Old Stoner Barley Wine

On a mission to create new and exciting brews I have decided to take on a barley wine.  This great example comes from Denny an award winning homebrewer in his own right.


Here is a quick breakdown for the recipe:

• 20.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row)
• 4.50 lbs. Munich Malt(2-row)
• 1.75 lbs. CaraMunich 80
• 0.75 lbs. Crystal 60L
• 2.00 oz. Columbus Whole 18.30%AA First Wort Hopping
• 3.00 oz. Chinook Whole 14.50%AA 60 min.
• 1.00 oz. Centennial Whole 7.80%AA 2 min.
• 1.00 Tsp Irish Moss Fining 15 Min.(boil)
• WYeast 1056 Amercan Ale/Chico 

Mash at 154 for 60 mins then boil for a solid 10 min before starting the hop schedule.

Denny's comments:
Don't rush this beer! Give it at least 2 weeks in primary and 2 months in secondary. Be careful of temp. increases in primary... there's a lot of fermentables here and it'll take off if you're not careful. Add 1 pkg. Danstar Nottingham dry yeast to the bottling bucket along with your priming sugar. The fermentation yeast is going to be pretty much useless by the time you bottle. Age well. I have bottles of this recipe that are 6 years old. In a recent tasting, a 4 year old bottle was great!


UPDATE #1 I brewed this beer 3/16/2011 with Sisco and Marco.  It's a LOT of grains.  I ended up with a 21 plato which works out to 1.087 OG

UPDATE #2  This beer has been in the bottle for 2 months now.  I tasted one on June 24, 2011  It was very carb'ed.  I let the glass sit on the counter until it was controlled.  The taste was hot with a clearly present alcohol warmth.  The heat lowered with each sip.  The taste was clean...with no apparent phenols or off flavors.  The color was golden amber and very clear.

UPDATE #3  On Saturday (11-12-11) I opened a bottle of this and it is still over carbed.  I don't think at the point on "Bottle Bombs" but it does need a 10 min rest in the sink to let the foam run out.  Either way, the beer itself is great.  The aroma is woody and a little phenolic.  But not overpowering.  The color and clarity of this beer is spot on.  A golden amber color and about as clear as you can get.   The taste is very dry with a clearly present alcohol heat.  I get some grape, cigar and plum notes.

Due to the high levels of Co2, I am not going to store these as long as I wanted.  Most will be passed out to friends over Christmas.  Currently, it is not worth the risk to have one pop on somebody if I store it long term.