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Recipe: Randy’s Barleywine Time Machine
With the English tradition of stock ales and barleywines firmly in mind, here’s an original recipe from Randy Mosher. Note the options for oak-aging and Brett—but however you brew it, this is one to lay down for months or years.
For more on this brewing tradition, see Flavor Fever: Barleywine of the Old Style.
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.100
FG: 1.033
IBUs: 85
ABV: 9%
[PAYWALL]
MALT/GRAIN BILL
13.1 lb (5.9 kg) Maris Otter
3.7 lb (1.7 kg) Vienna
1.9 lb (862 g) amber malt
HOPS & ADDITIONS SCHEDULE
4 oz (113 g) East Kent Goldings at 60 minutes [53 IBUs]
1 tsp (5 ml) Irish moss at 10 minutes
6 oz (170 g) East Kent Goldings at flameout/whirlpool [32 IBUs]
YEAST
Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale, or your favorite British ale yeast
DIRECTIONS
Mill the grains and mash at 150°F (66°C) for 60 minutes. Recirculate until the runnings are clear, then run off into the kettle. Sparge to collect about 6 gallons (23 liters), depending on your evaporation rate. Boil for 90 minutes, adding hops and Irish moss according to the schedule. After the boil, do a whirlpool step: Add whirlpool hops and stir or recirculate for 5 minutes to create a vortex, then allow 15 more minutes to steep. Chill to about 66°F (19°C), aerate thoroughly, and pitch plenty of healthy yeast—preferably a large yeast starter. Ferment at 68°F (20°C), allowing the beer to free rise as high as 75°F (24°C), until fermentation is complete and the gravity has stabilized, then rack to secondary for lengthy conditioning. After some months or when you can’t stand it anymore, crash, package, and carbonate to about 1.5 volumes of CO2.
BREWER’S NOTES
Gravity: The target OG is just a suggestion. Unless you’re brewing for consistency, you might just pack as much malt as you can into your mash tun, boil for as long as you can stand it, and you get what you get. Make this as strong as you like, especially if destined for long aging. There’s really no top end.
More runnings: There will still be a lot of extract in the mash after lautering and sparging. Options include capping with some specialty malt to make a small beer or keeping the extra wort to use for your next yeast starter.
Hops: Goldings are the classics, but if you want more unique character, I suggest substituting about 25 percent of the IBUs with something more uniquely characterful. Try newer Slovenian varieties such as Styrian Eagle/Dragon/Wolf, German Hüll Melon, Calypso, Pekko, or unusual English hops if you can find them.
Yeast & fermentation: The Whitbread strain is only a suggestion; whatever your choice, use the recommended temperature range as well as you can manage. A big, healthy yeast starter will give you the best shot at reaching your target gravity.
Wood: Small barrels don’t work well for homebrewers. I’ve had good results with toasted oak chips or cubes. Dark-toasted American oak will give the most vanillin, if that’s what you’re after—for quickest maturation of flavor, add them right at the beginning. Either use the manufacturer’s recommendations or just toss in 1–2 ounces (28–57 g) of wood (possibly soaked in whiskey first).
Funky stock: A touch of Brettanomyces is historically accurate with big stock ales and barleywines. If you add Brett, do so at conditioning and be prepared to wait 6 months or longer for the full effect. Note that it will keep chomping sugars and push your ABV higher.
Packaging: Cask is traditional here, but you may need a party to help you drink it. The best option may be to lightly carbonate and keep it at cellar temperature, not frigid. It also works well as a bottle-conditioned product, though it may need fresh yeast if conditioned for more than a month or so.
