Modern Homebrew Recipes (24 page)

ENGLISH DARK BARLEYWINE

A classic English barleywine with a relatively simple grist, but no crystal malt. This beer is like scaled-up pale ale with some dark malt for color adjustment. Not excessively strong, so it should be ready to drink before other, bigger beers. The dark malts add to the stability of the beer, so it ages well.

Style:
English Barleywine (Classic BJCP Style)

Description:
A straight-forward copper-colored English barleywine that hits the center of the style range, is well-balanced, and features a bready malt flavor with a floral and orange-like hop profile.

Ingredients:

Water treatment:

RO water treated with ¼ tsp 10% phosphoric acid per 5 gallons

1 tsp CaCl
₂
in mash

Mash technique:

Infusion, mashout, dark malt added at
vorlauf

Mash rests:

149°F (65°C) 60 minutes

168°F (76°C) 15 minutes

Kettle volume:

8.5 gallons (32 L)

Boil length:

90 minutes

Final volume:

6.5 gallons (25 L)

Fermentation temp:

68°F (20°C)

Sensory description:
Bready-rich malt base with restrained biscuit flavors, crackery, toast dryness, and a rounded mouthfeel. Floral hop flavor and moderate bitterness with a spicy, orange marmalade-like aroma. Alcohol is noticeable but not intense, and the beer finishes fairly dry with malty but not sweet flavors.

Formulation notes:
The base malt variety should be English pale ale type, but try to use something other than Maris Otter (other choices are Pipkin
or Halcyon). You are looking for something that still has richness, but is less biscuity than Maris Otter. The amber malt supplies a dry, toasted flavor, while the flaked corn brings some roundness to the mouthfeel. The black malt is for color adjustment and should not add much flavor. Traditional hops and yeast are used; both can be swapped according to personal preferences.

Variations:
The amber malt may not be to everyone’s liking, as it has a dry, crackery kind of flavor. Substituting a mid-range crystal malt (like a Crystal 55) would give it some caramel notes instead. However, barleywines usually have plenty of malty richness from their gravity alone. The hops added at knockout could be used as dry hops instead.

ENGLISH GOLD BARLEYWINE

While I prefer dark English barleywines, I’ve had some tasty golden versions. If you’re going to try to make a gold barleywine, there really is only one (ahem) gold standard reference beer: the classic Thomas Hardy’s Ale. I tend to not enter this beer in homebrew competitions because most judges expect a darker beer for the style with more specialty malt character. Save this one just for your own enjoyment. Try one on your birthday every year to see how well it is aging. Note that this one takes a large mash tun; it’s a real cereal killer.

Style:
English Barleywine (Classic BJCP Style)

Description:
Uses the style parameters of the original Thomas Hardy’s Ale as a starting point and uses mostly traditional English ingredients to create a strong barleywine suitable for long aging. A strong, pale English barleywine without any specialty malts, but suitable for long aging.

Ingredients:

Water treatment:

RO water treated with ¼ tsp 10% phosphoric acid per 5 gallons

1 tsp CaCl
₂
and 1 tsp CaSO
₄
in mash

Mash technique:

Infusion, mashout, no sparge

Mash rests:

149°F (65°C) 90 minutes

168°F (76°C) 15 minutes

Kettle volume:

8 gallons (30 L)

Boil length:

120 minutes

Final volume:

5.25 gallons (20 L)

Fermentation temp:

68°F (20°C)

Sensory description:
Deep gold color. Rich, bready malt aroma and flavor with significant bitterness and a pleasant hop aroma. Quite strong; needs to be aged. More esters develop as it ages.

Formulation notes:
I was trying to match the general parameters of Thomas Hardy’s Ale but used ingredients that are more commonly available. I’m using some German hops for their fine floral aromatics, which I think helps the overall impression of this beer.

Variations:
There are published versions of the actual original recipe online,
¹
as well as tips on late era batches (such as using Pipkin malt as the base, with Challenger, Northdown, and Styrian Goldings hops). One ingredient that wasn’t available when I formulated this recipe was the yeast, which can now be purchased as the White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity yeast. Thomas Hardy’s Ale had a slightly darker color than my recipe, so if you don’t get enough color through the boil, you can add a touch of dark malt in
vorlauf
(that will also help its stability over time). The other parameters of my recipe match late era formulations. Additional special ingredients (such as medium to dark crystal, chocolate malt, extra dark crystal, darker brewing sugars) can add some more color and flavor, but will make a different kind of barleywine.

GOLDEN PROMISE BARLEYWINE

After I started testing new recipes with Golden Promise malt, I found myself wondering how far I could push its limits. Could I make a barleywine with only Golden Promise? How would it taste? Delicious, as it turns out. I think this may be my new favorite English barleywine.

Style:
English Barleywine (Classic BJCP Style)

Description:
A very flavorful English barleywine showcasing the Golden Promise malt, which has a clean bready-malty flavor, accentuated with specialty malts to give hints of caramel, toast, and dark fruit. A wintertime sipper.

Ingredients:

Water treatment:

RO water treated with ¼ tsp 10% phosphoric acid per 5 gallons

1 tsp CaCl
₂
in mash

Mash technique:

Infusion, mashout, dark grains and crystal malts added at
vorlauf

Mash rests:

149°F (65°C) 60 minutes

168°F (76°C) 15 minutes

Kettle volume:

9 gallons (34 L)

Boil length:

120 minutes

Final volume:

6.25 gallons (24 L)

Fermentation temp:

68°F (20°C)

Sensory description:
Reddish-copper color. Malt, fruit, sweet, and caramel aromas. Medium bitterness lets the malt come through strongly. The esters are more like cherries and plums, not dried fruit (at least when young). Caramel and toast flavors from the specialty malts. Thick, chewy, but fully fermented. Finishes malty with some residual sweetness.

Formulation notes:
It’s all about the Golden Promise malt, so don’t substitute. Hops can be anything, really. I picked the 1968 yeast because of its fruity profile, so try that one first. The pale chocolate malt is for color adjustment only. The boil is quite hard, trying to develop additional complex Maillard reaction flavors in the kettle. I used yeast nutrient and Whirlfloc in this beer to encourage a healthy fermentation and to clarify the beer. Abundant oxygen is helpful to keep the yeast healthy and active, as is a very large starter. This yeast can drop out early, so be sure to measure the final gravity and take a tasting; it might need to be roused and/or warmed up near the end of fermentation.

Variations:
The bittering hops can be increased and still be well within the style; I would tend to do that if it seems a bit on the sweet side for your palate. I’ve found that big beers with residual sweetness can continue to slowly attenuate over time if they are conditioned on the yeast. I think this beer is a good candidate for aging in an oak cask, since the tannins from the wood would help balance the malt and provide some dryness, while any toasty, vanilla characteristics from the wood would be welcome. I’d use medium toast Hungarian or French oak. Aging in a barrel that held distilled spirits is also a possibility but I’d hate to overshadow the delicious malt.

NIGHTSTALKER BARLEYWINE

This recipe is a hybrid between English and American barleywine styles. It has the bitterness of an American barleywine, but with English variety finishing hops. I like more even-keel English hops more than the resiny and citrusy American varieties that are often used. I think the balance of this beer is somewhat reminiscent of Anchor Brewing’s Old Foghorn. I drink this beer in a Riedel crystal wine glass in cold weather. My experience is that it ages beautifully, and is a good candidate for vintage-dating.