Extract Barley wine

Who has the best / strongest barley wine recipe???

I'm looking for one to bottle and age for a couple of years.

Recently cracked open a bottle of barley wine made from a kit I bought at the lhbs four years ago and it was amazing.

Looking for ideas on other stronger recipes.

Thanks,

Dean.

how strong do you want it? 10%, 12%? What did your current recipe end up at?

Most really big extract brews finish with high gravity (sweet) due to a percentage of unfermentable sugar in the extract. If you go past 10% with extract, it is really hard to get the FG below 1.020. Beer that finishes higher than that is usually overly sweet. Give us a little more information, and we can better help decide what the best recipe adjustments might be.

This is what I could find on the kit I used. To be honest it was not at all good until it aged but,... as a four year old relic is truly was.
As you can see it is a little weak for something called barley wine.
I would like to see a min. 14%

Thanks,

Dean.

(Makes 5 gallons) Barleywine - made from barley but can be aged like wine. Our Barleywine has a beautiful copper color, voluptous body, and inviting smells of malt and hops. But don't let the good looks catch you off guard. This is a powerful beer with a bitter, yet balanced bite. Recipe includes 12 lbs of malt extract with Caravienne and Caramunich malts for steeping. Huge flavor with a good balance between malt and hops. This will age gracefully for years. Not for everyone, but those who like Barley Wines love this recipe.

Estimated Original Gravity:1.078-82
SRM (Color Range: 16
IBU's: 82-86 Estimated Alcohol Percentage: 7.8%

Do you have an oxygen set up? 10%+ without an oxygen set up is going to be a real issue.

I do now.
What I don't have is a new recipe that will get the digits up.

Thanks,

Dean.

A single google search for high abv barley wine recipe was all you needed.

1) Convert to extract then add sugar if you want to up your abv:
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/jamils-old-monster
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/private-reserve-barley-wine
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/olde-gnarwhal
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/big-ass-bass-beat

...or

2) plug into BeerSmith and scale up to 5 gal and/or add some sugar to up your abv if you want:
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/iron-glove-barlywine
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/whale-piss
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/patience-is-a-virtue

I was thinking about making a barley wine soon. For yeast I would get a normal yeast, your pick, then after it has slowed down after 4-5 days, to add 1099 super high gravity yeast. I used this in my first RIS at 12%, no problem. I don't have an oxygen or anything. For my second imperial stout I used 1056 American ale yeast, and that's about 13%, it's tolerance is 11% so I'm not sure how it made it up that high, but I'm glad it did. Anything higher and I would have added the 1099. A barley wine I make will be at least 15%. That's the route I would go. As for recipes, I'd look in the recipe section.

bds3 said:

A single google search for high abv barley wine recipe was all you needed.

1) Convert to extract then add sugar if you want to up your abv:
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/jamils-old-monster
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/private-reserve-barley-wine
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/olde-gnarwhal
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/big-ass-bass-beat

...or

2) plug into BeerSmith and scale up to 5 gal and/or add some sugar to up your abv if you want:
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/iron-glove-barlywine
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/whale-piss
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/patience-is-a-virtue

Click to expand...

Thanks bds3,
Checked out all of them and only one is an extract but it looked very interesting.
I'm thinking I might just try it.
The others might just be above my skill level. Also saw a couple others online that appeared interesting but I'm not into the super hoppy beers like the IPA's. When they start talking about three or four different hops and also on top of that dry hopping it scares me away.

On a different note I have 10 gals. of porter carbonating in two kegs and an amazing Belgian saison already on tap so for now I'm drinking some bds beer.

Thanks,

Dean.

The last 3 are all extract with steeping grains, if I remember my post correctly. The first 4 are AG, butyou can easily convert to extract by converting the base grain (2-row, etc), to your light extract of choice. The keep the specialty grains as steeping grains.

I think I have found my answer. It isn't a barley wine at all !
Please check out Eisbock Clone thread and feel free to comment.
I need all the advise I can get.

Dean.

I made an extract barleywine that started at 1.100and got down to 1.015.

logan3825 said:

I made an extract barleywine that started at 1.100and got down to 1.015.

Click to expand...

What yeast did you use? Was it one strain, or did you use the ale yeast/super-high-gravity combo?

2 packets of US-05. I did use corn sugar though. I doubt it gets that low without the sugar.

12lb Maris Otter LME
1 1/2lb corn sugar

Okay, that makes sense. The corn sugar probably helped dry it out quite a bit.

When you don't control your own mash you gotta make adjustments. I think next time I will cut back to 1lb. Maybe. I have to wait a couple months before I know if I like how it turned out.

I have an extract barley wine on here called big buzz barleywine you can read what people have said and try it or tweak it and do your own. Mine will be ready in about a month at its earliest stage and I will re post. Check it out

I just brewed Austin homebrew supply's American Barleywine from extract, only nine days ago. It had great reviews, and I live in Austin so was easy to get, and a pretty simple recipe for a beginner like me. OG was 1.084 (instructions said 1.087) from 10 lbs LME and 1 lb DME, pitched 2 vials of WLP001 (no starter, but aerated the crap out of it first), started airlock activity going strong between 12-18 hrs, weakened after 4-5 days, and just got a SG of 1.022 today (instructions said 1.025 - so at least I was off by the same amount on each end). I used a swamp cooler, keeping water temps between 62-67 (would've liked better control, but that was all I had time for). I also did the late malt additions, knowing that the extract would be sweet already - 4 lbs at the beginning of the 4 gal boil, other 7 lbs at end of boil (wondering if that made the SGs slightly lower than recipe called for? I did top up to 5 gal before pitching, of course).

I tasted it today from my sample for the hydrometer, but unfortunately I just had sinus surgery last week, and can't smell (and therefore taste) worth a damn with my nose plugged up right now. What I did get out of it was: sweetness/maltiness up front, boozy/hot alcohols in the middle, and a bitter-ish finish/aftertaste. Had a thick, not-quite-(but almost)-syrupy mouthfeel. Copper-amber color. Again, my sense of taste is jacked up right now, but it didn't taste good to me at this time. I know it'll improve with age, so am thinking leaving it in primary (6.5 gal bucket) for 3-4 wks total, then secondary (5 gal bb carboy) for 2-4 months more to bulk age, then bottle (with more yeast, I've heard is a good suggestion) for as long as I can hold out (at least 6 months, hopefully longer) before trying one... This one definitely needs to mellow!

Sound like a decent plan? Other suggestions/advice? Thx...

And to the OP - sorry about the slight hijack, but AHS American Barleywine is an easy extract recipe, in answer to your question. Haven't actually tasted a finished one, yet, but it does have positive reviews...

Cheers!

That's way cool!
Barley wine new and barley wine aged is two different animals.
I'm sure when its a year + old it will be amazing.

Keep on brewing!!!

Dean.

Thanks, Dean. Just reread your first post, and realized you were looking for something much stronger! I was just thinking extract was your main concern, until I reread. Mine is just like your first one - on the weaker end of barleywines at 8.1%. In researching barleywines online, I did see many recipes for some strong ones out there (though, as I'm sure you've noticed, many are for AG)... Good luck finding one, and please share it when you do!

Cheers