Peated Barleywine

[NoIguanaForZ]

My grandfather died recently (not unexpectedly). I've been meaning to make a barleywine for some time, and picking some ingredients with an eye to honoring him makes sense to me (his birthday's in November, when this'll probably be ready to drink, too). In particular, he was fond of scotch, and I've never brewed with peated malt before. He was also an avid sailor, at least prior to his stroke, which I'm looking to allude to with the hop selections.

Recipe so far:

Batch size: 6 gallon
Yeast: 3x satchel Nottingham, rehydrated
Overnight mash starting at 151 F, extended boil

Grain bill:
-8oz peat-smoked malt (2.1%)
-1 lb Simpson's Double Roasted Crystal/C120 (4.2%)
-1.5 lb Caramunich 40 (6.3%)
-21 lb Pale 2-row

Hops:

Currently thinking 1.5oz Polaris (~18.4%, ~58 IBU) at 45 min, 1oz at flameout. Willing to entertain suggestions, pondering Chinook and Admiral as well.

Thoughts, particularly on the hops?

 

[Bensiff]

I've played around with peat, don't think it much belongs in beer. If it were me I'd venture to mimicking characters of Scotches that were not peated and avoid the Islays as inspiration. I wouldn't think any of the hops you have listed would get you to that Scotch whiskey character. I'd be thinking something like Pilot or Pilgrim based off their flavor profiles. Never brewed with them so just saying that based off what the interwebs have to say about them.

 

[jrgtr42]

For that big a grain bill, 8oz peated should do well.
I made a smoked black IPA (yeah, I know...) a ways back that I used peated malt. Everything I'd read said that a pound of smoked malt in roughly 15 lb grain bill would work. It might have, with other smokes. The peated was what they had, so I went with that. 3 years later the peat had faded enough that it was drinkable. Obviously the hops were long gone so I reclassed it as a smoked porter.
You have a 24lb bill, 8oz peat. It will definitely be peat forward. I might suggest start with 4 or 5 oz, then taste the wort a couple hours in. You can then add more if you want. Can't take it out later...

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

Hmm. I'm not so much looking to clone scotch as slightly allude to it. I'm more concerned about the hops playing well with the peat and grain bill, adding an additional dimension.

I might try 4oz peat; I've seen up to 8% in recipes people reported liking though.