Barleywine Experiment: Who's in and What Basemalt, etc. are you using?

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barfdiggs1

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Hi All,

I figured since the yeast thread is closing today and looks pretty locked down, that I'd start a post to see who's going to partake in our experiment (or for the nitpickers in the audience "exercise") and what base malt you're using, in addition to any other pertinent details you feel like sharing (OG, FG, ABV, mash temp, boil length, hopping rates and times, strychnine dosage, etc.).

To start things off:

Batch Size: 17+ gallons (26 pre boil; assuming big boil off)
Base Malt: Floor Malted Warminster MO
Hops: EKG to around 65 IBU (FWH for 50 IBU, 15 min for 14 IBU, Hop back)
Mash: 158 F for 1 hour, Mashout at 168 F
Boil: 4 hours
Estimated OG: 1.105
Estimated FG: 1.030 (My beers finish drier than predicted so ~1.025 expected)
Estimated ABV: 10.0 (10.5% expected)
Barrels for Aging: Rum (10 Gal)
 
I bought a sack of Fawcett's Pearl Malt yesterday in anticipation of this exercise. 5 gallon batch size. Low 60's for IBUs. 3 hour boil and I'll be bringing a gallon of first runnings down to a syrup. Shooting for 10.5 - 11%.
 
Batch size: 5.5 gallons
Boil: 120 min (with side boil to reduce and caremelize a portion)
Malt: Fawcett Golden Promise
Hops: EKG FWH-55.5 IBU
30 min-7.5 IBU
15 min-4 IBU
5 min-2 IBU
Mash-153 for 90 min mash out 168
Est OG-1.106
Est FG-1.027
Est ABV-10.4

Boil
 
So i've been mulling this over, I'm thinking about getting a little crazy and going for an all-Vienna malt barleywine. I'm a little worried about the potency of Vienna contributing that malty flavor that might be a little overwhelming. Then again, Doppelbocks have a large portion of Munich/Vienna in them. Any thoughts from the experts? EKG hops around 60 ibu's and would probably skip boiling down runnings and/or long boil time.
 
I might be in, but it depends on shipping window. I won't have time to brew for at least a month or 2. Let me know fellerz
 
So if I can retract all my previous votes and use US-05 (or WY3942 which would be interesting), Bravo, Centennial, and Cascade with my Riverbend Heritage malt I'm totally in.
 
Yeast starter is on the stir plate. Brewing on Saturday. Going to be a monster brew, so I have a monster starter going.
 
Alright - I'm a total water newb here. I just started reading Water from Palmer/Kaminski this past weekend.

Assuming I'm able to locate some 12 gallons of RO water today, can anyone suggest what treatments would be good for an english barleywine? I've done a cursory search online for the 'optimal' profile for an english barleywine, but haven't found anything I trust.

I should be able to pick the necessary supplements from the homebrew shop on my way home from work. I've got paper strips to test mash pH, but don't know how accurate they really are.

Anybody?
 
Alright - I'm a total water newb here. I just started reading Water from Palmer/Kaminski this past weekend.

Assuming I'm able to locate some 12 gallons of RO water today, can anyone suggest what treatments would be good for an english barleywine? I've done a cursory search online for the 'optimal' profile for an english barleywine, but haven't found anything I trust.

I should be able to pick the necessary supplements from the homebrew shop on my way home from work. I've got paper strips to test mash pH, but don't know how accurate they really are.

Anybody?

Bru'n Waters Amber Malty Profile was what I used for my last Barleywine.

Ca 71.5 ppm, Mg 5 ppm, Sodium 10 ppm, Sulfate 30 ppm, Chloride 67 ppm, Bicarbonate or Phosphoric acid added to hit a mash pH of 5.3 (With a basemalt only beer may not require much, or any, acid or bicarbonate to hit mash pH; no acidic contribution from dark or crystal malts).

People will flame you for using pH strips instead of a meter because strips read 0.3 pH units less at mash temp, however, strips are fine.. you just need to know that whatever pH you read from the strips, add 0.3 pH units to it to get your mash pH. Being a biochemist, I actually use strips in my brewing process because I'd rather have a dead consistent systematic error of 0.3 pH units with every measurement, than potentially using a meter that wasn't calibrated correctly or malfunctioning (they do this all the f*cking time, even the high end ones) and having pH get way out of whack.
 
Bru'n Waters Amber Malty Profile was what I used for my last Barleywine.

Ca 71.5 ppm, Mg 5 ppm, Sodium 10 ppm, Sulfate 30 ppm, Chloride 67 ppm, Bicarbonate or Phosphoric acid added to hit a mash pH of 5.3 (With a basemalt only beer may not require much, or any, acid or bicarbonate to hit mash pH; no acidic contribution from dark or crystal malts).

People will flame you for using pH strips instead of a meter because strips read 0.3 pH units less at mash temp, however, strips are fine.. you just need to know that whatever pH you read from the strips, add 0.3 pH units to it to get your mash pH. Being a biochemist, I actually use strips in my brewing process because I'd rather have a dead consistent systematic error of 0.3 pH units with every measurement, than potentially using a meter that wasn't calibrated correctly or malfunctioning (they do this all the f*cking time, even the high end ones) and having pH get way out of whack.
Iloveyouman.gif
 
All done with brew day. Three hour boil with an extra gallon reduced to syrup. Looooong as day. bum732 showed up just in time to drink some beers. (Actually sampled two beers brewed by none other than neorunner - both tasty sours!)

All in all, not a bad day. OG was 1.115, IBUs = 59ish. Chilled to 61, hit it with oxygen and pitched a large slurry.
 
I'm aiming for December 14th to do mine. Still ironing out details but aiming for something like:

Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (10 pre-boil)
Base Malt: 25lbs Thomas Fawcett Marris Otter
Hops: EKG to about 50-60 IBU (FWH, 15min, 5min)
Mash: 150 F for 2 hours, mashout at 168 F
Boil: 4 hours (possibly boiling the first runnings down to a syrup)
Estimated OG: 1.112
Estimated FG: 1.035
Estimated ABV: 10.2
Yeast: Wyeast 1968 London ESB (2 smack packs with a starter)

I'm assuming a somewhat lower efficiency than what most typically get due to doing a single immersion mash.
 
Brewed on Sunday. Changed my numbers slightly
O.G. 1.111
Lowered mash temp to 149 to avoid cloyingly sweet finished beer. Its fermenting away @ a steady 62-63 internal temp
 
Unfortunately wasn't able to get the micro-malted stuff from my dad. I will take the list of malts used so far and head over to the LHBS sometime this week and make a last minute call, I am thinking about just going with British 2 row with some set aside for a concentrated boil to see what kind of flavor can be developed from just regular old 2 row.
 
I think my yeast crapped out at 1.040. OG was 1.115, so right now an ABV of 9.8. Hydro sample tasted alright, but I wanted a lower FG.

I'm thinking I'll grab another vial, get a starter going and then pitch once the starter is active. Might eek out another few points.
 
I think my yeast crapped out at 1.040. OG was 1.115, so right now an ABV of 9.8. Hydro sample tasted alright, but I wanted a lower FG.

I'm thinking I'll grab another vial, get a starter going and then pitch once the starter is active. Might eek out another few points.

Rouse that mother ****er and up the temp. Sometimes 1968 likes to flocc out prematurely, especially in big stuff.
 
Rouse that mother ****er and up the temp. Sometimes 1968 likes to flocc out prematurely, especially in big stuff.
Did that, done that. It was a big f'n starter and had plenty of o2. sonuvabitch just stalled on me. Buying some yeast tomorrow and making a starter. Might not work, but I guess worth a try.
 
I've yet to be impressed by Engish yeast. Haven't tried dry English though. They seem to stop to early but that's my 2 cents. And I am an american fan. I gotta check my gravity this weekend and see where its finishing up at.
 
Picked up my ingredients, went with Bairds 2-row, really interested to see what a pale base malt can do. Got my starter ready and.... negative temps the day I was going to brew. Everything is on hold for a bit, hopefully things defrost soon.
 
Weird. Lazy ass English yeast.
I'm taking another reading tonight.

If it's still too high I'll be adding some cbc-1 and monitoring for a few days. Once it hits 1.025 or so I'll cold crash it and rack to secondary.
 
Well, by golly, I guess the rousing and warming up really did work, just took some time. Never pitched a new starter or anything, but it dropped from 1.040 to 1.032. That'll do it.

OG 1.115
FG 1.032
ABV 10.89%

Moving to secondary tomorrow to bulk age. The hydro sample is tasting pretty good for a young barleywine!
 
Brewed mine yesterday. Sorry that I'm lazy and didn't take gravity readings, but estimated OG is 1.112 and FG is 1.035. Hit that and it will come in at around 10.2%.

-25lbs Marris Otter
-2 hour mash at 148
-EKG hops at first wort, 90 minutes, and 60 minutes to about 40 IBUs
-4 hour boil to about 5.5 gallons
-2 packs of Wyeast 1968 London ESB

As with all homebrews, we shall see.
 
Brewed mine yesterday. Sorry that I'm lazy and didn't take gravity readings, but estimated OG is 1.112 and FG is 1.035. Hit that and it will come in at around 10.2%.

-25lbs Marris Otter
-2 hour mash at 148
-EKG hops at first wort, 90 minutes, and 60 minutes to about 40 IBUs
-4 hour boil to about 5.5 gallons
-2 packs of Wyeast 1968 London ESB

As with all homebrews, we shall see.

If you actually hit 1.112, you're about two packs short on the pitch rate.
 
I've decided I'm kegging this ***** and will then bottle off the keg. I thought about using some CBC-1 (a cask/bottle conditioning yeast from Lallemand) to bottle condition, but decided the risk of bottle bombs is too high. The CBC-1 stuff is 'good' up through 14% and my current FG of 1.032 (10.89% ABV)scares me just a bit.

I plan on moving from secondary to the keg in early January and it should be ready to bottle/ship by February.

Once we have a head count of who's followed through with the brew, I suppose we can decide how we want to swap bottles. Questions like bottle format (22oz vs 12oz), how many bottles to each person (thinking 2 per...for science), etc.
 
20lbs Bairds 2-row
3hr boil
1.100 starting gravity
2L starter of 1968 (2nd generation)

What is everyone fermenting at? I don't have a chamber but I have a rubber trash can filled with water that I drop my carboy in. I have kept it at 62-63F to start since the last time I brewed a big beer with a big pitch of yeast I got some really hot alcohols with a warmer fermentation. I plan to let it rise naturally into the mid-high 60's to finish out.

Thoughts? techniques? experiences? this is only the second "big" beer I have done.
 
I have kept it at 62-63F to start ...[Snip-snip] I plan to let it rise naturally into the mid-high 60's to finish out.

This is what I had done as well, with 2nd generation WL1968 even. If your yeast are anything like my yeast, you may have to rouse them and warm them up to bring your FG down. Definitely interested to see what your FG is in comparison to mine.
 
This is what I had done as well, with 2nd generation WL1968 even. If your yeast are anything like my yeast, you may have to rouse them and warm them up to bring your FG down. Definitely interested to see what your FG is in comparison to mine.

Thanks, it is still chugging along but I was planning on taking out some of the water to see if I can let the temp rise a bit since it has already been fermenting for a couple of days.
 
My fermentation went absolutely wild to start, blasting **** straight through the blowoff tube and into the water bucket. As my friend said, "it looks like the barleywine took a diarrhea all over my shower" (where we are storing it). Thankfully cleanup will be easy.
 
My fermentation went absolutely wild to start, blasting **** straight through the blowoff tube and into the water bucket. As my friend said, "it looks like the barleywine took a diarrhea all over my shower" (where we are storing it). Thankfully cleanup will be easy.

aka Julian was drinking during the entire 4hr boil and after lifting the carboy into the shower he fell asleep cradling the carboy, **** himself in the middle of the night and then convinced his friend that it was the "blowoff tube".
 
Looks good. Two years ago we did a Old Stock clone + which had a OG of 1.11 and finished about 1.08, damn 5.5 hour boil with 15%ish ABV. How long was your boil?
 
Finally got around to brewing this:

3 Gallons
OG: 1.092
44 IBUs
152 Sacc rest
3 hour boil

100% Vienna Malt
0.5g EKG 60 min
1g EKG 30 min
0.5g EKG 0 min
Starter made from slurry Beerontwowheels gave me

Should be interesting, smelled very malty. Am i the last one in on this experiment? Or are there others?
 
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