Re-filling the barrel

[Shanna]

Just me 2c.......

Would be an advocate of the old boiling water method, rather than introducing extraneous chemicals into the process. Remember lads, we're ARTISAN......! 

Its all chemistry though at the end of the day ;-) I suspect the length of time that the barrel lays empty may be the determining factor here as I would not like it to dry out out and damage the wood.

As for the artisan thing I am a little sceptical of it given that all my brewing stuff is stainless, I liberally use VWP & Starsan etc and ferment in plastic.

Either way I think this is a distraction when the more important thing it to be focusing on the what style to brew, what recipe will go in to it, when will we brew it and when can we ready to fill it.

Shanna

[Shanna]

Following on from Conor's suggestion about an Imperial Irish Red. This was one that I brewed previously where I basically doubled up on most of the ingredients. No treacle though I am afraid

Imperial Irish Red Ale
Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 23.00 l
Boil Size: 33.04 l
Boil Time: 90 min
End of Boil Vol: 27.04 l
Final Bottling Vol: 23.00 l

Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 79.1 %
Taste Rating: 30.0
Total Water Needed: 46.44 l

Mash or Steep Grains
Mash Ingredients                               
Amt            Name                             Type    #    %/IBU
9.50 kg    Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC)          Grain    1    87.3 %
1.00 kg    Cara-Pils/Dextrine (3.9 EBC)              Grain    2    9.2 %
0.30 kg    Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (145.0 EBC)    Grain    3    2.8 %
0.08 kg    Roasted Barley (1367.0 EBC)              Grain    4    0.7 %

Mash Steps
Name    Description                         Step Temperature    Step Time
Mash In    Add 30.87 l of water at 74.0 C    65.6 C          75 min
Fly sparge with 15.56 l water at 75.6 C

Add water to achieve boil volume of 33.04 l
Estimated pre-boil gravity is 1.081 SG

Boil Ingredients
Amt            Name                                          Type    #    %/IBU
60.00 g    Challenger [7.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min                   Hop    5    30.1 IBUs
60.00 g    Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 45.0 min                       Hop    6    16.6 IBUs
30.00 g    Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min    Hop    7    7.7 IBUs
2.0 pkg    Irish Ale Yeast (White Labs #WLP004)                Yeast    8    -

Estimated Post Boil Vol: 27.04 l and Est Post Boil Gravity: 1.103 SG

[Bubbles]

Two fantastic recipes that I'd be be very tempted to try on their own. Love the Bramling X slant on Tubes 's recipe. What a great hop varietal... I also like the reliance on Notty. Dry yeast for me, all the way.. When you're looking for high atttenuation, I can't see the reasoning behind going for a liquid yeast when fantastic dry equivalents are available for a fraction of the price. Notty or US-05 for the win. If we were going Belgian or low-gravity then we'd obviously consider a liquid yeast... That's a huge amount of treacle though - the Zainasheff recipe for "Old Ale" has only half pound treacle in a 5 US gal recipe. Though I'm more than willing to go along a reipce from such an experienced brewer - I've never brewed with treacle before - I just like the sound of it... 

Shanna, I like that restrained level of Roasted barley in the recipe, though I can't understand the big amount of carapils in such a big beer. I like the simplicity of the recipe though...

[Brewtus]

Probably the best choice as it will be easy enough for everyone to brew. Nottingham Danstar should do for yeast (but probably need 2 sachets) so no need to mess about building up the large starters of liquid yeast that would otherwise be required for a beer of this gravity. Also ferments around 20°C (basically room temperature with central heating on) so manageable for those without temperature control. Finally no overly fruity flavours (such as may occur with Belgians) that might clash with the whiskey notes.

[Brewtus]

Oops, sorry jumped into the thread way back there from my email link. See we've moved on a bit now. Was recommending the barleywine choice. However my remarks re ease of brewing are still valid i.e. just use dry yeast and ferment around room temperaure.

[Shanna]

Hi Conor

Showing my inexperience here I guess with the carapils. Liquid yeast or yeast starters I have found have produced better results than using dried variety of yeasts (or maybe it's just seems that way). I don't honestly expect my recipe to be selected and to be honest I posted it to further discussion and also get feedback (such as your comment on the carapils).

Restraint in the roasted barley comes from experience that Beer smiths colour calls can be a little less accurate than it would leave you to believe. Remember my "Maroon Irish Red Ale" had 100 grams of roasted barley.

Hoping to see something from yourselves,  Rossa and Brewtus soon.

For treacle at what point in the boil would you add it?

[Bubbles]

10 minutes for the treacle addition, just to sanitise it.

I've nothing against liquid yeast of course, but would rather the easier alternative of dried yeast for a beer like this, to make sure we hit the high cell count needed. I'd be going for at least two sachets of Notty for a barleywine, properly re-hydrated.

[David]

Love to get in on this would probably only get 15 liters max from my kit 12-13 liters would be more likely allowing for trub. Would need some serious mediation to get away with double brew day.

1. Bubbles (1. Very roasty imperial Stout; 2. Belgian dubbel; 3. English barleywine)
2. Shanna - English barleywine
3. JohnC - English barleywine
4. Tube, if you'll have me - English barleywine
5. Shiny (Something dark)
6. Beerfly (something dark or malty)
7. McGrath I'm in. Let me think about what..
8. Cathal (English Barley Wine)
9. Rossa English barley wine.
10. Brewtus (Prefer English Old Ale or barleywine but anything considered)
11. David barley wine 15 liters Max moe like 12- 13 liters

[mcgrath]

1. Bubbles (1. Very roasty imperial Stout; 2. Belgian dubbel; 3. English barleywine)
2. Shanna - English barleywine
3. JohnC - English barleywine
4. Tube, if you'll have me - English barleywine
5. Shiny (Something dark)
6. Beerfly (something dark or malty)
7. McGrath I'm in. Scotch ale or EBW
8. Cathal (English Barley Wine)
9. Rossa English barley wine.
10. Brewtus (Prefer English Old Ale or barleywine but anything considered)
11. David barley wine 15 liters Max moe like 12- 13 liters

[Shanna]

Lads I brewed this on Monday, as I didn't really want to be recommending a recipe I hadn't tried myself.

The main differences are:
- I made the mistake of thinking that tin of stuff in the press was treacle, when in fact it was golden syrup, of which I put 500g into the boil
- To compensate I took off 1.5 litres of wort and added 1kg of brown sugar to. I boiled this on the cooker for 10 minutes to reduce and caramelise it a bit further
- To lessen the risk of a blow off I kept the above out of the fermenter and didn't add until day 5 when the gravity had dropped to ~1.024 (from 1.110)
- I didn't have any extract so upped my malt bill to compensate. Not everyone will be able to handle this much grist.
- My BX are a bit weaker in AA than the original, so I upped the quantities.

I had a taste yesterday before adding the brown sugar solution and it tasted very good indeed. It should finish out around 13.5% according to Beersmith.

I will bottle in around a week and if anyone is interested in trying it I'll try to get some to you.


Recipe: 144 EBW
Style: English Barleywine

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 18.93 L     
Boil Size: 21.67 L
Estimated OG: 1.132
Estimated FG: 1.030
Estimated Color: 23.0 EBC
Estimated IBU: 30.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU     
0.50 kg       Lyle's Golden Syrup (0.0 EBC)             Extract      4.85 %       
8.50 kg       Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (5.9 EBC)            Grain        82.52 %       
0.30 kg       Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (118.2 EBC)    Grain        2.91 %       
100.00 gm     Bramling Cross [4.00 %]  (60 min)         Hops         26.9 IBU     
20.00 gm      Bramling Cross [4.00 %]  (20 min)         Hops         3.3 IBU       
20.00 gm      Bramling Cross [4.00 %]  (0 min)          Hops          -           
1.00 kg       Dememera Sugar (3.9 EBC)                  Sugar        9.71 %       
2 Pkgs        Nottingham (Danstar #-)                   Yeast-Ale                 

Hi Tube,

Definitely interested in a bottle of this. Any chance you could make it to the South Dublin meet. We will be having a sample of our own barrel on the day. The gravity looks absolutely monstrous on this and I am curious to see what it will taste like with the bramling cross hops.

Shanna

[Brewtus]

Well done for taking the initiative on this one, Tube. When you think about the huge volume of beer we're committing to, testing the recipe first is a damn good idea. As Shanna has suggested if you could bring a couple of bottles along to the next meeting that would be ideal. We could even buy a shot of whiskey and add a few drops to get some indication of the final result. I'll bring a dropper.

Along with the treacle the other thing that makes this recipe a bit interesting is the use of Bramling Cross hops. I'm not very familiar with these but apparently they are used in Ruddles County so I'll try and find a bottle of that to see if I can notice much difference from the more usual EKG. The latest stock of BX at HBC lists an AA of 7% so closer to your original recipe.

Cheers, Brewtus

[Shanna]

Hi guys

Going to state the obvious here but in case there Is any confusion we are going refill the barrel with am English barley wine.

Given we will need to have the barrel emptied before we can fill it again I will start the process of gathering the previous contributors to organise the emptying of the barrel.

I was thinking that we could aim for refilling it towards the mid or the end of May. This would give enough time to brew the barley wine and organise collection.

Please let me know what you think?

Shanna

[beerfly]

tube if your in cork and have it bottled then i could get it off you

[Shanna]

Hi guys

There is a hops group buy going on with a deadline of 31st of March. Can we agree a recipe and then we can use the group buy to get the hops sorted out?

Bubbles, Beer fly,  Shiny, Cattal, myself and hopefully Bruce will be at the ST meet next so hopefully we can get it nailed down by then or discuss it in person if need be.

Shanna

P's.  I can donate some crystal malt to the recipe as I have loads.

[Bubbles]

Hi guys

There is a hops group buy going on with a deadline of 31st of March. Can we agree a recipe and then we can use the group buy to get the hops sorted out?

Bubbles, Beer fly,  Shiny, Cattal, myself and hopefully Bruce will be at the ST meet next so hopefully we can get it nailed down by then or discuss it in person if need be.

Good idea. I say we use the meet next week to at least finalise the approach/style we're going to take. We can hammer out the finer details online I think.

After further reading, I'm even more keen on doing the old ale that myself and Bruce were suggesting. We could use the Jamil recipe in BCS as our basis and maybe scale it up to >10% ABV? Here's the Jamil recipe:

8.84kg British pale ale malt
340g 80L crystal malt
113g black patent malt
227g black treacle

43g Horizon 13% AA - 60 min
Mash temp 67C

2 sachets Danstar Nottingham

OG: 1.093
FG: 1.022
ABV: 9%

I'll try to convince you next week!!