Idea for a "one year" beer?

I bottle condition my big beers after they sit on the yeast for four weeks. My favorite big beer is English barley wine. The one I am drinking on now is very good. I took my 10 gallon ESB recipe and made a 5 gallon batch. Marris Otter base with a half pound each of crystal 40 and 120. Finnish hops were East Kent. Good luck!

 

I like a nice big barleywine, too, and also a RIS to cellar for a year or more after bottling. If you brew it to at least 8% ABV (more or less), it will easily condition nicely for a year or more. I had one of my 10% RIS bottled in 2012 about a month ago, and if anything it has continued to get better.

Depending on your brewing interests, a Flanders Red takes at least a year to make, too.

In the end, anything that does not rely too much on hop aroma is a good choice. Dopplebock, big stout, barleywine, American sour, etc. You have a huge range of potential choices. Enjoy!

 

Wheatwine, or a hefty scotch ale.

 

Old ale. I did one and had a bottle left after a year. I wish I had more than just that one.

 

Good point. If you haven't done this before, you may find you have to hide some of them from yourself if you want to actually have any after a year! I have re-brewed big beers that I have really liked about 6 months after bottling the first batch, for just this reason.

 

I was thinking about doing an Imperial Stout to stretch myself and take on something new. In the reviews people are saying the longer you set it sit, the better it gets. I know its 5 gallons but it fits your bill, I think.

 

I have brewed lager recipes with the 34/70 lager yeast at 66 degrees. This would work well in a Doppelbock.

 

Pretty Things Our Finest Regards always makes me really happy.

For an English Barleywine, I'd do mostly Maris Otter or Pearl, with a little bit of dark crystal and a dash of pale chocolate malt. Bitter to ~35-40 and finish with a little EKG. I'm drinking mine a year later and it's better than it was but still falls into the 'Pretty good I guess' range, hence why I'm not sharing my specific recipe.

 

100% oat imperial stout

 

Jesse, last October I brewed a Robust Porter that is a clone of Hill Farmstead Everett. That beer turned out great. Since I know from past correspondence that you like big, thick, chewy Porters this might be a good candidate for you.

It has been my consistent experience that dark beers that are bottle conditioned last a looooong time. I have 10 beers left of a Bourbon Barrel Porter that I brewed in the Fall of 2013 that are still drinking beautifully; they are over a year old at this point.

I would recommend that you make a 5 gallon batch no matter what you choose to brew; the more the merrier.

Cheers!

 

Jesse, I may not be the best person to provide comments since I am personally not a fan of the English Barleywine style (I often find them to be a bit too sweet for my palate).

My first comment is what is the batch size for this recipe? The malt amounts appear to be way low for a 5 gallon batch.

If I were to homebrew an English Barleywine I would solely use English Pale Malt as my base malt and I would use a simpler crystal malt routine; maybe just two choices like CaraMunich and 120L Crystal.

I would also make it a point to use a yeast strain that produces a lot of English ‘character’. I would think that WLP013 would be a good choice. One of my favorite high character English yeast strains is Danstar Windsor.

Some beer brewing practices that are key to making a high gravity beer like a Barleywine:

· Proper aeration/oxygenation of the wort

· Pitch lots of yeast

· Maintain a fermentation temperature that is on the cooler side to mitigate the production of higher alcohols (fusel oils)

Good luck with your English Barleywine if you go that route.

Cheers!

 

It's not really a true 'Old Ale' until it's at least a year old.

 

A total of 11 lbs. of malt is pretty high for a 2,5 gallon batch.

If I were to homebrew a 2.5 gallon batch my grain bill would be:

· 8 lbs. English Pale Malt

· 5 ounces of Caramunich

· 5 ounces of 120L English Crystal Malt

By the way the hopping schedule appears to be OK. Do you use brewing software? If so, you might want to confirm that you are achieving your desired IBUs. I personally would shoot for the high side of the style guideline range; maybe something like 60 IBUs.

Hopefully some BA that brews lots of English Barleywines will chime in and provide their advice.

Cheers!