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Fat of the Grain Barleywine


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Batch Size (gallons)2
Efficiency75%
Recipe typeAll Grain
Style19B. English Barleywine
Original Gravity1.110
Final Gravity1.029
ABV10.63% (basic)   /   10.81% (advanced)       [what's this?]
IBU57
Color20 SRM
Boil Time90 min

YeastWyeast 1098 (British Ale Yeast)

Fermentables
NameAmtPctSRM
Pale Malt, Maris Otter7 lbs82.4%3
Oats, Flaked 8 oz5.9%1
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L 8 oz5.9%60
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L 8 oz5.9%80

Hops
NameAmtTimeAlphaIBU
Goldings, East Kent (Boil)2 oz605%51
Goldings, East Kent (Boil).25 oz105%2
Goldings, East Kent (Boil).25 oz55%1

DirectionsMash this at around 155F, you'll want a full body for this beer. 

Before pitching the yeast, aerate this heavily. This is a big beer, and you want to make sure the wort has plenty of oxygen.

Fermentation
notes
Ferment at 66F for a month. Take gravity readings to ensure your fermentation is finished.

You're going to want to age this for a long time, the beer really flourishes around six months. 

Tasting
notes
Aroma: Sweet and Malty, a very �English� malt smell. No fruit characters and slight alcohol notes. Very rich.

Appearance: A deep, complex brown. Thin head with low-head retention.

Flavor: Like the aroma, it is strong and malty. It is a forward rich malt flavor backed by a complex sweetness, which is almost caramel in flavor. Hop flavor is fairly balanced, and there are no fruity esters. Alcohol is present, but not overwhelming.

Mouthfeel: Like drinking a meal, this beer is very full-bodied and creamy. Low carbonation.





Recipe Reviews

Type: Drank this Beer

One thing jumps out before I open it - the bottle fill is rather low. I've gotten dinged before with a much higher fill. Something to consider, should you enter competitions.

I get a nice hiss on opening the bottle.

Appearance: I get nearly two fingers' worth of dense off white foam when pouring into a tulip glass. Beer is an attractive warm amber in color. I'd rate this as middling cloudy. Foam slowly recedes to a thin ring of bubbles. I get no lacing whatsoever.

Aroma: strong, sweet, grainy malt is dominant. Very noticeable fruity esters; mostly dark fruit/plum, perhaps a hint of apricot. Some caramel is evident. A bit of spiciness... all in all, this reminds me a lot of a nice Belgian strong dark ale.

Flavor: moderately strong malty sweetness up front, with caramel notes that follow the nose. Interestingly, I don't get the fruity esters in flavor that I get in aroma, but I do get some fairly strong phenolics - a lot of clove here, some spice, much like I would expect from a young Belgian. I am surprised that the flavor is "lighter" than I had expected. Alcohol is certainly noticeable, though to your credit, it is not harsh. I expect that age would be kind to this. There is plenty of hop bitterness to balance the sweetness; finish is very balanced.

Mouthfeel: the initial impression is much lighter than I had expected, though after a few sips, I realize that this beer is, in fact, pretty dense. Finish is fairly creamy.

Overall: I'd love to try this beer after six months, maybe a year, of aging. The beer is far more drinkable than I would have expected in a 10.6% ABV brew, but I feel like some time and age would help to mellow the alcohol and phenolics that I'm getting right now. To date, this is only the second barleywine that have tried, and it is far and away superior to the first one.

Incidentally, it pairs nicely with sharp cheddar cheese, crackers, and summer sausage. :)


posted by homebrewdad on 11/21/2014


This all grain English Barleywine homebrew recipe was submitted by Matt.