English Barleywine VII

This will be my seventh version of English Barleywine which I've brewed on Memorial Day every year since 2014.  Every year has been slightly different (read about them here:  2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019).  Sometimes I use a recipe I'd tried before with some minor tweaks while other times I've experimented a bit (with varying degrees of success).

This year, like the last two, I've decided to try another historical version of the style as documented by the Shut Up about Barclay Perkins Blog:  1940 Truman Stock 1.  This was my idea at least but I had to make enough substitutions where I'd hesitate to make a strong claim of anything more than being inspired by the recipe:

• First, it leverages a malt called "High Dried" which is no longer made.  The alternate suggestion was Simpson's "Imperial Malt" which is described as providing Biscuit, Honey, and Bread Crust like flavors.  This, of course, couldn't be acquired from any of the brewing web pages.  Based on these descriptors I opted to use a 50/50 mix of Vienna and Melanoiden malt which provide some similar flavors to those described by Simpson's in their Imperial.  The Melanoiden at 45L will make this a bit darker than specified by the recipe.  So, it certainly will not be the real deal in terms of grain but I expect it will still have a nice malt profile as brewed.  Anyhow, we have a local Malt House here in SEPE which I've been really interested in trying out (Deer Creek).  I sourced the base pale malt and specialty malts from them
• Second, the recipe calls for heavy doses of Fuggle and Golding hops (8 oz and 5 oz respectively) to get 106 IBU.  I had 2.5 oz of Fuggles from last year for late hopping.  Instead of ordering a large amount more for bittering I opted to use some Cluster hops I'd already had from last year's harvest.  I used 5 oz to get somewhere close to 100 IBU.  These are whole cone hops and are fresh out of an unopened bag.  They don't really smell much like Fuggle or Goldings (a bit more flowery and citrus like) but I think they'll be fine for bittering.

I was able to use the right yeast at least, Wyeast 1028 London Ale Yeast, which is reported to be the Truman Brewery House strain.  The recipe also calls for Invert Syrup - I'll make my own which is an easy and very inexpensive thing to do.  Shooting for fairly dark Invert #3

I'll give the beer about a month in primary and then transfer to secondary with a bit of oak to age and mellow until early winter.

Recipe Details:

• Grain/Adjunct:
• 17 lb English Style Pale Malt
• 3 lb Vienna Style Malt
• 3 lb Melanoidin Malt
• 1 lb Invert #3
• 5 oz Acid Malt
• Hops:
• 5 oz Cluster (Leaf, 8.1% AA) at 60 min
• 2.5 oz Fuggle (Pellet, 4,7% AA) at 15 min
• Yeast:
• Wyeast 1028 London Ale Yeast
• Water:
• 1.5 gal spring water
• 5 gal tap water
• 2 tsp CaCl
• 2 tsp Gypsum
• 1 tsp Irish Moss at 15 min
• Extras:
• 2 oz of Toasted White Oak Soaked in Cabernet Sauvignon 

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 6 gal
• Mash:
• 155 F for 60 min
• Boil:
• 120 min
• Fermentation Temp:
• 65 F
• Primary Duration:
• 4 weeks
• Secondary Duration:
• 4 months

Results:

• OG
• 1.110 (Target 1.105)
• Efficiency:
• 72% (Target 69%)
• FG:
• 1.036 (Target 1.035)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• 65% (Target 65%)
• ABV:
• 9.89% (Target 9.19%)

Brewing Notes:

• 5/24/20 - Built a 1.2 L starter using Munich Malt.  Set it up on a stir plate.  No (or very little) sign of fermentation the next day.  Took it off the stir plate down in the basement and moved it to a warm water bath in the kitchen to see if a temperature increase can spur it into action.  I'll watch it through the course of the brew day and assess if further action may be needed
• 5/25/20 - Brewday - from 10 AM to 3:20PM - Including setup and cleanup
• Made 1 lb of Invert #3 sugar 

• Heated 10 gal of water (50/50 spring and tap water) to 180 F
• Weighed and milled the grain.  Added half the gypsum and CaCl to this
• Added 6 gal to the mash tun and cycled through the grant and RIMS until the system had settled at 165 F
• Stopped the cycle and stirred in the grain.  Stirred well to eliminate doughballs.  Had to add another gal of water to adequately stir things in
• Set the RIMS to cycle at 155 F
• Mashed for 60 min
• Added another 5 gal of spring water to the boil kettle and brought it up to 190 F for the sparge
• Sparged the beer.  I transferred a bit of water to the mash tun once the top of the grain became exposed to do a fly sparge.  Collected until I had 10 gal of wort

• Added 1 more tsp each of Gypsum and CaCl to the kettle during the sparge
• Started to heat the kettle after collected 3 gal.  Had it to a boil right around the end of the sparge
• Boiled for 2 hrs
• Added bittering hops at 60 min.  Put them in muslin sacks to make draining the kettle easier.  The leaf cluster smell amazing (need to make another beer with these soon)

• Added the invert sugar with about 30 min left to go
• Added Irish Moss and flavor hops at 15 min
• Added the Wort chiller with 5 min left
• Chilled the wort down to the low 70s
• Drained into the fermenter.  Let it fall a foot or so to aerate.
• My yeast had shown a good bit of activity once warmed up some I decided to give it a shot for at least a day

• Measured the gravity as 1.120.
• Collected 5.5 gal of beer.  Added half a gal to get up to 6 gal (which is 1.110)
• Let the fermentor sit at basement temperatures rather than controlled at 65 F as initially planned.  Also let the lid sit on loose rather than setup an airlock so this will be sort of an open fermentation
• 5/26/20 - No signs of fermentation the next morning.  I was worried enough to buy a second pack of yeast.  By the afternoon there was a nice layer of krausen on the beer and an estery aroma - I worried for nothing
• 5/29/20 - The fermentation has released a lot of esters the last couple days.  Krausen has fallen by this afternoon though.
• 6/20/20 - Moved the beer into the chest freezer to cold crash in the high 30s
• 6/21/20 - Added gelatin to fine the beer
• 6/26/20 - Transferred the beer into a glass carboy for aging.  Added about 2 oz of white oak which I toasted at about 360 F and soaked in Cabernet for the last year or so.  Measured the gravity as 1.038.  The has a nice mild yeast character and, while boozy, doesn't taste like there's much if any fusel alcohol - was a good fermentation.  I'll let the beer age until December.

• 12/5/20 - Bottled today with 4 oz of priming sugar and a rehydrated pack of wine yeast.  Got a bit less than 6 gal of beer after transfer from secondary and this netted me 57 12 oz bottles.  Measured the gravity as 1.036 (down a couple points during the 5 month bulk aging).  The beer has a nice combination of malt and ester as well as a fair amount of hop character and a bitter kick on the finish.  I'll let this carb up for a couple weeks before sampling.
• 1/31/21 - Tasting Notes - Bold malt aroma and flavor with pleasant supporting hop and yeast character.  It has a nice complexity in flavors as well.  Sticky and sweet which encourages slow drinking - not a bad thing with a 9+% beer.  The chocolate character is unexpected but very nice.  I used a couple ounces of toasted Cabernet soaked oak in this batch I wonder if that could be a contributor.
• 5/30/21 - Tasting Notes (2021):
• Aroma:  Caramel with toasted bread and a bit of fruity ester.  Some booze.  I think I get some herbal hop character in the mix as well
• Appearance:  Reddish brown and fairly clear.  Pours with a 2 finger head that slowly fades and leaves lacing on the glass
• Flavor:  Sweet bready malt and dark caramel character.  Some fruity ester in there as well.  Also get chocolate and some booze.  Get some hop character in there - herbal and grassy.  There is a medium bitterness on the finish balanced by sweet malt
• Mouthfeel:  Medium full bodied and a bit sweet.  Smooth drinking
• Overall:  Complex and boldly flavored.  This one has a nice contribution from hops and yeast
• 5/28/22 - Tasting Notes (2022):
• Tasting Notes (39 of 50):  
• Aroma (8 of 12):  Caramel, brown sugar, and toasted bread along with a musty and lightly fruity character.  Get a bit of alcohol coming through as well
• Appearance (3 of 3):  Pours with a 3 finger head that fades down to a thin layer after a few minutes.  Leaves lacing on the glass.  Dark reddish brown in color and pretty clear.
• Flavor (16 of 20):  Rich, toasted bread and dark caramel malt flavors.  May have a note of chocolate in there too.  The malt flavor lingers into the finish with a bit of sweetness and is balanced by a medium-light bitterness.  There is a slight bit of fruity character in the lingering in the finish but pretty light.  I may be getting a bit of herbal hop flavor in there as well.  Alcohol is pretty well hidden.  Maybe some oak in there too as I get a bit of vanilla.
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):  Medium-full bodied and slightly sticky sweet.  Drinks very smoothly
• Overall (8 of 10):  This beer has a really lovely and rich malt character.  I think it's very complex and interesting to drink.  I like the kick of hop bitterness it has well which gives it a good balance and makes it easy drinking
• 5/28/23 - Tasting Notes (2023):
• Tasting Notes (39 of 50):
• Aroma (8 of 12):  Caramel malt and toasted bread.  A bit of mustiness.  Wine like character.  Some fruity notes - raisin maybe
• Appearance (2 of 3):  Reddish brown and very clear.  Pours with a thin layer of foam that quickly dissipates to nothing
• Flavor (16 of 20):  A mix of fruit and malt up front.  The finish is slightly sweet with just the faintest bit of bitterness.  It has a dark caramel and chocolate flavor that lingers in the after taste
• Mouthfeel (5 of 5):  Full bodied and a little sticky.  Smooth drinking
• Overall (8 of 10):  This is a pretty complex beer with malt character being primary and fruit secondary.  Flavor and aroma are pretty bold and rich
• 6/1/24 - Tasting Notes (2024):
• Tasting Notes (39 of 50):
• Aroma (9 of 12):  Caramel and toasted bread aroma most prominent along with a fruity character - raisin-like.  It is fairly strong and really nice
• Appearance (3 of 3):  Pours with a 3 finger head that lingers for a few minutes - leaves lacing on the grass.  Red brown in color and very clear
• Flavor (16 of 20):  Sweet malt flavor up front - dark caramel and toasted bread.  A bit of fruit character in the middle.  The finish is the sweat dark caramel flavor which lingers.  Maybe a very slight bitterness to it - balance is strongly towards malt.  I get a hit of alcohol on the finish as well.  It's got nice flavors and they're fairly bold.
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):  Medium full bodied and pretty sweet - sticky on the palate.  It drinks smooth with a little alcohol warming.
• Overall (7 of 10):  A very malt forward beer.  The malt flavors are very nice and I like the strength and character of the caramel flavors on the finish.  Not the most complex beer with everything other than the malt being very much in the background.

English Barleywine Vertical Tasting - 2020

I will be brewing up a new Barleywine on Memorial Day tomorrow (my seventh version).  As is my tradition I'll be doing a Vertical Tasting of the 6 beers brewed so far to gauge their development over the years and compare their relative qualities (See my previous tastings here:  2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2019).

English Barleywine is a style of beer made for aging with their high alcohol, sweetness, and focus on Malt and Fruity yeast ester being the main sources of complexity.  The beers are typically very tasty young but, in my experience, they improve with age.

I've taken to the habit of drinking half the batch of these beers each year and then leaving the other half to age.  In support of this I only drink one of the aged beers each year.  It is a real treat to revisit these and, by rationing, I should be heading toward a point where I'll have 24 beers to sample side by side (in a mere 14 years from now).  May have to consider a swirl and spit method of tasting when it comes to that though as even doing a small tasting of each of the 6 current beers left me quite tipsy last night.

Vertical Tasting:

• 2014 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed with Maris Otter and 3 lbs of assorted light crystal malts.  I was hoping for a light colored beer - got a bit darker than I'd hoped.
• Fermented with S04 and Nottingham
• The beer fermented all the way down to 1.016 from 1.101 which is 11-12% ABV
• I aged half the beer on oak that had been soaked in Brandy.  I'd been tasting both of these each year but they're fairly similar so this year I'll just do one - the Brandy Soaked Oak portion.
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Boozy.  Fruit ester along with a bit of bready malt.  Maybe a bit of honey as well.  Musty kind of aged sherry-like aroma
• Appearance:
• Light brown and pretty clear.  Pours with no head
• Flavor:
• Slightly fruity up front followed by malt which is like toasted bread.  Get some caramel as well.  The finish is kind of musty and blends the malt with a smooth aged alcohol character
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-light bodied with a little sweetness.  Has a slight bit of astringency but not enough to be unpleasant
• Overall:
• Really richly flavored and nicely complex beer.  It's like a fruity and alcoholic caramel.  It has continued to age very nicely
• 2015 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed with Maris Otter, Vienna Malt and down to 2 lbs of Crystal.  Still was trying for a more pale beer but ended up darker.
• Used Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale Yeast
• Beer fermented from 1.096 to 1.006 for 12-13% ABV
• Aged with 1 oz of pre-boiled oak cubes
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Has a pungent fruit ester character - sort of odd.  Very musty smelling.  Maybe get a bit of caramel and bready malt
• Appearance:
• Dark golden brown and clear.  Pours with a think layer of foam that quickly dissipates down to nothing
• Flavor:
• Fruity flavor up front which fades into toasted bread, caramel, and maybe a bit of chocolate.  malt lingers through the finish.  The ester character is sort of like an overripe peach maybe.  Some smooth aged alcohol character comes through in the flavor
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium bodied with a bit of sweetness.  Has a slight astringent bite
• Overall:
• Boldly flavored beer.  I think the fruity character of the beer is a bit overwhelming and not particularly pleasant.  Has some other things going on but that they are fairly far in the background doesn't help the complexity
• 2016 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed with Maris Otter, 3 lbs of Rye Malt, and 1.5 lbs Double Roasted Crystal 120 L
• Fermented with Wyeast 1335 British Ale II
• Beer went from 1.093 to 1.012 which is 10-11% ABV
• It ended up forming a pellicle during aging although I never really picked up any flavors I'd attribute to wild yeast or bacteria
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Very strong musty and estery aroma.  Not a great aroma although it improves as the beer sits a bit.  Maybe a bit of wet cardboard oxidation smell.  Get a bit of malt coming through all this
• Appearance:
• Pours with a finger of head which fades down to a thin ring - leaves some lacing.  The beer is brownish red and clear
• Flavor:
• Really rich malt flavor up front - sweet and toasty and kind of Grahm-cracker-like.  This lingers into the finish.  There is a very slight bitterness in the finish as well.  There is a bit of fruity ester that comes through up front and a mustiness that comes out in the finish
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium bodied and a bit sweet.  Pretty smooth beer
• Overall:
• Really nice rich malt flavor to this one - very bold.  I'm very pleasantly surprised it still has a good amount of hop bitterness left at this point.  Not quite as much going on as the others in terms of fruit ester.  Still very nice
• 2017 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed with 2 Row and Golden Promise as base malt and 5 lbs of white wheat malt.  Only used 4 oz of Crystal.  This finally achieved my goal of a pale barleywine.
• Fermented with Wyeast 1335 British Ale II again
• I'd wanted to get a fairly sweet barleywine on my previous version but had kept on getting more attenuation than desired.  This time I finally got one to stop at 1.034 (from 1.098).  So this is an 8-9% ABV beer.
• The beer was aged with 15 oz of Rum soaked golden raisin along with 0.5 oz of oak
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Light fruit and a bit of bready malt - might call it overripe fruit
• Appearance:
• Golden in color and clear.  Pours with a bit of head that quickly fades to nothing - logs of cascading bubbles though
• Flavor:
• The fruit from the nose very much carries over to the flavor.  I know what is in it so, this may be cheating, but it's a grape/white wine kind of fruitiness.  The finish is sweet bready malt.
• Mouthfeel:
• Fairly substantial body with a good bit of sweetness.  Slight astringency
• Overall:
• Has a very interesting fruit forward flavor compared with the other beers.  Lacking in the bold malt character.  The most mild of the group and, although the flavors are pleasant, not that complex
• 2018 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed using a historical recipe for Eldridge Pope's Hardy's Ale from the Shut Up about Barclay Perkins Blog
• Used a mix of 2 Row and Maris otter, 3.5 lbs of Flaked wheat, and 1.5 lb of crystal
• Used Nottingham yeast and, per instruction, allowed it to ferment in the 70s.  It was an agressive fermentation which produced a very strong and estery aroma.  The beer didn't turn out to be overly estery fortunately.
• Fermented out to 1.030 from 1.105 for an ABV of 10-11%
• This was the most aggressively hopped beer so far (7.5 oz of low alpha acid English hop in the boil) with an IBU target of 84.  Was very bitter just after fermentation but this had settled to a nice balance after 6 months of aging.
• Aged the beer on 2 oz of boiled and toasted oak
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Light fruity ester and caramel malt.  Also pick up some herbal hop character faintly
• Appearance:
• Pours with a finger of head that fades down to a ring fairly quickly.  Leaves lacing.  Reddish brown in color
• Flavor:
• Toasty bread and caramel malt up front.  Yeast ester comes through next although it is mild.  The toast then rides through the finish.  There is also a fairly firm bitterness that balances the malt in the finish.  Get a bit of herbal hop flavor in the mix as well
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium bodied and a bit sweet.  Smooth drinking beer
• Overall:
• Really lovely flavor to this beer.  It has a bold maltyness with a very nice hop presence.  There is also a good yeast character that mixes well with the other elements and lends complexity.  Pleasure to drink
• 2019 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed using a historical recipe for Eldridge Pope's Hardy's Ale from the Shut Up about Barclay Perkins Blog
• Used a mix of 2 Row and Maris otter, 4.5 lbs of Flaked wheat, and 1.5 lb of crystal
• Used WLP 099 Super High Gravity which is supposed to be Eldridge Pope's house strain
• Fermented from 1.120 to 1.010 which is a crazy 16% ABV
• Hopped with 8.5 oz of Fuggle
• Aged with 1 oz Cabernet soaked Toasted Oak
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Herbal hops are pretty pronounced in this one.  Fruit ester also plays in the background.  A bit of malt but it's overcome by the other aroma.  Alcohol comes through in the background as well
• Appearance:
• Pours with a 1 finger head that fades to nothing fairly quickly.  Brown and very clear.
• Flavor:
• Toasty caramel malt up front.  A good amount of hop flavor comes in next and then the toasty and cramel-like malt character lingers in the finish.  This is balanced by bitter hop flavor.  There is a fruity yeast ester character that also comes through in the start.  It also has a pretty smooth alcohol component that comes through all this slightly
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-light bodied and slightly sweet.  Very smooth.  Warming alcohol presence
• Overall:
• Very nicely flavored beer.  Really rich set of flavors with the malt being the star.  The hop flavor rounds things out nicely.  As the youngest beer here it's quite different in terms of prominence of yeast character.  I imaging this will become more apparent as it ages and the bolder hop flavors fade

2020 Rankings:

1. 2018
2. 2014
3. 2019
4. 2016
5. 2017
6. 2015

Raspberry Flanders Red - 2018 Blend - Tasting Notes

This beer was blended using 3 Flanders Red I'd been aging for 2-3 years back in December 2018 and then aged for another 8 months with almost 16 lbs of home-grown raspberries.  I bottled in 2019 with 2 lbs of invert sugar for back sweetening and then bottle pasteurized the entire batch to leave some residual sweetness as the beer was very dry after the aging and quite sour.

This is my second attempt at a Raspberry Flanders Red (see post on the first attempt).  I used 10 lbs of fruit last time.

I selected my base blend using tasting notes from my 12 fermenters of Flanders Red beer with the goal of minimizing the beer acidity as the fruit are plenty tart themselves.  I plan to do the same for the next batch but may shoot for an even milder beer.

My timing for the pasteurization and level of back sweetening weren't ideal for the batch as it ended a bit dryer than I would have liked (carbonation levels aren't too high at least).

I think it's high time to do an official tasting of this beer.  Some good lessons learned from this batch to aid in decision making for the next one (which will hopefully be performed soon).


Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Strong aroma of raspberry.  Leathery and cheesy brett character comes through in the background
• Appearance:
• Red/brown color and a little murky.  Pours with a very thin foam layer that fades almost immediately
• Flavor:
• Very tart up front after which the fruit flavor comes through.  It is a rich and jammy raspberry flavor.  The finish is dry with a bit of acidity lingering with the fruit.  I think some bready malt comes through faintly as does some leathery Brett
• Mouthfeel:
• Light bodied and dry.  Pretty prickly on the palate.  Fairly easy drinking and refreshing - the dry sour finish calls for another sip
• Overall:
• I think the raspberry and base Flanders red get along very nicely.  The fruit dominates but the beer shines through enough to keep it interesting.  Definitely a little on the dry side of the balance scale - could have done with some more back sweetening