American Barleywine Help

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rehab

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Hi all,

Still fairly new at the AG game but it seems to be coming along nicely.

I am a fan of Stone Brewing and mainly the Black IPA of Sublimely Self Righteous Strong Ale.

I am wanting to dial this up a bit and make a BW version.

I have read a fair bit about barleywines lately and am keen to make a recipe along the lines of SSR but bigger.

I am going to use the 90% base + 5% caramalt and carafa 3. Also going to use the 100IBUs from 60 minutes chinook and I have 100g of Simcoe and instead of Amarillo I have about 200g all up of Zythos.

Want to make around 23 liters.

This part is all fine to me. The part I keep reading conflicting reports on is fermentation.

I am fine if I need to move to secondary. I will go and buy another bucket or whatever before I brew this if I have to. I just want to get a definite process going on in terms of length in primary (If it is meant to drop from 1.100+ to 1.020 do I pitch all yeast then or do I get to a point and move to secondary with more yeast?)
Also I have heard of even more yeast when bottling... is this actually true?

I am so far planning on up to four packs of 05 for the process I am just a bit confused on the transfer and how far along the ferment to do things. I am also aware that secondary for a few months is recommended which is also fine.

As a bottler is there any other tips I need since I don't have access to a keg/force carbing?


Thanks for any tips and help brewers :beerbang:
 
Plenty of yeast and agitation of the wort prior to fermentation is the go (if you don't have straight oxygen to pump in). Last Barleywine I did started at 1.092 and finished at 1.017 with Wyeast 1272. Bottled it the usual way about 6 months ago (June), had one bottle of it on Melbourne Cup Day and it was fantastic.

You can but there's really no need to go to secondary, finish primary ferment, bottle and age for at least 6 months before drinking.

They're fun beers to make!
 
Thanks for any tips and help brewers :beerbang:

I pitched a huge amount of healthy yeast at my barley wine and the temps got out of control. I would encourage pitching and keeping the temps a bit lower than perhaps you are accustomed to.

Also I didn't secondary, though I had a conical which I could drop out the yeast / hop trub periodically.

In such large beers that spend a lot of time in the bottle, be very careful with how you perform transfers once the beer has finished fermentation. Picking up oxygen will speed up reduction/oxidation processes which some people fancy in big beers, but go a long way to removing the late hop aroma (not sure of your hop profile or the beer you are inspired by).

I would also pay attention to the attenuation you are going for. For me these big beers need a high FG (1.020 from 1.100 would be the absolutet lowest I would go) so plan accordingly with your mash profile. Likewise, take into account the larger than normal trub losses from all the hops that are being employed. Consider a hop sock to make draining the most out of the kettle.

Cheers
 
Awesome Cheers guys.

Yeah looking to limit any oxidising that I have had recently and as I am aging a bulk amount of it I am thinking of flagging any DH I had planned and instead whirlpool hop instead....
 
Wookie

This barleywine recipe is really good and doesn't require dry-hopping for a big hop aroma. I made that recipe, primary for 3 weeks and straight into bottles. Awesome cold weather or end of session beer!
 
Cheers man,

Always more room for other BWs if this one goes well
 
Dont over-pitch as ferment temps will get away from you and produce the worst headache hangovers.

Pitch at the lower end of the recommended ferment temps.

If you need extended boil to reach your desired gravity, be careful not to scorch the beer (hot spots in the kettle)

Lastly, once fermentation is finished ensure you screw the lid on your fermenter fully. I had some fruit flies lay maggots in the lid threads on one barley wine I was aging. When I opened it the top of the beer was covered with dead flies and the krausen was crawling 8(.

ALA
 
Im looking at this thread atm.
Looking at doing the SN Bigfoot barley wine .
Im going to be using the recipe out of the "Beer Captured" book.
Good luck
Cheers
 
I was looking at pitching about three packs of us 05. Will I need a further pack prior to bottling to help carb? I have seen people adding extra yeast to help with this. I hope to make around the 1.100 mark and 23 ltrs (using this so I don't mind too much if it drops to 20 by bottling time).
Main things are if I keep it in primary I don't want it to sit on the yeast to the point it picks up flavours which worsen as time goes on but also as I want to age I don't want to oxidise so am making the move to late hop rather than Dry Hop...

Keep thoughts and advice coming as I want this to be a cracker :chug:
 
In my experience a touch (doesn't need to be a full pack) of extra yeast will help carb up a beer that has been extensively aged.

Also in my experience, you may want to look at the ABV tolerance of your bottling yeast to see if it is up to the task. If it isn't, find a yeast that is.
 
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