American Barleywine

My beer pipeline is good at the moment and I was itching to brew something, I thought it would be a good opportunity to brew some high gravity beers and let them age.  Those will be nice for when the cold season comes upon us again.  Only a homebrewer would think about what he’s going to drink next winter!

This beer style has been on my mind for the longest time, an American Barleywine.  I wanted to make it really bold just like the American way of life; go big or go home.  The recipe has nothing unsual beside lots of malt and lots of hops.  I had to use LME since my mash tun maxes out at 30 pounds of grains.

While I was brewing it, I had a spur of the moment thing and decided to take the first gallon of the running and boil it down on the stove and caramelize it.  We’ll know in 6 months if this was a good idea or not!

I split this batch into 3 carboys (2x2.5gal + 5gal) and will treat each one differently.  One carboy will have some Spanish cedar, kind of like Flying Monkeys do with their Matador.  Another carboy will be dry hopped with fresh Cascade cones when harvest comes.  The 5 gallon will be dry hopped using 4oz of pellets but I haven’t decided yet what the varieties will be.  Most likely something like Centennial, Amarillo and Belma.

Recipe Specifications

Batch Size (Gal): 10.00

Total Grain (Lbs): 40.50

Estimated OG: 1.111

Anticipated SRM: 16.6

Anticipated IBU: 117.2 IBU

Brewhouse Efficiency: 70 %

Wort Boil Time: 120 Minutes

Grains

56.8% (23 lbs) - 2-Row

24.7% (10 lbs) - Pale LME

12.3% (5 lbs) - Munich II

4.9% (2 lbs) - Crystal 60

1.2% (0.5 lbs) - Crystal 120

Hops

2.00 oz Nugget (14.50%) @ FWH

10ml Hop Shot @ 120 min

2.00 oz Nugget (14.50%) @ 60 min

1.00 oz Cascade (8.80%) @ 20 min

1.00 oz Belma (8.80%) @ 20 min

1.00 oz Cascade (8.80%) @ 10 min

1.00 oz Belma (8.50%) @ 10 min

2.00 oz Cascade (8.80%) @ 0 min

2.00 oz Belma (8.50%) @ 0 min

Yeasts

5 gal -> WY1450 Denny's Favorite 50

5 gal -> S-05

(both were yeast slurry from TropicAle)

Mash Schedule

Sacch Rest - 60 min @ 150F

Notes

06/01/14: Brew day

Fly sparge with 170F water

Collected 10.5 gallons

OG = 1.109

07/14/14: Secondary.  SG:  US05=1.020 ; WY1450=1.028