BeerBorg

The SWMBO got all interested in barleywines because she saw it on Pinterest, so she bought a bottle of Stone's and we both loved it. I am not attempting to recreate their recipe, but create my own with specialty grains I needed to use up. I entered this into Beersmith as an English Barleywine (I know US-05 isn't English)

1# Pale Malt
6.3oz Munich Malt -10L
4.1oz C10
4oz C60
4oz CaraPils
2oz Chocolate Malt
2.5# Extra Light DME
1oz Perle (60min)
Whirlfloc

1# Amber DME (after boil)
2 tsp Yeast Nutrient
1 pkg US-05 yeast

Est 1.105 OG
Est 1.023 FG
Est 11% ABV
49.9 IBU
20 SRM

I don't know if you like American barley wine; this is a good one if you do!
Bigfoot Ale clone (5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)

OG = 1.096 FG = 1.026 IBU = 100 SRM = 16 ABV = 9.8%

Ingredients

9 oz. (0.27 kg) 2-row pale malt

3. 75 lbs (1.7 kg) light dried malt extract

8. 0 lbs. (3.6 kg) light liquid malt extract 1 lb. 7 oz. (0.64 kg) caramel malt (60 °L) 9 AAU Chinook hops (150 mins)

(0. 75 oz./21 g of 12% alpha acids) 9 AAU Chinook hops (105 mins)

(0. 75 oz./21 g of 12% alpha acids)

7. 5 AAU Cascade hops (60 mins)

(1. 5 oz./43 g of 5% alpha acids)

3. 75 AAU Cascade hops (10 mins)

(0. 75 oz./21 g of 5% alpha acids)

7. 5 AAU Centennial hops (10 mins)

(0. 75 oz./21 g of 10% alpha acids)

0. 25 oz. (7.1 g) Chinook hops (dry hop)

1. 25 oz. (35 g) Cascade hops (dry hop)

0. 5 oz. (14 g) Centennial hops (dry hop) Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Fermentis US-05 yeast

(3. 5 qt./3.5 L yeast starter) 1 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step

Steep grains at 154 °F (68 °C) in 3.0 qts. (2. 9 L) of water. Rinse grains with 2 qts. (2 L) of 170 °F (77 °C) water. Add water to brewpot to make at least 3.5 gallons (13 L) of wort. Stir in dried malt extract and boil wort for 150 minutes, adding hops at times indicated. Keep some boiling water handy and do not let the boil volume dip below 3.5 gallons (13 L). Add liquid malt extract in the final 15 minutes of the boil. Chill wort and transfer to fermenter. Top fermenter up to 5.0 gallons (19 L). Aerate wort and pitch yeast. Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C). Dry hop in secondary fermenter for 5 days.

Thanks! I've already brewed my recipe, but I will definately give this one a try sometime.

Let us know how your barley wine turns out.

hey rebel..what book did that come out of? does it have Affligem Dubbel clone?

Still drinking this beer and it is delicious.

Maybe I would up the hops a bit next time as this is getting a bit sweet with extended aging. Could use a tad more dark, roasty steeping grains.

But this stuff is so smooth you can't even tell its such a big beer. You could easily drink a few in succession, and that is dangerous

Thanks for the follow up. Have been thinking about doing one myself. Other than upping the hops, would you make any other changes?

Inkleg wrote:Thanks for the follow up. Have been thinking about doing one myself. Other than upping the hops, would you make any other changes?

More dark steeping grains perhaps. Or just change the extract to dark or extra dark. After about a year what coffee flavor I got from the chocolate malt had subsided.

FWIW:

I don't know what you used for bittering hops, but for a beer that will age a long time, try to use a hop that is high in beta acids (like a noble hop) instead of a high AA low Beta modern hop. You will need to use more hops of course since they are lower in AA pretty much always.

But what this does for you is as the beer ages and the AAs fade, the slight oxidation of the beta acids produces an alternative bittering compound right there in the bottle, and helps the beer stay balanced.

mashani wrote:FWIW:

I don't know what you used for bittering hops, but for a beer that will age a long time, try to use a hop that is high in beta acids (like a noble hop) instead of a high AA low Beta modern hop. You will need to use more hops of course since they are lower in AA pretty much always.

But what this does for you is as the beer ages and the AAs fade, the slight oxidation of the beta acids produces an alternative bittering compound right there in the bottle, and helps the beer stay balanced.

The Perle had around 6% beta and byo.com's hop chart recommends it for a barleywine.

Perle hops are yummy, but they are actually alpha heavy, as in the Alpha to Beta ratio is usually 1.4 to 2.5 (more AA then BA).

Where true noble hops often have an alpha to beta ration of < 1. Sometimes as low as 0.4 or 0.5 (twice as much beta as alpha).

The beta oxidation bitterness isn't as strong as the initial AA intensity, so it takes a hop that has more Beta to make it seem more stable with age.

IE Perle might look like this:

Alpha Acids: 7.0 – 9.5%
Beta Acids: 4.0 – 5.0%

Where something like Saaz might look more like this:

Alpha Acids: 2.0 – 5.0%
Beta Acids: 7.0 – 8.0%

Saaz is probably the lowest ratio on a regular basis, but most old world hops can be found with a higher amount of beta to alpha.

mashani wrote:Perle hops are yummy, but they are actually alpha heavy, as in the Alpha to Beta ratio is usually 1.4 to 2.5 (more AA then BA).

Where true noble hops often have an alpha to beta ration of < 1. Sometimes as low as 0.4 or 0.5 (twice as much beta as alpha).

The beta oxidation bitterness isn't as strong as the initial AA intensity, so it takes a hop that has more Beta to make it seem more stable with age.

IE Perle might look like this:

Alpha Acids: 7.0 – 9.5%
Beta Acids: 4.0 – 5.0%

Where something like Saaz might look more like this:

Alpha Acids: 2.0 – 5.0%
Beta Acids: 7.0 – 8.0%


Saaz is probably the lowest ratio on a regular basis, but most old world hops can be found with a higher amount of beta to alpha.

Interesting info. I will use this when I am ready to make a new barleywine.

It's just something I learned from my "crazy Belgian brewing friend" when making strong Belgians that were planned to be aged for a year or two. My experience is that it works nicely.

Hmmm, my LHBS only has the US hop varieties, and US Saaz actually has a bit more Alpha and not as much Beta. I might have to make the 30 minute drive to get German(?) Saaz.

Crystal, Tettenanger, Liberty, Mt. Hood and Willamette would be acceptable subs...

Each have Beta Acid amounts near or higher than Alpha Acids on average.

Did they have any of those?

Look them up and read their flavor and aroma characteristics.