]

I would do them all in secondary, as racking a beer to tertiary is just another step to introduce oxidation (bad thing if you mean to age some of these bottles).

So I would plan it out based on how long you want to secondary. I secondaried a huge Russian Imperial Stout for 5 months and I just secondaried a Barleywine for 10 weeks. So somewhere between there I would say.

Then figure you will want to add the oak for 4-8 weeks. I had 1.5 oz of med US Oak cubes/Scotch whiskey in my RIS for 7 weeks. Was tannic and oakey for first 5 months, then about perfect for 6, then it has faded since. So I would count on 6+ weeks for that.

So assuming a 3 month secondary, I would just leave the beer as is for 6 weeks. Then oak for 4.5 more weeks (taste at this point), then dry hop for 1.5 weeks (12 weeks total). Bottle her up, cheers!

BTW, I have had an infection due to a hop bag (gusher type bug). If you use one, be sure to shock and awe that thing. I do a bleach soak (1 tbl in 1 gallon) for 20 minutes. Rinse thoroughly in hot water, then starsan. Works fine that way now.

And one more thing, you might want to save the oak from your barleywine for a subsequent brew. Gives a nice flavor to that next beer as well.

 

[AjiLemon]

Awesome! I didn't know that I could leave the cubes in that long, but I guess they're not chips, which helps. Thank you for your thoughts!

There's about 1/4-1/2 inch yeast in the bottom of my secondary, is it ok to leave the beer in secondary that long with all the yeast in the bottom?

 

[solbes]

Awesome! I didn't know that I could leave the cubes in that long, but I guess they're not chips, which helps. Thank you for your thoughts!

There's about 1/4-1/2 inch yeast in the bottom of my secondary, is it ok to leave the beer in secondary that long with all the yeast in the bottom?

Exactly, cubes are more forgiving with time since they have a lot less surface area per mass

No isues with yeast in secondary. You could probably go a year, asuming you kept the airlock from drying out and had minimal headspace to prevent oxidation. Glass carboys are better for this type of thing.

 

[k1ngl1ves]

That seems like an awfully long time to dry hop, imo...

I'd drop the dry hop a week or so before I was going to bottle.

 

[spark_plug]

My mouth watered thinking about this beer!

I personally avoid dry hopping for more than 7 days, you can get an earthy/grassy flavor from them if they sit for long durations. So if you are just looking for enhanced aroma, do those 7 days previous to bottling. Sure does sound like it will be tasty though.

 

[AjiLemon]

I'm very excited about this! Thankfully It is in a glass carboy, but it's not filled to the neck. There's maybe 2 beers worth of air space between the beer and the Airlock.

Maybe I'll only dry hop for 7 days.

 

[AjiLemon]

I think I'm going to let it sit in secondary for 5 or 6 months before I add the oak and bourbon (and much later, the hops). I just feel like I need to let it sit for longer.

 

[solbes]

That'll work out just fine. Just remember to check the airlock every week or two to keep them from drying out. The S shaped ones rarely need refills, but those 3 piece ones need refills pretty often.

 

[Hopinista]

Bourboning