Barley Wine Recipe... Input Needed

[dug]

I'm planning my next brew, a barley wine :icon_cheers:

I haven't actually brewed one of these before so I'm not real sure how this looks. I'm after a fairly dark very malty brew, hence the B special and crystal. But I'm not sure on the hopping schedule. the reason for using northern brewer and saaz for the bittering hops is because they are leftovers, and about 2 years old h34r:

and what yeast would be a good choice?

Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 kg Pale Malt, Traditional Ale (Joe White) (5.9 EBC) Grain 48.08 %
4.50 kg Maris Otter (Bairds) (5.3 EBC) Grain 43.27 %
0.50 kg Crystal (Joe White) (141.8 EBC) Grain 4.81 %
0.40 kg Special B Malt (300.0 EBC) Grain 3.85 %
20.00 gm Northern Brewer [9.80 %] (60 min) Hops 14.4 IBU
50.00 gm Saaz [7.50 %] (60 min) Hops 24.8 IBU
30.00 gm Galaxy [13.50 %] (20 min) Hops 18.0 IBU
30.00 gm Galaxy [13.50 %] (10 min) Hops 10.8 IBU



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.102 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.026 SG Measured
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 10.00 %
Bitterness: 68.0 IBU
Est Color: 40.0 EBC

 

[Jye]

The recipe looks ok but it also depends on what style of BW youre aiming for. Check out the BJCP guidelines if you need some help deciding.

Just be sure you have lowered your efficiency as you will see it plummet with the larger grain bills. Mine goes from 80% for a 1.050 beer to 60% for 1.100.

 

[Swinging Beef]

I like it, Barley Wines are tops.
You may find its better value to have a couple of KG of DME in stead of tonnes of grain in your mash tun as like the other fellah said, efficiency drops.

I would also recommend making a 2nd batch from the 2nd runnings of your wort and run out a mild or bitter or something.
Im a little curious as to your choice of Saaz in the bittering...

 

[mwd]

As an old Whitbread Gold Label drinker I would think that any fruity or citrusy hops would not be suitable in an English style Barley Wine.

English style barley wine is mostly strong malt flavour I would think a spicy type of hop more along the lines of Challenger would be more in keeping.

Never had an American Barley Wine to compare with though.

 

[Muggus]

I'm planning my next brew, a barley wine :icon_cheers:

I haven't actually brewed one of these before so I'm not real sure how this looks. I'm after a fairly dark very malty brew, hence the B special and crystal. But I'm not sure on the hopping schedule. the reason for using northern brewer and saaz for the bittering hops is because they are leftovers, and about 2 years old h34r:

and what yeast would be a good choice?

Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 kg Pale Malt, Traditional Ale (Joe White) (5.9 EBC) Grain 48.08 %
4.50 kg Maris Otter (Bairds) (5.3 EBC) Grain 43.27 %
0.50 kg Crystal (Joe White) (141.8 EBC) Grain 4.81 %
0.40 kg Special B Malt (300.0 EBC) Grain 3.85 %
20.00 gm Northern Brewer [9.80 %] (60 min) Hops 14.4 IBU
50.00 gm Saaz [7.50 %] (60 min) Hops 24.8 IBU
30.00 gm Galaxy [13.50 %] (20 min) Hops 18.0 IBU
30.00 gm Galaxy [13.50 %] (10 min) Hops 10.8 IBU



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.102 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.026 SG Measured
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 10.00 %
Bitterness: 68.0 IBU
Est Color: 40.0 EBC

Simply by the hops you're using, you're kind of in American Barley wine territory, and from there you're probably best of giving it a good starter of an American Ale yeast...which will make those hops pop.

Good to see you've kept the grist simple. It's often too easy to go overboard with such a big beer, but the key is simplicity, and mashing it reasonably low. Well, simplicity, and ageing. And don't be scared to leave this bad boy in secondary for a month or two, it will smooth it out a bit.

Only other thing I say is don't be scared to add more hops! My most recent American-style Barley Wine racked up a good 107IBU and strong (12.1%), and is bitter yes, and resiny, but I still wonder about its longevity. Don't be afraid to chuck some of those Galaxy hops in at First Wort. Sure, they're brutal, but age takes care of that!

 

[tommygun]

Doesn't look too bad semi American barley wine. Watch the hops you said they were 2 yrs old you may have to adjust if you haven't already as the AA% would have deteriorated to an extent.

mmmm barley wine :icon_cheers:

 

[dug]

Swinging Beef, the reason for using the saaz for bittering is becase they are about 2 years old and have been sitting in the freezer for all that time so I may as well use them.

Muggus; 107IBU! dang... though I suppose with time the bitterness will settle out. I've got a honey porter/ipa that I hopped a little too much, 2 years later the bitterness has smoothed out and so has the leather wood honey. Just a pity there aren't so many bottles left.

The plan of attack for this beast is to do 2 mashes one with the marris otter and the other with the pale malt. I'll then put all the runnings into the boiler and reduce this down to about 28L, which should give me around 25L after boiling the hops. I could replace the pale malt with LDME, but there are 2 things that are stopping me 1) I don't have any LDME on me and 2) I have the pale malt.

I'll do another barleywine that is more like an english style barleywine after this one.

 

[dug]

After a long day of brewing yesterday I now have a cube of barleywine awaiting some yeast and a clean fermenter. I do have a few issues though.

first is the gravity, ended up with about 23L of 1.114! Then as for the bitterness, well its not really bitter at all. This was probably because of poor conversion due too such a high gravity. anyway BS say the IBU's have gone from a mild 68 to an even milder 61.

Having not brewed a barley wine before, I'm not sure what to do. Should I water down the syrupy sweet brew? If I do water it down should I boil up some hops in the additional water to bump up the IBU's? and is the CraftBrewer Belgian Ale yeast starter going to cope with the thick goo?

Mind you it is very tasty, thick, malty and syrupy :icon_drool2:

 

[Swinging Beef]

Having not brewed a barley wine before, I'm not sure what to do. Should I water down the syrupy sweet brew? If I do water it down should I boil up some hops in the additional water to bump up the IBU's? and is the CraftBrewer Belgian Ale yeast starter going to cope with the thick goo?

Mind you it is very tasty, thick, malty and syrupy :icon_drool2:

Look to commercial examples:
Youngs, Old NIck is around 52IBU and SG 1.084
Dock St Barley Wine is 60IBU at SG 1.106

I say leave it where it is... you have brewed an unconventional example anyway due to the use of saaz and stuff.
I reckon just go for the ferment and see how it turns out. Modify on the next one you make.

What yeast did you end up going with, and do you have at least 2 litres of it ready to go?

Edit... Oh, you are using belgian yeast! Man... dont worry about the lower IBU for a massive Belgian beer!

I have a barleywine bubbling away in its isolaton room right now!

 

[mwd]

High level of sweetness of the wort masking the hop bitterness ?

 

[RetsamHsam]

50.00 gm Saaz [7.50 %] (60 min) Hops 24.8 IBU

Then as for the bitterness, well its not really bitter at all.

Just a stab in the dark here. But i noticed you have put your saaz into BS at 7.5% AA, most of the saaz I have been getting for the past couple of years has been closer to the 2.5% mark. So did your saaz actually have AA of 7.5% or was this an oversight?