King Henry Clone: Input?

May I ask what your preboil volume was? Or just give me your calulated OG.
22.5 brix preboil is pretty impressive, nice work.

 

I was trying to go from 8 gal to 6. or 1.92 > 1.123 , but the boil off rate slowed more than I expected. Looks like I pitched at 1.113 or so.

 

This is a great thread and I am planning a somewhat similar version of this for the upcoming weekend. Regarding the Wyeast 1968, do you have any concerns with the high alcohol content of this beer leading the yeast to crap out prematurely? I've read the alcohol tolerance of 1968 is about 9%.

 

I used 1968 in a RIS that finished around 10.5% IIRC.

 

I brewed a barleywine this past summer with 1968 that finished at 11%.

 

I'm brewing this recipe over the weekend. I have had a stepped up starter of ESB yeast on the stir plate and will be ready to pitch on Sunday. The only difference in my recipe will be Challenger in place of Pilgrim (my local shop didn't have any). My plan with the bourbon aging portion is using oak chips, soaking them in bourbon (probably makers) and then adding BCBS to the chips and aging before putting them in the beer. Still have no idea what quantities I plan with the oak chips. I think it will be cool to discuss this brew as it seems there are quite a few BA's using this recipe.

 

Just brewed this bad boy... OG clocked in at about 1.116 and I got about 5 gallons. I boiled the shit out of the first runnings. Had some efficiency issues (62.5%) but I expected it to be much lower than normal. Pitched a 2L starter of 1968 that had been stepped up and should be around 430 billion yeast cells. Currently oxygenating it with a aquarium pump.

 

Maillard reactions.

 

Just wanted to give an update on my KH clone. I took a gravity reading and its down to 1.024 which puts me right at 12.1% abv. I have it sitting in the secondary. I also have an ounce of oak chips in bourbon and another ounce in bcbs. I plan on adding the chips in a few weeks. So far, it is tasting delicious. A nice sturdy body with plenty of caramel, raisin, and dark fruit. I put a dash of bcbs in my sample and it really smoothed things out and added delicious chocolate and vanilla components. Can't wait for this brew to be ready to drink! Anyone else have updates?

 

Thanks for checking back. Wonder if the OP brewed this?
Please do let us now how it taste once its carbed

Cheers

 

I was able to get a barleywine up to 17.7% by yeast activity alone (Scottish, Trappist High gravity and Ardennes) with no sugar additions (the Black Tuesday/DFH 120 technique.)

Temp and adding oxygen makes a big difference.

Make sure you've chilled the wort to the cool side of the yeast's temp range, then let it rise after 36-48 hours to the high end of that range after its had time to expand and hold that temp there if you can. The energy of the yeast's growth expansion activity raises the wort temp by an average of 10 degrees in the first 24-36 hours then it gets back to ambient temp. Think of it like breaking a sweat when exercising then cooling off.

I oxygenate the wort with a wand before pitching the yeast, and again after 12 hours. You don't want to oxygenate any further after that point.

This recipe sounds great. I hope you guys nail it. Be sure to open it side by side with the original.

 

I've been itching to brew this one for awhile now too. Just got around to it this weekend. I modified it slightly since I didn't have any caramel wheat malt or pilgrim hops. Also didn't want to cut back on the Crystal 120, so the result is a little bit darker than I believe King Henry actually is. Here's what I came up with:

OG: 1.131
FG: 1.024
ABV: 14.3%
IBU: 62.0
SRM: 29.5

pale 2-row: 21 lb 12 oz
crystal 120: 2 lb 2 oz
white wheat: 9.6 oz
crystal 75: 7.7 oz
chocolate: 4 oz

0.8 oz calypso @ 75
1.2 oz calypso @ 60
1 oz styrian goldings @ 20
1 oz styrian goldings @ 1

Mashed at 152 for 90 minutes.
Boiled for 90 minutes.
Since I've been having some problems with efficiency on higher gravity beers, I knew that I wouldn't hit 131 for the OG. The actual result was 1.108, which I added on top of the Tennessee Whiskey yeast cake from the BCBS attempt that I brewed a few weeks back.

I'm looking for some input on the aging process with oak cubes. For the BCBS clone, I soaked 2 oz of american oak cubes in 8 oz of Elijah Craig 12 year for 2 weeks before racking that beer on top this weekend. First of all, how long would you recommend letting the oak sit on that beer? I've heard anywhere from 2-3 weeks to several months. I understand that it varies based on taste, and will be taste testing every on week, just looking for some personal opinions on this one. My initial plan was to let it sit until shortly after new years before bottling.

The other question was regarding the soaking method for the cubes prior to use in the barleywine. I am planning on pulling the cubes off the stout, along with a little bit of the stout, mixing some more Elijah Craig in, and letting them soak for a few weeks before adding. What would be a good ratio for stout to whiskey for letting the oak cubes settle in? I was thinking something like 2:1, so I'd probably go with 8 oz stout to 4 oz whiskey, but really don't have that nailed down yet.

Assuming all goes well, I'm planning on doing a side-by-side tasting with this, King Henry, and BCBBW, assuming I can get a hold of some of the BCBBW. Any thoughts/opinions on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

I brewed this a while back and it turned out damn fine. I entered it into a competition and it got a 38. My biggest issue was i didn't put enough hops in for the bittering addition (realized there was a lonely package of hops still in the freezer after brew day.) It was still delicious, just very much on the sweet side of things. The bcs/bourbon soaked oak really added a nice dimension and cut down the sweetness a bit. Will definitely brew this again.

 

Looking to brew this. Any info on what your water volumes and strike temps were?

 

What were all the results on this one? Still any left I can try ?

 

Brewed this up over the weekend. Same recipe as OP but added 1.5 lbs Rapadura I picked up in Brazil. O.G. was 1.132. Still bubbling away and down to 1.035. Tastes fantastic. Waiting for the 5 gallon Balcones barrel I bought on cyber Monday and will rack once it's cleared. I'll post back on the results. Thanks to Antlerwrestler for posting this!

 

How long did it take for you to get your barrel? I just ordered one last night and can't find any kind of shipping time frame.

 

Bumping for an update on the beer.

Cheers!

 

@OldJoe, @homebrew311, @tbone1384, @antlerwrestler19 putting this request on your radar. Any update feedback how this went of recipe refinements made since this post is fairly old at this point? Thanks!

 

I have brewed it twice with fairly good results. It's definitely a sweet beer and requires a good bit of conditioning. I think the biggest advice I can give on this recipe is boiling the hell out of the first runnings or even doing a partigyle and using all first runnings for the barleywine and using the second running for something else.