The New Barrel Recipe

[John_C]

Here's my recipe, I'll be brewing on Saturday.

[Shanna]

Nah don't worry, it only takes a week to turn over a barley wine.

Just a couple of comments on the recipe. English barley wine should only really have dark crystal, i.e. around 140-145, as that's what they call "standard". Lighter crystal malts are not really an English thing, they're more American. Also the relatively simple malt bill and traditional hops will possibly lack complexity.

Is your barrel giving up any vanillin? i.e. is there any vanilla flavour to your barrel stout? The Liffey barrel itself didn't add anything but time, we could probably have aged in stainless steel.

To be honest I can't get vanilla off it but I do get Oak and whiskey.  What is the colour figures unit you quote e.g ebc.
, lovibond. Recipes colour from beer Smith shows my own recipe being in the acceptable range for the style.

Shanna

[Bubbles]

Here's my recipe, I'll be brewing on Saturday.

Looks like a lot of dark crystal! The dark stuff is generally used in much smaller amounts as it gets quite overwhelming. I've brewed beers where <100g of dark crystal can make itself known in the flavour. You might consider replacing a portion with some lighter kilned crystal. All personal taste of course.

[Shanna]

Any objection to using an addition of .75 kg of demerera sugar to reduce the grain bill a bit. Hoping this will give a little bit extra flavour in the beer also.

Shanna

[Shane Phelan]

Tried this last night for research purposes. It was much darker than I expected.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[Bubbles]

Hmmm.. Research, yeah right... )

What about the flavour shiny? How did the oak and whiskey come through?

Do you think the dark colour was from crystal or from roasted malts?

[Shane Phelan]

The first flavour I got was Treacle actually, I don't know if they used that for certain but I got anyway. I thought the balance was perfect in terms of the amount they put in. The dark colour was definitely from roasted malts giving a toasty/roasty/slightly smoky flavour and it actually worked quite well with a balanced flavour and it came across as being relatively dry with no prominent hop presence. They aren't trying to be an English barley-wine or anything so that would explain why they haven't paid much attention to colour. My guess is that the gravity is a good bit lower than 1.020.

Either way I really enjoyed it and I wasn't expecting to, thought it would be too sweet or something but that most certainly wasn't the case.

[cno1]

I'm gonna adjust my recipe and take out 500g of Marris Otter and put in 454g of Black Treacle.
Is 15min ok to add the Treacle or should I leave it in there longer?

[cno1]

Cheers Tube, will do. I'm gonna get cracking on this over the weekend.

[Bubbles]

The first flavour I got was Treacle actually, I don't know if they used that for certain but I got anyway. I thought the balance was perfect in terms of the amount they put in. The dark colour was definitely from roasted malts giving a toasty/roasty/slightly smoky flavour and it actually worked quite well with a balanced flavour and it came across as being relatively dry with no prominent hop presence. They aren't trying to be an English barley-wine or anything so that would explain why they haven't paid much attention to colour. My guess is that the gravity is a good bit lower than 1.020.

Either way I really enjoyed it and I wasn't expecting to, thought it would be too sweet or something but that most certainly wasn't the case.

I wasn't tempted to pick this up, to be honest. But now you have me intrigued to taste it. Might give it a spin before I do my own brew. Inspiration.... 

[Shanna]

The first flavour I got was Treacle actually, I don't know if they used that for certain but I got anyway. I thought the balance was perfect in terms of the amount they put in. The dark colour was definitely from roasted malts giving a toasty/roasty/slightly smoky flavour and it actually worked quite well with a balanced flavour and it came across as being relatively dry with no prominent hop presence. They aren't trying to be an English barley-wine or anything so that would explain why they haven't paid much attention to colour. My guess is that the gravity is a good bit lower than 1.020.

Either way I really enjoyed it and I wasn't expecting to, thought it would be too sweet or something but that most certainly wasn't the case.

Hi Conor,

If you need any assistance in your research give me a bell Doing my own brew tomorrow night as long as DPD deliver my order tomorrow morning as expected.

Shanna

I wasn't tempted to pick this up, to be honest. But now you have me intrigued to taste it. Might give it a spin before I do my own brew. Inspiration.... 

[Shanna]

Lads definitely go easy on the dark crystal. Did my barley wine yesterday night and with my recipe & a 90 minute boil it's really dark brown. its sitting next to a Scotch ale I did & I can't tell them apart.

Shanna

[John_C]

Lads definitely go easy on the dark crystal. Did my barley wine yesterday night and with my recipe & a 90 minute boil it's really dark brown. its sitting next to a Scotch ale I did & I can't tell them apart.

Shanna

No problem,
I'll cut my dark malts right back and brew a pale beer. That should blend well with yours.

[Shanna]

Lads definitely go easy on the dark crystal. Did my barley wine yesterday night and with my recipe & a 90 minute boil it's really dark brown. its sitting next to a Scotch ale I did & I can't tell them apart.

Shanna

No problem,
I'll cut my dark malts right back and brew a pale beer. That should blend well with yours.

Just learned a valuable lesson about brewing. Don't be so quick to judge on the colour. There is a chameleon living in the fermenter in my kitchen. The barley wine has undergone a colour change in the last 24 hours. It started off dark brown but as the yeast activity increased it has started to lighten up and is now a copper, golden colour.  If it keeps up the transformation it will be more like a golden colour.

Shanna

[Shane Phelan]

Don't worry, my treacle will offset that!