Brewed my first barleywine but ended up with an extra half-gallon (a little less than 4gal total). I'm torn between racking to a 3gal carboy for secondary and losing the extra beer, or just bottling once fermentation is done. What do you guys recommend?
Should I rack barleywine?
- Thread starter JJack887
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I'd leave it. A key flavor reason for racking is a fear of dying yeast giving off-flavors. This simply isn't a big worry in homebrewing due to the lack of head-pressure meaning the yeast aren't killed under the weight of the beer above. One of my most awarded beers was a Wee Heavy that I got busy and left in primary for 5 months before racking. Out of frustration I almost dumped it which would have been a HUGE mistake. Earlier this year I brewed a 10.6% barleywine and left it in primary for 3 months prior to racking, no off-flavors.
If you're worried leave it in primary for 4-6 weeks then bottle/keg.
If you're worried leave it in primary for 4-6 weeks then bottle/keg.
get an extra gallon jug (buy one of the apple juice jugs) - or condition a lot longer. Bottling is Ok too - the difference in bulk conditioning and bottle conditioning is not that big, but bulk conditioning is generally preferable. Just don't bottle until fermentation is done.
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