Old Foghorn Barleywine Recipe?

[Wduncan1983]

I recently had my wife pick up a grain bill for an old foghorn clone when she was near my LHBS. The recipe included 5lb of 40L and 20lb of 2 row. She accidentally ordered 5lb of 20L instead. Unfortunately she had it milled in together so I'm stuck with the mixture.

What will the difference be between the 40L and 20L caramel malt?

 

[kirbcheck]

You're going to be fine. They're close enough I wouldn't worry about it. You'll probably get more caramel flavor and a darker color. But it won't be bad and it won't be drastically different. Enjoy it, I'm sure it'll turn out great.

 

[blizz81]

You're going to be fine. They're close enough I wouldn't worry about it. You'll probably get more caramel flavor and a darker color. But it won't be bad and it won't be drastically different. Enjoy it, I'm sure it'll turn out great.

I would think more the opposite here if intention was 40L and actuality was 20L.


The differences between the two won't be a dealbreaker. Either way, 5lb of crystal malt is a lot in what appears to be a 5gal batch. Such a big beer generally provides some attenuation challenges on its own - 5lb of crystal surely won't help that I'd think.

 

[Justdrumin]

This beer was in a recent BYO issue. I can't remember when. I'm at work at the moment, but I can post it later if you'd like. The issue had a large section of anchor recipes as well as an interview with the brewmaster. I know for a fact the recipe was for a partigyle though.

On another note that does seem like an awful lot of crystal to me as well.

 

[Wduncan1983]

The recipe was from BYO magazine as Justdrummin indicated. It's my first Partigyle recipe that I've tried. It should create 2 gallon batches, the first run for Old Foghorn and the second for Anchor's "Small Beer".

Not sure what to expect since it's my first time, but I'm sure I'll have some efficiency issues with the sparge. The recipe stated that you may need some DME to hit your target OG.

I'm creating a 4L starter for both recipes. 3L for first run and 1L for the second. Does that sound like enough yeast?

 

[blizz81]

I'm creating a 4L starter for both recipes. 3L for first run and 1L for the second. Does that sound like enough yeast?

I would think so, if they're each 2gal.


I only have a reading knowledge of partigyle, but man, 25lb of grain yielding 2 2gal batches...! I would think you could pull two 4-5gal batches out of that. Any "efficiency problems" you might have would likely be "solved" by the 2gal batch size. Don't know what they're starting at pre-boil / how much it's having you boil down though. Sounds like a fun entry to partigyle / learning process though!


Do they have a posted estimated FG with that much crystal? Maybe it's intentionally high.

 

[pegcitybrewer]

This beer was in a recent BYO issue. I can't remember when. I'm at work at the moment, but I can post it later if you'd like. The issue had a large section of anchor recipes as well as an interview with the brewmaster. I know for a fact the recipe was for a partigyle though.

On another note that does seem like an awful lot of crystal to me as well.

It was In Dec. 2014. I actually clicked on this thread thinking someone had made it and I was excited to see the final product. I really enjoy Old Foghorn but have to tackle this.

 

[kirbcheck]

The recipe was from BYO magazine as Justdrummin indicated. It's my first Partigyle recipe that I've tried. It should create 2 gallon batches, the first run for Old Foghorn and the second for Anchor's "Small Beer".

Not sure what to expect since it's my first time, but I'm sure I'll have some efficiency issues with the sparge. The recipe stated that you may need some DME to hit your target OG.

I'm creating a 4L starter for both recipes. 3L for first run and 1L for the second. Does that sound like enough yeast?

Are you sure it's only for 2 gallons? I'm a regular partigyler and this should produce two 5 gallon beers easy.

The C malts only make up 20% of the grist. This seems fairly normal for barley wines from my experience.

 

[kirbcheck]

I would think more the opposite here if intention was 40L and actuality was 20L.


The differences between the two won't be a dealbreaker. Either way, 5lb of crystal malt is a lot in what appears to be a 5gal batch. Such a big beer generally provides some attenuation challenges on its own - 5lb of crystal surely won't help that I'd think.

You're right, I read that backwards i.e. needed 20L but got 40L... Good catch.

 

[Justdrumin]

Are you sure it's only for 2 gallons? I'm a regular partigyler and this should produce two 5 gallon beers easy.

The C malts only make up 20% of the grist. This seems fairly normal for barley wines from my experience.

I believe this is correct. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to yield two 5 gallon batches. Which would make more sense with the 24lb grain bill.

 

[Wduncan1983]

Sorry fellas, I meant two, 5 gallon batches. I left out the "5" in my reply.

It would be 3L yeast starter for the 5 gallons of old foghorn 1.101 OG and 1L starter for "small beer" 1.030 OG.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

I just picked up the ingredients for this today and my LHBS. Had to fist make sure my mash tun would accommodate all the grain. Making my starters tonight for a Sunday brew day. I'm excited to see how the parti-gyle turns out.

Yours will just end up being a little bit lighter in color and flavor, but not by much. If you're going to be aging it the recommended 6 months then you'll have plenty of complexity to make up for it! Enjoy!

FYI the recipe OG is 1.099 for Old Foghorn and 1.032 for the small beer (FGs of 1.030 and 1.005 respectively)

 

[Wduncan1983]

I have two 10 gallon Mash Tuns that will allow me to split the grain bill between them.

If you want to swap brews after we get done just let me know. I'm interested in what the difference will be between 40L and 20L.

You're right on the money with the OG for each batch. I was trying to quote from memory.....a little off.

 

[Justdrumin]

I have two 10 gallon Mash Tuns that will allow me to split the grain bill between them.

If you want to swap brews after we get done just let me know. I'm interested in what the difference will be between 40L and 20L.

You're right on the money with the OG for each batch. I was trying to quote from memory.....a little off.

If I'm not mistaken, the idea of this brew is to mash all of the grains at once. Then the first runnings will be your Barleywine and the second Runnings for the small beer. If I'm wrong, my mistake. I thought that's what a partigyle was.

 

[kirbcheck]

If I'm not mistaken, the idea of this brew is to mash all of the grains at once. Then the first runnings will be your Barleywine and the second Runnings for the small beer. If I'm wrong, my mistake. I thought that's what a partigyle was.

That's the general idea. However you can do a mini mash once you've sparged either beer.

 

[Wduncan1983]

If I'm not mistaken, the idea of this brew is to mash all of the grains at once. Then the first runnings will be your Barleywine and the second Runnings for the small beer. If I'm wrong, my mistake. I thought that's what a partigyle was.

I plan to use the first run for the barley wine. I just don't have a mash tun to fit 25lb of grain and 10 gallons of water. I plan to split it to accommodate the large grain bill.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Looking at my 10 gal mash tun and running the numbers, I'll probably have a similar issue with getting as much water into the mash as the recipe calls for. I'll probably have to wing it and dough in then top up with as much water as possible. It will work out to about 1.15 qt/lb so I may need to cheat and do a mini sparge to get the 7 gal that is called for into the boil kettle. Or possibly add more water part way through the mash.

Can't mash out because I/you will need those enzymes for the small beer. Fingers crossed!

 

[SeeMont]

I love parti gyle brewing and do it as a time saver. My process for a Big beer (20 plus lbs), a 10 gallon tun and two 5 gallon batches. I mash in at strike temp and then sparge as normal. You will loose efficiency with the larger grain bill. I will then re mash, fill the tun, adjust to mash temp again and let it sit through the first boil. I will often cap the original mash with about 5 lbs to obtain a different brew, ie my first might be a 1.09 DIPA and my second a 1.05 brown ale. I have found a topped off 10 gallon tun will yield 6 1/2 to 7 gallon of wort. The hardest activity is to generate enough hot water, I heat up plenty, wish I had a second burner. Hope this helps.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

So reporting on how things are going so far. I wasn't able to get all the water necessary into the mash tun (10 gal Rubbermaid cooler), but I figured that because of that, I could cheat and do a SMALL sparge and get some more sugar out. The wort is currently on the propane burner and is about 75 minutes into the 120 minute boil. I accidentally added the first round of hops at 120 min, but luckily I have more on hand to make up for it. I think Dogfish 120min IPA has an addition at 120 minutes so maybe it will work out in my favor. We will see! I'll check back in once I have the small beer started.

Wduncan, hope you're having success as well!

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Alright, after some cleanup I'm now measuring out the water to sparge the barley wine grains. I ended up at 1.085 for the Old Foghorn, which I think I'll blame on my water experiment as well as that I don't think I got the boil off rate I wanted by the end of the 120 minute boil.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

OK, so checking in after a few days. Things seems to be progressing well, although my yeast starters for both the Old Foghorn and the Small beer ended up being aggressive little bastards and I ended up with krausen spewing out of both airlocks like one of those high school science project volcanoes. Ended up having to rig together a blow off system and had quite a mess on my hands to clean up but now things seem much better and cleaner. It's two days into the fermentation so I'll be debating how long to let it clean up and then dry hop the Old Foghorn for three-ish days before bottling and aging.

 

[Wduncan1983]

Here is my setup to accommodate the large grain bill. I just happened to have the extra mash tun to help out.

Both the small beer and old foghorn are fermenting great. Should be ready to bottle and keg within a week or so.