Defroster Barley Wine critique/fermentation questions

This is contradictory, you can't have both. When you mash high to increase the body the way that increases the body is by increasing the FG, so you can either mash high for increased body, or you can mash low for a low FG, but you can't both mash low for low FG and mash high for increased body.

 

hum, my advice... do you want to make a double IPA or a Barleywine? Because contrary to popular belief, the two are different.

Double IPA, mash lower, around 152, use more pale 2-row, some c-60 or a little wheat. maybe add some table sugar to up your OG and dry it out. up your late addition hops and drink it fresh.

barleywine, mash higher 156-7 use 98% maris or pale, maybe a touch of special malt or medium crystal. boil for at least 90 mins with only a bittering addition and a flavor addition. age it in the bottle for 3 or 4 months.

your plan to make a small beer than pour the larger beer on the yeast cake seems sound, make sure you control your temps on both.

 

For any type of big beer I would never mash over 150 degrees. There will be plenty of un fermentables for body.

 

The three major factors to control attenuation in a beer are mash temp (I'd do mid 140's), replacing other fermentables with some type of sugar (5-10%), and your yeast strain choice (1056 should attenuate well). I would also suggest thinking about a longer boil (2-3) hours, as it may develop more complex and deeper flavors that wont necessarily help with body, but may give you that "barleywine" character you are looking for. Good luck!

 

You could use carapils to add the body/mouthfeel you're looking for. Some use wheat for the same purpose, but wheat will add to the flavor profile, whereas carapils will not.

 

This will of course increase the body, but it will also increase the FG.

 

I'm in complete agreement. However, I felt the OP was equating FG to "sweetness", as many people do. There may not be an ideal way to achieve a low FG while maintaining a full/thick mouthfeel, but I think mashing low + carapils will be closer to what the OP is looking for vs mashing high.

 

Not necessarily. He'd have to do it up like a Belgian, mash high for lots of dextrins, then load it up with simple sugars. There are tons of dry, full-bodied Belgians that use this technique, Duvel and Scaldis popping into my head off-hand.

 

Belgians are mashed high? I'm not sure I believe that, and Duvel and Scaldis don't seem particularly full bodied to me, though the high carbonation can give the impression a fuller body than the gravity would suggest.

Mashing high increases body by adding dextrins, replacing malt gravity with sugar gravity decreases body by decreasing dextrins, what's the rational behind doing both?

 

Strong Golden and Tripels are mashed at low temp, have sugar, and have a low FG from the OG they start at. Most American version finish too high.

 

I could be wrong about that, but I was always under the impression that Monastic brewers do everything on the hot side, high mash temps, high fermentation temps, which is part of what gave them their character.

The added alcohol gives the impression of fullness compared to beers with comparable terminal gravities, but not with comparable original gravities, if that makes sense. So it depends on what is most important to the brewer. If he wants it to be dry, first and foremost, he could brew a beer that'll finish out with a lower terminal gravity, then pump it with simple sugar to boost the alcohol and give it the impression of being fuller. Otherwise, he could go all malt and deal with the fact that he may not achieve the 85% attenuation he's looking for.