Tested my first Braleywine!

[paul84043]

I transfererred my first barleywine yesterday, it's been in the primary for two and a half weeks, but is still bubbling along nicely.
The O.G.was 1.095, the gravity at transfer was 1.030, so it's come quite a ways, but still has some to go.
The most interesting part was tasting it, it was obviously very sweet still, but the hoppiness and the "heat" for a lack of a better term were really amazing! It tasted like alcoholic, hoppy, syrup!! MMMMMMMM......
I'm way excited about this one, too bad I'll have to wait until Christmas to try it!
I have to get another one going as well, I have a feeling that this one is going to vanish when it matures...

[Tom C]

I have a Barley Wine that is nearing one year old. The nice thing about these beers are that they are sippers. You are not going to go through a six pack in an evening and will only have one every so often. I bottled them in 16 oz Grolsh bottles and hope they last throughout the next year. I plan on brewing a Barley wine every other year. They also make great gifts. Make sure to serve in a nice wine glass and enjoy. I encourage you to put the carboy aside and don't touch it until at least Christmas before bottling.

Tom C

[paul84043]

If you wait that long to bottle, wouldn't it take forever to carbonate?

[Tom C]

Your post made me curious about how mine was aging.( almost a year now) So I refridged one last night and cracked it open. My gawd was it great sipper. The carmel like overtones to it were amazing. I brewed an all extract resipe for this one and love the rewards. This one would be a dangerous one to drink many of though. One maybe two would be a safe route to go in one evening. It was served best in a wide mouthed wine glass too...ohhhh the aromas. I may crack another tonight!

Tom C

[paul84043]

What color did yours turn out? mine is lighter than I expected it to look when I transferred it.
I think I'll get another going soon, I know that, being my first one, it's probably not going to survive to complete maturity...

[Tom C]

In terms of carbonation, yes it took longer to carbonate. The bottles at 6 months from brewing were not h\carbonated well, but last nights was carbonated nicely. I could have increased the amount of priming sugar from 3/4 of a cup to 1 1/4 cups to help carbo faster. IN terms of color mine came to be a nice dark amber color with some bitternedd from hops but sweetness from malt too. I will post my recipe when I get home. It was an all extract batch. I wonder if I could mimick this all grain (that would be one hell of a grain bill considering I used 3 or 4 3.3 lb cans of Pale Ale Extract)

Tom C

[paul84043]

Mine was a Kit from St. Pats, it used 12 lbs of fermentables with the O.G.coming in at 1.095
Mine is a lighter brown, even lighter than an amber ale. I could really taste the hops and the sweetness, of course, was very strong.
I think the next one I do will be another partial mash attempt...