Barley Wines are a beer that are often looked over and usually are rarely conquered by homebrewers. It’s a shame though because they are a great style of beer and one of those that you can make for gifts or a special occasion if you know ahead of time.
So really what is a barley wine? A barley wine (b.w) is a style of beer that is very big. It was originally made by the English because they needed to substitute a brew for French wine. That’s because England was at war with France. From there the beer kinda turned into the cognac of the beer world.
There are two types of b.w: 1) American 2) English. The American style is more hoppy then it’s counter part. Regardless of the style most b.w are going to be around the range of 10%-15% and 15-30 SRM. The bitterness of these beers range usually from low 40s all the way up to 100 IBU’s.
When making these beers one thing to keep in mind is that the higher the original gravity is, the less hop utilization there is. So when you are building these recipes, you may feel that you are using a lot of hops – over time the beer mellows out.
Now this is the part why lot’s of homebrewers pass on the whole b.w experience – the aging process. How long do you age? We’re talking years. Normally you will do a primary (few weeks) secondary (about 2 months) then bottle for years. There is a lot of discussion in the homebrew world about how many years. Ton’s of people say 6 years is the max. I’ve heard of homebrewers having b.w that are over 20 years old. There was one story I read not to long ago that someone had a b.w that was 100 years old. True or not, they are meant to age.
Regardless of the stories, you will hear of people having a barley wine that is 10, 15 even 20 years old. Normally though I wouldn’t even think about drinking one that is less than a year if you can wait 2 that’s better. In my opinion they get better with age and change in flavor profile.
One of the cooler stories was I had a customer whose wife was pregnant, he was going to make a barley wine and wait to open it for his child’s 21st birthday. Pretty awesome and something to consider. Most people will say that it will oxidize if you age it that long, but I would beg the differ. They do have oxygen absorbing caps these days.
Getting back to it, I wanted to share 2 different barley wine recipes; 1 English 1 American. I can tell you that I’m planning on doing the English one because I’m always jonesing for English style hops, but I do feel inclined to share an American one. These two recipes kinda show the extreme’s with differences between them.
English Barley Wine
OG: 1.120
FG: 1.029
IBU: 34
SRM: 10
ABV: 11.5%
Don’t drink until 2 years.
Ingredients:
12 oz 60L
13.5 lbs light DME
2 oz Kent Goldings (60 min)
1 oz Kent Goldings (45 min)
1 oz Kent Goldings (12 min)
1 oz Kent Goldings (3 min)
WLP 004 or WLP 005
Directions:
Heat 3 gallons up to 150 and steep the grains for 30min. Take out add the malt extract and bring to boil. At the beginning of the boil follow the hop infusion chart above.
About this recipe:
This recipe is kinda cool, it has a lower IBU then most B.W. You can tell from the yeast as well as the choice of hops that this is clearly as English style. The hops have that classic low alpha acid making it a nice pick of b.w for those that aren’t hop heads. Ages out well and will become extremely mellow.
*If you are doing all-grain use 22.5 lb British 2 row.
American Barley Wine
OG:1.120
FG: 1.029
IBU: 110
SRM: 35
ABV: 11.5%
Don’t drink for 2 years
Ingredients:
1 lb 60L crystal malt
10 oz munich malt
13.5 lbs Light DME
3 oz Chinook (60min)
1 oz Centennial (45min)
1 oz Centennial (5min)
WLP001
Directions:
Heat 3 gallons up to 150 and steep the grains for 30min. Take out add the malt extract and bring to boil. At the beginning of the boil follow the hop infusion chart above.
About this recipe:
This recipe has all American hops in it as well as American yeast which will bring out citrus tones as well as smells.
*If doing all-grain use 20.5 lbs 2 row and 1 lb munich with the specialty grains.
IN GENERAL:
With barley wines, the hops really do mellow out a lot over time. I hope this helps anyone who is thinking of making a barley wine in the near future. Good luck with your brewing.
Related Post:
How To Make Russian Imperial Stout
Tasting Of Russian Imperial Beer
