English Barleywine X

This is my 10th attempt at brewing the English Barleywine style beer.  I have brewed one of these every memorial day since 2014.  It is a lovely style of beer focused on Malt and Yeast character and sometimes hops.  They are strong beers and are typically a bit sweet which are good features for long aging.  My intention is to drink half this batch (once it has completed a 4-5 month bulk aging period) in the winter and then to drink the other half over the next 25 years or so (1 beer a year - a gift for future Andrew).

I typically brew a different recipe each year (or at least make some modifications when I choose to re-do a recipe).  Read about my previous brews here:  2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.  This year, I was thinking of trying to brew a clone of Goose Island's King Henry (a beer I haven't had).  The don't publish a recipe but gave some hints which fed into a recipe from a Seattle Home brew club (see here).  This was really more of a jumping off point but I used their malt bill pretty closely.

I'm shooting for a beer at about 10% this year which is strong but not providing a huge challenge for the yeast - a good strength for a Barleywine.  I've chosen to go for about 100 IBU of hops here which I'm hoping will keep a good bitterness for several years at least.  Finally, I'm using a yeast I hadn't tried yet - WLP 005 British Ale - which will give me another variable to evaluate for future recipe formation.

I've typically aged these beers with a bit of oak.  I think I'll leave this one oak-free in the aging.

Vigorous Fermentation Underway

It has been a fun and rewarding exercise brewing these beers.  Very much look forward to drinking this one.

Recipe Details:

•   Grain:
• 19 lbs Golden Promise
• 2.5 lbs Munich
• 2 lbs Caramel Wheat
• 4 oz Double Roasted Crystal
• 4 oz Acid Malt
• Hops:
• 4 oz Target (Pellet, 9.6% AA) at 60 min
• 2 oz Styrian Goldings (Pellet, 3.0% AA) at 20 min
• Yeast:
• WLP005 British Ale
• Water:
• 15 gal spring water
• 2 tspCaCl
• 2 tsp Gypsum
• 1 tsp Irish Moss at 15 min

Process Details:

•     Batch Size:
• 6 gal (Target 6 gal)
• Mash:
• 150 F for 60 min
• Boil:
• 120 min
• Fermentation Temperature:
• 70 F (Ambient Basement Temp)
• Primary Duration:
• 4 weeks
• Secondary duration:
• 4 months

Results:

• OG:
• 1.100 (Target 1.100)
• Efficiency:
• 69% (Target 69%)
• FG:
• 1.032 (Target 1.025)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• 66% (Target 73%)
• ABV:
• 9.0% (Target 10%)

Brewing Notes:

• 5/28/23 - Built a yeast starter (100 g of DME and 1 L of water).  Set this up to propagate over night
• 5/29/23 - Brew Day - 9:45 AM to 3:15 PM including setup and cleanup
• Heated 10 gal of spring water up to 180 F
• Milled my grain.  Added 1 tsp of CaCl and Gypsum to the mash (also added 1 tsp of each to the brew kettle at this time so I wouldn't forget)

Caramel Wheat - a new one for me

• Moved 8 gal of strike water to the mash tun and cycled through the RIMS until the temperature settled to 160 F.  Ended up overheating my strike water so I added some cool spring water to get the temperature down
• Stopped the RIMS cycle and added grain to the mash tun.  Stirred well to eliminate doughballs.  Let this settle for 10 min - ended up at 152

• Cycled the RIMS at 150 F for 60 min
• Heated 7 gal of sparge water to 180 F
• Fly sparged until 10 gal had been collected.  Started heating the wort after collecting 3 gal.  Had it at a boil shortly after the end of the sparge
• Added bittering hops with 60 min left
• Added Flavoring hops with 20 min left
• Added Irish Moss at 15 min
• With 5 min left I added the wort chiller to sanitize
• Chilled the wort down to 70 F

• Transferred to my fermenter - let the wort fall a couple feet to aerate.  Pitched the yeast during this transfer.

• Collected about 6 gal.  Measured the gravity as 1.100 which is right on target.
• Set this up to ferment at ambient basement temperatures (mid 60s)
• 5/30/23 - Fermentation has started very strongly - krausen pushed out the airlock (thought that might happen so I put the fermenter on a towel to minimize cleanup)
• 8/6/23 - Transferred to secondary fermenter for aging.  The beer is at 1.032 at this point.  I'm going to let it age for 4 months or so.
• 4/21/24 - Transferred to a bucket fermenter for a cold crash.  The beer is still 1.032.  I'll fine with gelatin tomorrow and plan to bottle in a week.  It has a nice balance between complex malty flavors and a firm bitterness - also quite boozy.
• 5/4/24 - Bottled today with 5 oz of sugar and a packet of rehydtrated wine yeast.  I got 54 12 oz bottles of  beer out of the batch.  I'll taste them for carbonation over the next couple weeks
• 5/19/24 - Tasting Notes - Bold flavors and a good deal of complexity in this one.  Very rich malty character here that is providing the bulk of the complexity.  I like the balance of the sweetness with the hops - makes for a fairly easy drinker - I could have two of these without palate fatigue (although would be unwise as strong as it is).
• 6/1/24 - Tasting Notes (2024):
• Tasting Notes (40 of 50):
• Aroma (7 of 12):  Malty (caramel mostly) with a bit of fruit.  Get a hint of alcohol as well.  Maybe a bit of hop in there too.  Nice smell but mild
• Appearance (3 of 3):  Pours with a 1 finger  head that lingers.  Leaves lacing on the glass.  Red gold and very clear.
• Flavor (17 of 20):  Malty with toasted bread and caramel flavors.  Get some fruity character in the middle - apple and maybe some raisin.  Net getting any hop bitterness.  The finish is mostly about the fruit character and is pretty sweet.  Get a hit of alcohol in the finish as well.  The flavors are bold and quite nice
• Mouthfeel (5 of 5):  It is full bodied and very smooth.  It is only slightly sticky on the palate.  Has a bit of warming alcohol character
• Overall (8 of 10):  I really like the fruity character of this beer.  It blends nicely with the malt and then takes over in a fairly subtle way (fruity but not extremely estery).  It is an interesting and complex drink