In the Fermenter: An Old Barleywine for a New Year

While 2020 was easily my worst year ever, all of those weeks cooped up at home meant I had more time than usual to brew.

One of my final brew days of 2020 was devoted to this Barleywine.

My beer is loosely based on various takes I found on Great Divide's Old Ruffian, which is a beer that used to be a regular member of their lineup. That's not the case anymore, which is why I decided to tackle my own.

The main area where I've diverged from what I came across online is with the specialty malts. I've bumped them all up just a tad. In addition, my homebrew store doesn't stock Crystal 80, so I went with Crystal 77. I'm fairly certain my hop schedule is different as well. To finish my beer off, I'll be adding an oak spiral toward the end of secondary fermentation.

This beer won't be ready until mid April at the earliest, so I have quite the wait ahead.

My 5 gallon brew is below:

Grains:

17lbs Rahr 2-Row

12oz Crisp Crystal 77

12oz Briess Victory

8oz Briess Flaked Wheat

Hops:

1oz Warrior (15.4% a.a.): 60 min
1oz Chinook (9.3% a.a.): 45 min

1oz Amarillo (9.7% a.a.): 30 min

1oz Amarillo (9.7% a.a.): 20 min

1oz Amarillo (9.7% a.a.): 10 min

1oz Amarillo (9.7% a.a.): 5 min

Extras:

1 Medium-Plus Oak Spiral

Total Boil Time:
120 min

Yeast:

White Labs WLP051 California V

64oz Starter

Mash Schedule:

Saccharification Rest: 152F for 60 min

Mashout: 168F for 15 min

Original Gravity:

1.107

Estimated Final Gravity:

1.027

IBU: 92

SRM Color: 13

Fermentation Schedule:

3 Weeks Primary

9 Weeks Secondary

6 Weeks Secondary with Oak

1-2 Months Bottle Conditioning

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