My Barley wine is tasting good.

[Tweek]

I just cracked my first bottle from this batch open. I brewed this approximately 2 months ago. It is still a little green but I can tell this wont last long. Thank god I did 10 gallons.

My maibock is carbonating super slow. I kinda messed up when I primed it. Long story but hopefully I dont have huge bottle variation.

Got a few more to try tonight ill keep ya posted

[YamahaXS]

soudns good!!!!


mind describing the palet? i have tasted only one barley wine, and it was sweet, with out much other character.

[Tweek]

Barley wine
Well I would definately call this malt forward. which definately could be interpreted as sweet. However it is only 2 months old so the hops are still very present. At approximately 9% it has a good warming alcohol effect. The nose is a bit more malty than I would like. Next time I may try dry hopping it to see if I can change the nose a bit.

I have also tried my belgian strong. This is not ready yet. I am not sure what is going to happen with this one. To make a long story short, I did a yeast blend on this one. I pitched them both at the same time and the wrong one took hold first and became the dominate character of the beer. So in an effort to fix it I made a starter of another stronger belgian yeast and pitched it at bottling time. Right now it is tasting like a blond belgian style which was not my intention in the least. but it has a background taste that is it comes forward could save the day for me. Not that it is bad, just that it is not what I wanted so it is a sort of let down. You know what I mean?

[paul84043]

How long has it been sitting? I am going to do a Barleywine next, I get the feeling that there can be alot of variation of the style since it's not a "profile specific" beer....any info that I can get would be helpful.

My Belgian Dubbel just keeps getting smoother and better. I have never tasted anything like it before. I have been considering doing a Strong Golden Ale as well because this Dubbel came out so good.

What flavors tend to age away first, the malt, or the hops? From my own limited experience, as they sit, the flavors mingle more, not so much go away, but mix together. Does that make any sense?

[Tweek]

Yeah the flavors come together first. In green beers the flavorws are all in suspension. They are all present but it is as if they are hanging out all by themselves. After a more extended time the hop flavors mellow that is why barley wines are hopped so high to account for the fact that they really should be aged for a minimum of 6 months. I only made mine at 56 ibus which is why it is drinking so well this early in the game. it can still stand to be aged a bit longer but I am really enjoying the hops in it atm so we will see how long it lasts.

This batch has been sitting in bottle about a month. It fermented about 3 weeks or so then sat in the secondary to get clear then went into bottle.

I have a extract recipe for a SN Bigfoot clone if you are interested.

[YamahaXS]

thanks tweek, i am interested in doing a barley wine someday and you have given me a few ideas.

cheers!

[mountain beer]

Tweek,

I have a question for you regarding your maibock---

I just racked a bock today from primary to secondary. It was a Brewers Best kit and I added an Additional 1 LB of DME to try to boost the alcohol level

I have glass carboys---I started with a 1.071 and i now have a 1.028. I think i racked too soon because i thought for sure The gravity would have been lower. I waited 6 days to rack--I am going to be away for the next 4-5 days so thought this was the best time to rack--

My question is--should I add some more yeast or maybe some energizer to see if i get som more fermenting--
I have never been that high before in my gravity upon second racking and am a little worried. I have brewed some strong ales before and they went down pretty far in gravity.

thanks for anyone's input
Mountain

[b3s]

Originally posted by Tweek
I just cracked my first bottle from this batch open. I brewed this approximately 2 months ago. It is still a little green but I can tell this wont last long. Thank god I did 10 gallons.


is that the barleywine recipe you gave me on irc? still have to brew that one!

[BluesHarp]

Originally posted by Tweek
Yeah the flavors come together first. In green beers the flavorws are all in suspension. They are all present but it is as if they are hanging out all by themselves. After a more extended time the hop flavors mellow that is why barley wines are hopped so high to account for the fact that they really should be aged for a minimum of 6 months. I only made mine at 56 ibus which is why it is drinking so well this early in the game. it can still stand to be aged a bit longer but I am really enjoying the hops in it atm so we will see how long it lasts.

This batch has been sitting in bottle about a month. It fermented about 3 weeks or so then sat in the secondary to get clear then went into bottle.

I have a extract recipe for a SN Bigfoot clone if you are interested.

Tweek, I would be VERY interested in a Bigfoot clone. I haven't made a barley wine since 1995; I basically made up the recipe from some generic instructions. It aged nearly a year, and was brought out for the Super Bowl, where it spurred the Packers to victory!..but I digress. How can I get the recipe?

[Tweek]

B3s nah the recipe I gave ya was teh bigfoot clone but not the recipe I am speaking of here.

for those of you that want the big foot clone here is the recipe.

Barley Wine style Ale

1. 155 degrees for 60 minutes
a. 1-pound Torrified Barley
b. 1 pound Belgium Caravienne 20L
2. Remove grain bags and rinse over Brew pot until water level is achieved
3. Bring to Boil
4. Remove from heat and stir in 12 pounds of Dry Malt Extract
5. Bring back to boil
6. Add Boil Hops
a. ½ ounce Chinook (13.7)
b. 1 ounce Nugget (15.5)

7. Boil for 45 minutes.
8. Add Finish Hops
a. 1 ounce Nugget (15.5)
b. 1 Ounce Chinook (13.7)
c. 1 ounce Wilamette (5.2)
d. 1 ounce Kent Goldings (7.5)
9. boil for 15 minutes
10. cool to temp
11. pitch yeast
a. White Labs Dry English Ale yeast (two vials or a starter)

Recipe for 5 gallons

brew with hard water and you are set.

cheers

Tweek

[BluesHarp]

Thanks, Tweek, I will try this one out...but - I'm not familiar with Torrified Barley or Caravienne Malt...are there other terms to describe these grains??

[batkins]

And how was the Bigfoot clone? Anything you would change? How long did you age it?

[Tweek]

Blues harp- your local shop will know these malts, torrified barley is sorta just puffed barley, and carraviene malt well is caravienne malt :)

Batkins- The clone was good. I had real hard water when I made it so I would suggest some brewing salts or gypsum if you have soft water. I aged it for about 6 months. I wish I would have bottled it and tried it a year later. My friends and i polished long before it reached a year.

Mountain beer. I would just leave it alone for a bit. It is probabally still working. You may have left too much of the yeast population behind and it is struggling to stay alive. Go ahead and go on your trip and then see where it is at when you come back. then it will be easier to make a decision about what to do.