Barley wine recipe

[benji]

Hey there peps,
I going to try a my first Extract Barley Wine from my left over hops and steeping grains and would love some advice.


Benie's Barley Wine

Batch size 12L
ABV 10.1% IBU 80

Light DME 3kg

Steeping Grains
Crystal 40 300g
Crystal 113 150g
Chocolate 100g

Hops
Magnum 10g @60
Amerillo 10g @50
Magnum 5g @40
Cascade 10g @40
Cascasde 10g @30
Amarillo 10g @30
Amerillo 10g @15
Saaz 10g @15


I really like SN bigfoot and quite like Anchor's Old Fog horn,
I still have some fuggles and some more saaz but thats it on the hops front,
I have 150g more chocolate grain
600g of Crystal 40
800g of Crystal 113

Is the recipe good as is or do you recommend adding something from what I have left. I don't want to buy anymore ingredients.

Thanks in advance

[molc]

Interested in how this one works out. Going to make some beers for ageing this year, so this and I ris are prime candidates.

[nigel_c]

You really want your BW to finish up at around 1.020 so I would up the crystal 40 to around 600g to leave a nice amount of sweetness.
It's a bit of a waste using amarillo early in the boil. I would save it all till the last 10 mins. Saaz will get totally lost in there so you may be better saving it for another brew.

Id go with all the magnum you have at 60 and a mix of cascade and amarillo ll in the last 10 mins.
Put your numbers into brew software and check the ibu's. You may need to use some of the fuggles at around 40 to get the numbers up.
You will be better off investing in more hops for for the brew and dry hopping because these beers really need the big bittering to stand up to the maltyness. They can end up way too sweet and syrup like if not balanced. My last barleywine had about 400g of hops in it. Push your brew day back a week and pick up a bag of your favorite hop. It will be worth it. Centennial or more cascade would be lovely in it.

Next is yeast. What are you planning on using?
I'd recommend US-05 or Nottingham. US-05 will finish slightly higher which you may be better off with as extract can be very fermentable. 

You really need to let these beers sit and age for a good amount of time before cracking them open. At least 6 months. They really benefit from it. I have batches that will be coming celebrating their 4th birthday in the new year. Hope your not in hurry.

Link to my last batch. Hope it helps.
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,7291.0.html

[benji]

Thanks for your advice Nigel,

Yep I'm aware this brew will need to be aged, I had planned for at least 6 months of aging, I've tweeked my brew as per your suggestions and this is how it turned out in brewMate

Benie's Barley Wine

Batch size 12L
ABV 10.6% IBU 83
Colour (SRM) 26.4

Light DME 3kg

Steeping Grains
Crystal 40 600g
Crystal 113 150g
Chocolate 100g

Hops
Magnum 15g @60
Cascade 15g @60
Fuggles 20g @40
Cascade 20g @10
Amerillo 30g @10

I'm gonna buy some more Cascade and I'll drop hop with this also

[nigel_c]

Not a bother. Keep us updated how you get on.

[benji]

So just wondering about fermentation,
Was thinking 2 weeks in primary then 4 weeks in secondary, then bottle and condition for 5 months at least

[nigel_c]

2 & 2 should do it. Dry hop the last 5-7 days.
Make sure you pitch enough yeast as well.

[TheDrunkenDestrier]

Megabump! I'd love to know how this turned out.