BeerSmith™ Recipes and Web Editor

Taste Notes

2018-02-22: Warm and flat: Aroma of vanilla and maybe port. Tastes of vanila, toffee, port, raisins. Thick mouthfeel and alcohol warmth in moderation. 2018-09-29: Cool and mildly carbonated. Description as above still holds.

Notes

Use Wyeast 1028 London Ale or 1968 London ESB I was calling this Strong Heart Barleywine and wanted something along those lines. That’s our focus these days as Celina approaches her surgery. Celina’s Barleywine gets the idea across just as well. Toast to Celina’s Good Health when drinking this ale! 2017-11-02: Made starter today in order to brew tomorrow. Boiled 2.25L of water and used 6.75oz of Pilsner light DME boiled 10 min. London ESB is smacked and warming up. 2017-11-03: Brew day - Rough Brew Day! Late start due to euipment and sanitation issues. Corrected before starting. 19.5lbs is at limit of what I can handle at 1.35 water/grain ratio. Might try 1.25 next time but the liquid is running into the AutoSparge arm - the wingnut is under the surface of the wort. Also, it takes for ever for the RIMSrocket to change the temp on that much mash. I’ve given up on the program I had for TopLink and I am running it manually. Mash-in at 140°F and rise to 152°F took a very long time - controller control issues prolonged time. I guess the trend to a lighter mash will balance with the high OG, and anticipated higher than average FG, to make this, not thin, but thinner than it would otherwise be. I raised the mash temp from 152°F to 154°F at 35 minutes into sacchrification (out of 60 minutes but this is going on forever). I didn’t want to prolong the lower temp after the extended Mash-in and rise - hoping to minimize extra thin mash. I think that turned into something like a three or four hour mash. Ug… Poor extraction. I am adding Lyle’s Golden Syrup (2lbs) and increasing the molases from 12oz to 1lbs. Only 5G wort into the carboy at 67°F or 68°F but the 2L starter brought that up to about 5.75G. Oxyginated before pitching the yeast - I just started a new O2 bottle. it’s 17:45 hours and I have yet to start cleanup. And I plan to brew tomorrow. Ug, again… Started at 07:30 and done at 20:00, or 12.5 hours. Not that unusual in some ways but long and problematic none-the-less. Saison tomorrow. 2017-11-04: Bubbling strongly but no need for a blow-off tube. Carboy temp is about 69°F. 2017-11-05 14:14: Carboy temp is up to 72°F. I dropped the temp in the room two degrees to 64°F tempoprarily. A slight drop at 20:20. I’m happy. 2017-11-08: Prepping the Balcones oak whiskey barrel #13964 for usage. Barrel purchased at CSF as a present for me for Christmass. Presently hydrating it with hot tap water inside and out. Also lightly tapped the rings back in place - one was completely loose. 2017-11-11: Rack to barrel day! I read 15 Brix with the refractometer, converting to SG of 1.034. BeerSmith estimates an FG of 1.032 so this isn’t bad. Hydrometer, SG=1.034@65.7°F=1.035. Close enough. The barrel is full as are two 32oz growlers. And we have a taste as well. For now I am using the red bung. The barrel is too full to insert the airlock. 2018-01-15: The red bung was a bad idea. Within a couple of days of racking, pulling the bung sprayed the wall and resulted in foam overflowing the barrel. Airlock inserted. Topped off with ale from growler after a couple of weeks. A couple more weeks and the airlock had pulled in the opposite direction where it stayed. Sampled: 13.8 Brix, 1.053, both unadjusted. That’s 1.026 for the current SG. That is quite a drop! Tasted were only of multy-drop quantities but barrel flavors were not excessiive at all. I think it can hang in there longer. As the level was seriousy down I added the entire second 3/4L growler (all but a 4oz taster - which was very yummy) and didn’t quite fill the barrel. 2018-02-15: Moved the cask to the higher shelf in hopes of racking to new Torpedo Kegs from More Beer but the kegs all turned out to be dfective. 2018-02-22: Keg fixed and rackinig barelywine into the keg (#7). The direct reading from the refractometer is 1.057, or 14.8 Brix. This is an FG of 1.033 and an ABV of 9.52% via the BeerSmith’s conversion. That’s essentially on target. 2018-09-29: Placed on tap #3 and pouring well. 2019-04-28: Kicked but especially loved!