Australian Barley Wine

[Swinging Beef]

What about culturing the yeast off the bottom of a Coopers Vintage Ale?
It's already worked to 7.5% so should be happy to keep going.
Also a good excuse to buy a few coopers vintage ale.
Mmmmm...

 

[Adamt]

Yeast in the vintage ale is the same as the other ales... so you're better off getting healthier yeast from a fresher Mild or Pale!

You shouldn't need an excuse to buy vintage ale

 

[reviled]

Im down with the Anzac barley wine, joint effort aye guys? :beer:

Allthough the only kiwi thing you could use would be hops, I dont even think I can get NZ malt grain <_< Grrr...

 

[petesbrew]

No real time to properly read the thread Thommo, but I've got a Coopers Vintage Ale yeast culture in my fridge that you can have if you want it for this.
Pete

 

[T.D.]

Super pride for hops. They have a low Cohumulone level if your unsure of POR hopping. Personally i think its rubbish whats said about POR. I have a stout bittered to around 50 IBU with it and its great!

I agree, I think the POR "don't go over 25 IBUs" rule is a bunch of you know what. I have brewed a number of beers in the past that have been much higher than that and have no harsh flavours.

Recultured Cooper's yeast will be fine. I've managed to get it to eat through a 12% Barley Wine before with no dramas. It's a pretty hungry breed.

I also agree that Coopers will easily manage the high OG. Its very hardy stuff that coopers yeast. Dry Nottingham is terrible stuff IMO, I would never risk it on a brew like this that has a lot of meaning.


Thommo, I also like the idea of the 1.085 OG to mark your grandfather's age. I have brewed many beers around this OG and they have stood the test of time very well. With a healthy dose of bitterness (BU:GU of > 0.85) the beer will be drinking nicely in years to come.

I also agree that Galaxy late should be awesome! I think this could be a fantastic brew. Great idea too mate, the perfect thing to bring out on special occasions and remember your grandfather by!

 

[GMK]

Nice Ideas - like the galaxy hops and you need POR.
I also would stay with all Aussie Malt.

If you want to make an Aussie style that is dry then Mash at 64-65C and use 10% sugar to keep it lighter.
If you want more of an English Ale - then mash at 68C and go all malt.

Both could use some Oak

Coopers Vintage Ale yeast would work - but make sure the starter is big and it is well aerated.
1056 or 1275 will give a fruitier flavour.
Nottingham will be dryer.
1728 Scotish Ale is also a good chioce.

Hope this helps.

 

[Thommo]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

I will go with something like this. Punch it up in Promash when I get home.

40 Litre batch

100% JW Ale to 1085
Mash at 63-64
Bitter with POR flowers to 50
Galaxy at flame out (never used them before, should be good)

I have decided to split a double batch and ferment one with a re-cultured Coopers yeast and one with 1275 - Thames Valley Ale yeast...never used it so good enough excuse in my book.

Will keep you posted. Probably brew it this Sunday if I can get the hops in time.

Thommo.

 

[T.D.]

Thommo, if you have the ability to do it, perhaps you could try some wort caramelisation too?

I brewed a beer recently where I was trying to mimmick a "post WWII home brew" type beer (also a bit of a tribute to my grandfather). I figured I should use the most readily available modern ingredients around - 100% JW Ale - as that's all they would have had during rationing (ie the 1940s equivalent). But to jazz things up a bit a vigorously boiled the first runnings down to half its initial volume before continuing with the rest of the sparge. The beer turned out a lovely copper colour, and had a nice malty toffee character. Added a real "3rd dimension" to the flavour.

 

[Muggus]

Both could use some Oak

Oak eh? Gotta keep it Aussie too...
See if Penfolds will lend you a used Grange barrel! :lol:

 

[T.D.]

At over $5000 per barrel it would have to be a very old one i think! :lol:

 

[kook]

Oak eh? Gotta keep it Aussie too...
See if Penfolds will lend you a used Grange barrel! :lol:

Penfolds use American oak barrels for Grange

 

[T.D.]

Maybe a nice blackbutt barrel?

 

[Tony]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

I will go with something like this. Punch it up in Promash when I get home.

40 Litre batch

100% JW Ale to 1085
Mash at 63-64
Bitter with POR flowers to 50
Galaxy at flame out (never used them before, should be good)

I have decided to split a double batch and ferment one with a re-cultured Coopers yeast and one with 1275 - Thames Valley Ale yeast...never used it so good enough excuse in my book.

Will keep you posted. Probably brew it this Sunday if I can get the hops in time.

Thommo.

Sounds great mate!

I used Galaxy a few nights ago and its great stuff! very pungent so dont go overboard with it!

Keep up informed on how it goes

cheers

 

[kook]

I have decided to split a double batch and ferment one with a re-cultured Coopers yeast and one with 1275 - Thames Valley Ale yeast...never used it so good enough excuse in my book.

Maybe even blend the two beers back together at bottling? I'd blend a few hundred ml's, taste and see what you think.

 

[sp0rk]

Resurrecting this as I'm thinking about brewing an ANZAC Barleywine this weekend
BIAB Reiterated mash, I'll just split the grist into 2 equal lots, mashing around 65c
It'll go something along the lines of;

8kg Voyager Veloria
2kg BB Wheat Malt
300g Victory
A mix of Galaxy & NS to 60 IBU, a bunch late

I'll transfer to a corny once primary fermentation is done and add a few toasted oak staves (maybe 10g/L, possibly soaked in rum or an Aussie single malt)) and leave for at least 6 months before tasting

Any suggestions or input?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

The only thing I would suggest is to bottle some and forget about them, I have 5 bottles left which are 2 years and 3 months old, my IBU was at the lower end about 35, they improve with age, gives a euphoric glow with each swallow.

 

[devoutharpist]

I actually bottled a pseudo-Australian barley wine last night. While the malt bill wasn't Australian (MO and a little bit of crystal 120) i used only galaxy hops and a lot of them at that.

Was sitting in secondary on some staves for about 5 months, the sample i tried while bottling was very hot... but it should round out nicely in a year or so. I only had two stave squares in there (can weigh if required) for about 20L and i would definitely increase that next time (or maybe leave it on there for longer than 5 months?). There wasn't that much barrel coming through on the sample, but maybe that'll be more present when it rounds out. So my advice is go hard on the oak, soaking in rum would be pretty good as well.

 

[Grmblz]

As a lover/brewer of HG beers and an advocate of extended aging I am now very conflicted http://brulosophy.com/2019/04/15/impact-of-storage-temperature-on-high-og-beer-exbeeriment-results/ take from it what you will, personally I think if you enjoy oxidized flavours (as I do) then so be it, but the article does raise some interesting questions.

 

[ABG]

Resurrecting this as I'm thinking about brewing an ANZAC Barleywine this weekend
BIAB Reiterated mash, I'll just split the grist into 2 equal lots, mashing around 65c
It'll go something along the lines of;

8kg Voyager Veloria
2kg BB Wheat Malt
300g Victory
A mix of Galaxy & NS to 60 IBU, a bunch late

I'll transfer to a corny once primary fermentation is done and add a few toasted oak staves (maybe 10g/L, possibly soaked in rum or an Aussie single malt)) and leave for at least 6 months before tasting

Any suggestions or input?

Why not try some kveik to ferment? It'll finish fermentation faster and as a bonus, will condition much faster too. Please note, I haven't done this yet myself, just going off what David Heath and a number of brewers on the other forum have said. I'm going to give it a whirl with a RIS in the not too distant future - not worlds apart from what you're doing.

 

[sp0rk]

Why not try some kveik to ferment? It'll finish fermentation faster and as a bonus, will condition much faster too. Please note, I haven't done this yet myself, just going off what David Heath and a number of brewers on the other forum have said. I'm going to give it a whirl with a RIS in the not too distant future - not worlds apart from what you're doing.

Because I want to use an Australian yeast, it's an Australian Barleywine not a Norwegian Barleywine
I plan on using recultured dregs from a few longnecks of Coopers Sparkling
Also I've not been able to find any over the last few months while I've been looking