My half-batch came out very dark and not at all hoppy. The original recipe calls for 9 months of bottle conditioning, but I found it to be very pleasant after just 2 months. I prefer to split a (12oz) bottle with a friend. This is quite enough to lend a pleasant feeling of warmth. It's said to keep at cellar temperatures for 2 years, but I doubt this has ever been experimentally proven.
Pairs well with left-over ginger triple-chocolate wedding cake.
Style: English Barley Wine
OG: 1.103-1.104
FG: 1.023-1.024
Est ABV: 10.2%
Recipe for 5 gallons:
| Steep: | Crush and steep in 1 gallon 150° water for 30 minutes | 8oz German dark Munich malt 7oz Cara-Munich malt 6oz 120°L American crystal malt |
|---|---|---|
| Strain and sparge: | Strain the grain water into your brew pot. Sparge the grains with 1 gallon water at 150°F. Add water to the brew pot for 2 gallons total volume. Bring the water to a boil, remove the pot from the stove, and add: | 11lb light DME 12.8oz cane sugar 1.3oz Northern Brewer 10%AA (bittering hop) |
| Boil: | Add water until the total volume in the brew pot is 4 gallons. Boil for 45 minutes, taking care to avoid a boil-over. Then add: | 1oz Perle (flavor hop) 1tsp Irish moss |
| Boil for 8 additional minutes and then add: | 1oz Cascade (aroma hop) | |
| Cool and pitch: | Boil for 7 additional minutes. Remove from stove and cool for 15 minutes. Strain (not siphon) the cooled wort into the primary fermenter and add cold water to obtain 5⅛ gallons. When the wort is under 70°F, pitch your yeast. | White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity yeast 2nd choice: Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast |
| Ferment: | Ferment in the primary fermenter 7 days or until the fermentation slows, then siphon into the secondary fermenter and add: | ½oz Cascade (dry hop) |
| Prime: | Three days before bottling, prime the beer in the secondary fermenter with a dose of: | Danstar Winsor Ale Yeast or White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity Ale Yeast |
| Bottle: | Bottle when fermentation is complete with: | 1¾ cups DME boiled in 2 cups of water |
I made only a half-batch; the full batch requires that you have room in your brewpot for 4 gallons liquid plus the foam that is kicked up when bringing the wort to a boil. With the 3lbs sugar per gallon of wort I think the foam is worse with a typical wort aiming for a 4-5% alcohol. If I make a full batch I think I'll have to buy a bigger brewpot, modify the recipe to a smaller boil voume, and/or add a part of the sugars after flameout, a technique used in an Austin Homebrew blonde ale recipe I followed back in November.