Small Batch/1 Gal Barley Wine Recipes

[MVKTR2]

Hey Crowd

So I've got a little experience now.... but I've got a couple of questions/problems with Barley Wine. Living in Mississippi the only way to get Barley Wine is to brew it myself, travel out of state and bootleg it back in, or have a friend ship me one. So I've never had a BW, and want one dang it! Time to brew one. But being short on spare carboys and not wanting one filled with BW for several months, I'm intrested in doing 1-2 Galon Batches. Anyone with experience in small batch brewing of Barley Wines please give me a hand. First and foremost I NEED A RECIPE. I'm a extract/specialty grain/partial mash brewer. Really I could use some direction in cutting down an existing recipe as hop utilization would be different etc..... let the help begin! Thanks in advance.

Phillip

 

[RoaringBrewer]

Do you really want to spend 3-6 hours (depending how quick you are and depending on extract v. mashing) to brew 2 gallons? If I were only brewing two gallons, not sure I could bring myself to do a partial mash. For one, it takes too longer for 2g. Second, if you are only brewing 2g, why not just do it all-grain? Same time, better beer...

So, since I can't see justifying too much time to make 2g of barleywine, I'll just look for you a barleywine recipe that is extract + steep (can be done in 2.5-3 hours probably) only and cut it down to 2g for you. At least it won't take you long to brew, you can do a full 2g boil even on a stovetop. A full boil would be important for a barleywine due to the amount of fermentables you'll have dissolved in the wort and to get maximum hop utilization...

Stay tuned!

 

[RoaringBrewer]

Here's what I whipped up for a 2g extract + steeping grain batch based upon a 3g recipe I found in the database. Supposedly something similar took 2nd place in American Barleywine at some competition. Here you go. Let me know how it turns out:

BeerSmith Recipe Printout
Recipe: MVKTR2 Smallbatch Barleywine
Style: American Barleywine
TYPE: Extract and Steeping Grains

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 2.00 gal
Boil Size: 2.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.112 SG
Estimated Color: 16.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 89.1 IBU
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 83.3 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 8.3 %
0.25 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 4.2 %
0.25 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 4.2 %
1.25 oz Northern Brewer [8.50%] (60 min) Hops 64.1 IBU
0.75 oz Cascade [5.50%] (15 min) Hops 12.4 IBU
0.75 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (5 min) Hops 7.7 IBU
0.75 oz Cascade [5.50%] (5 min) Hops 5.0 IBU
0.75 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -
0.75 oz Cascade [5.50%] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -
1 Pkgs SafAle American Ale (DCL Yeast #S-05) Yeast-Ale

Notes:
------
American-style Barleywine recipe. Crafted for micro-batch size of 2g. Practice patience with this one!
Pay close attention to detail when brewing a batch this small. Boil size, hop amounts, etc. should be watched
and measured closely!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[cheezydemon]

Damn RB! Service with a smile!

 

[RoaringBrewer]

Damn RB! Service with a smile!

I can't brew as much as I'd like, but I love to concoct recipes, so I frequently respond to posts asking for clones or a certain recipe type.

I also always ask that if they brew it, that they PM with how it turned out in the end. Wish I heard from those who do brew my concoctions though. Would give me an idea if I'm on the right track! I rarely do though. Would be even better if they sent me samples.

In this case, I wanted to help out, but also I am looking to brew something to age myself, but don't want to brew a huge batch either. It takes me long enough to drink 5g of pale ale, let alone barleywine. I may just brew this one myself. Now I just need to decide if I want to do a real quick 2-3g extract batch or a 2-3g all grain batch. AG is a lot of work for 2-3g...

 

[RoaringBrewer]

Oops... One item of note. Not sure the Safale US-05 can handle 11% alcohol, so another yeast choice may be better, I just didn't know without doing research. I also like the simplicity of adding dry yeast in this case. One rehydrated sachet into 2g of high gravity wort should be enough to get it kicking. If you used liquid, you would definitely need a starter.

Also, may need to add some additional yeast at bottling (if you don't keg) in order to get carbonation in the bottle.

EDIT: Safbrew T-58 and S-33 are both Dry yeasts capable of handling up to 11.5% ABV (this should go to 11%ish). Not sure they really fit the American Barleywine style. The T-58 may be interesting due to 'unique' flavor profile of peppery and spiciness. THe S-33 is for belgians mainly I believe...

Do some research on yeast choice!

 

[MVKTR2]

Wow as CheezyDemon said, that is truely service with a smile.

The recipe does look pretty dang good. I am planning on doing this in the spring March/Aprilish so it'll be ready to drink next fall/winter! I'm planning on putting this in some one gallon jugs I use for small batch Ciders to secondary. This should work out real well, cause I can dry hop Amarillo in one gallon and Cascade/Centinial in the other! For the record I'm definatly a MaltHead, though I do enjoy a good hoppy beer, and know that the hops in a BW mellow with age, I would like to ensure it's a big malty brew. Thoughts?

Something I'm wondering is if you brew a BW with Darker malts/darker special grains will you wind up with a more stout like BW or something closer to a RIS?

I'm printing out this thread and am putting it in the notebook! Thanks again RB!!!
You :rockin:

 

[carl spakler]

Anyone go ahead with a small batch BW with success? I like BW, but not sure I want 5+ gallons of it, hence a half batch is ideal.

 

[rurounikitsune]

Just make 5 gallons. When you get tired of it, throw the rest in a dark corner and forget about it. A couple of years later you will have some great beer.

 

[Revvy]

Basic brewing video has done a couple videos on their 1 gallon barleywine experiments, and I believe they have their recipes on the website as well...

Basic Brewing™ : Home Brewing Beer Podcast and DVD - Basic Brewing Video™

They are big proponents of small batch brewing experiments i 1 gallon jugs.

There are many reasons to do small batch brewing....testing recipes, making small batches of stuff you know you won't want 5 gallons of...tinkering to perfect a new recipe several times without committing the money and ingredients to larger batches...plus if you are just starting out in all grain, you can do small batches in your stove top with a limited amount of extra equipment...You can even use an unmodified two gallon cooler as your mash tun for 4 pounds of grain...which goes a long way in a micro batch.

I'd say about 1/3 of my brewing is small batch...usually 2.5 gallons, but I now have a few 1 gallon jugs to do even smaller. I do more small batch brewing in the winter, that way I can stay inside during the cold michigan winters..I live in a loft, so I have no shelter I could brew outdoors in the winter.

 

[carl spakler]

Thanks for the info, I'll check it out the BW video when I get to a non-filtered connection.

I brew indoors and also don't have the equipment for a 5g AG batch. I am thinking that with my current PM set up I can do a small AG batch. I figure I might as well make a small batch of a big beer as it is likely to last longer, I don't typically knock down 4-6 BWs in an evening.

 

[lustreking]

I was experimenting with 1 gallon all grain batches for a while, and did brew a barleywine. I used a BiaB method that worked well on the stovetop.

Stovetop All Grain Small Batch Brewing - Lustreking Brewing

There are two things that are important if you want to maximize what you get out of a small fermenter. Foam control drops (or Fermcap-S) will let you fit as much as you can in the fermenter without worrying about blowoff. I also recommend a refractometer to measure your gravities since it only takes a drop, as opposed to a hydrometer which takes a couple ounces.

I generally got 8 to 10 bottles out of a 1 gallon batch, depending on how careful that I was.

 

[Revvy]

I was experimenting with 1 gallon all grain batches for a while, and did brew a barleywine. I used a BiaB method that worked well on the stovetop.

Stovetop All Grain Small Batch Brewing - Lustreking Brewing

There are two things that are important if you want to maximize what you get out of a small fermenter. Foam control drops (or Fermcap-S) will let you fit as much as you can in the fermenter without worrying about blowoff. I also recommend a refractometer to measure your gravities since it only takes a drop, as opposed to a hydrometer which takes a couple ounces.

I generally got 8 to 10 bottles out of a 1 gallon batch, depending on how careful that I was.

Long time no see Bro! How you been???

(If you haven't ever looked, click on the links for Lustreking Brewing; to me it's one of the best and most informative non HBT brewing websites on the web.)

 

[lustreking]

Long time no see Bro! How you been???

(If you haven't ever looked, click on the links for Lustreking Brewing; to me it's one of the best and most informative non HBT brewing websites on the web.)

Hi Revvy!

I've been here, but relatively quite lately. Work and my son have kept me busy over the summer. In fact I haven't brewed since April, but I'm brewing this weekend.

Thank you so much for the kind words about my website. It is due for some updating too!

 

[Bobby_M]

I know 5 gallons of BW seems like a lot, but this is a long term beer that you want sticking around for a few years. The 13% BW I brewed last June is almost gone between sips here and there, sharing, and competitions. If I really wanted a gallon though, I'd take some first runnings on a larger beer and then use the rest + sparge for a 5 gallon session beer. It's a partigyle but where the first big beer is a smaller volume. At least your brew day would produce 6 gallons instead of 1.

 

[Homercidal]

I did a 2.5 gallon BW this past holiday season. Just bottled it a few weeks ago. The first bottle wasn't that good (but not that bad either). But it was only half-filled and still pretty young. Extract batch the LHBS put together for me.

Some would say that doing less than 5 gallons is a waste of time, but I really thought 2.5 gallons of this was plenty for now. Of course I may be kicking myself the middle of next winter when I run out! We'll see. If it turns out ok in the coming months, then I might brew a 5 gallon batch.

One thing that I did notice was that the BW lost it's hops even faster than I expected, so be sure to use plenty, or it will be out of balance quickly. If you put too much in, you can always age it a while. Too few and it's very hard to get it back!

 

[user 165400]

Any one ever brew this? Turn out good? Looks like a great recipe.

 

[Gigan988]

I just brewed a small batch Barleywine, or perhaps a quad, or something in between, today. I wanted to experiment with a recipe, so it will only be a 1 gallon batch.

Danyel’s Barley Wine

3 lb 2-row malt
0.3 lb crystal 120L
0.3 lb special B
0.5 lb dark Belgian candi syrup
0.25 oz galaxy hops (bittering)
¼ tsp Irish Moss
¼ tsp green peppercorn
¼ tsp coriander seeds
¼ tsp fresh ginger root
Belle Saison yeast

Mash grains at 150 for 30 mins, step up to 160 for 30 mins, in 1 gal water. Sparge 0.5 gal, add hops and boil 45 mins. Add spices, candi syrup, and Irish moss, boil 15 mins. Cool and pitch yeast

 

[MVKTR2]

What a blast from the past! It's been a long time since I was an extract/PM brewer.

Odd thing is I've only done 3 barleywines in the intervening years, 2 were small batches this past year, American & English versions. Sadly in approximately 60 batches I've had 2 infections(one severe). Both were the Am. BWs! The severe one being the first 10+% abv very hoppy (10 oz. during the hop crisis iirc) ... a very expensive mistake from a HB perspective.

I did just enter my EBW in an Oregon homebrew competition taking place this coming weekend so we'll see how it does.

 

[Northumberlandmonkey]

I just brewed a small batch Barleywine, or perhaps a quad, or something in between, today. I wanted to experiment with a recipe, so it will only be a 1 gallon batch.

Danyel’s Barley Wine

3 lb 2-row malt
0.3 lb crystal 120L
0.3 lb special B
0.5 lb dark Belgian candi syrup
0.25 oz galaxy hops (bittering)
¼ tsp Irish Moss
¼ tsp green peppercorn
¼ tsp coriander seeds
¼ tsp fresh ginger root
Belle Saison yeast

Mash grains at 150 for 30 mins, step up to 160 for 30 mins, in 1 gal water. Sparge 0.5 gal, add hops and boil 45 mins. Add spices, candi syrup, and Irish moss, boil 15 mins. Cool and pitch yeast

Hey how did this turn out

 

[Gigan988]

Hey how did this turn out

Don't know yet... still aging. I haven't even bottled it yet. I will update when it is ready.

 

[Gigan988]

Just bottled the quad/barley wine. The hop bitterness is strong from the galaxy hops. The malt seems well balanced. I think it will get much better with time and once it is carbonated.
Belle Saison has proven once again to be a beast.
OG 1.114
FG 1.006
ABV ~14%