Here’s the extract version of Hero Barleywine, an American-style barleywine that is similar to Bigfoot. In order to brew the extract version successfully, you will need to do a few things. Firstly, and most importantly, you will need to make the yeast starter described in the recipe. Either that or use two 11-g sachets of dried yeast or three packs or tubes of liquid yeast. (You can get away with making a starter half this size, if necessary, but your fermentation will take longer to start.) Secondly, you need to be able to boil 3.5 gallons (13 L) of wort. So, you’ll need a 5-gallon (~20-L) brewpot and a good stove. If your stove’s output isn’t quite up to the task, you can use an immersion travel heater (the kind that lets you boil water to make tea in your hotel room) to help out. Plug it into a GFCI outlet. (If necessary, you can get away with boiling only 3 gallons (11 L), but your wort may end up a shade darker than it should be and the beer may not be as bitter.) Thirdly, for best results, you need to follow the directions here as closely as you can, given your equipment. Don’t just look at the ingredients and use your regular extract brewing techniques. There are a couple “odd” steps here, but they serve a purpose. And finally, use fresh liquid malt extract. This recipe was formulated based on the specs for Briess CBW Golden Light liquid malt extract (79% solids, 75% fermentability), but any light, reasonably fermentable made from US pale malts should work. Pilsner malt extract would also work. The most important thing that it be fresh. You can also use 8.25 lbs. (3.7 kg) of light dried malt extract, if fresh liquid malt extract is not available.
Hero Barleywine
by Chris Colby
Extract; English units
DESCRIPTION
Hero Barleywine is a big, American-style barleywine. It is similar to Bigfoot in strength and bitterness (88 IBUs), but not a clone. It is fermented with American ale yeast to yield an amber ale with a final gravity (FG) of 1.021, a full body and nearly 10% alcohol by volume (ABV).
INGREDIENTS (for 5.0 gallons)
Water
use filtered tap water that is low in mineral content, or else distilled or RO water
if using distilled or RO water, add 4 tsp. gypsum (~ 200 ppm sulfate)
Malt (for an OG of 1.096 and 15 SRM)
2.5 lbs. English pale ale malt
5.0 oz. English crystal malt (60 °L)
3.0 oz. US crystal malt (40 °L)
1.0 lb. sucrose (cane sugar)
10 lbs. light liquid malt extract (US, such as Briess)
Hops (for 88 IBUs total)
Magnum hops (50 IBUs)
1.25 oz. (at 12% alpha acids), boiled for 75 minutes
Simcoe hops (22 IBUs)
0.50 oz. (at 13% alpha acids), boiled for 75 minutes
Summit hops (15 IBUs)
0.25 oz. (at 18% alpha acids), boiled for 75 minutes
Chinook hops (0 IBUs)
0.25 oz., added at knockout
Centennial hops (0 IBUs)
0.50 oz., added at knockout
Amarillo hops (0 IBUs)
0.75 oz., added at knockout
Cascade hops (0 IBUs)
1.25 oz., added at knockout
1.0 oz. Cascade dry hops
0.50 oz. Centennial dry hops
0.50 oz. Amarillo dry hops
Yeast (for an FG of 1.021 and 9.7% ABV)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Fermentis US-05 yeast
(5.0-qt. yeast starter)
Other
1.25 tsp. Irish moss
PROCEDURES
Make yeast starter (at ~OG 1.020) 3 days ahead of time. Let ferment to completion. Chill to sediment yeast, if needed.
In your brewpot, begin heating 2.25 gallons of water. Aim to reach 150 °F when the partial mash is finished. In a second (8-qt. or larger) pot, heat 1.0 gallon of water to 161 °F. Place crushed grains in a steeping bag and submerge in second pot. Hold temperature around 150 °F for 60 minutes. This is a small partial mash. In a third pot, heat 0.50 gallons of water to 170 °F to use as sparge water. After the grains have mashed, place a colander over your brewpot, set the grain bag in it and pour the wort through it (to filter out solid pieces of grain); then, rinse it with the sparge water. Stir in roughly 7 lbs. of the malt extract and hold at 150 °F for 10 minutes, then bring wort to a boil. You should have about 3.5 gallons of wort. Do not let wort volume drop below 3.5 gallons during boil. (Keep a pot of boiling water going and top up your brewpot with it, as needed.) Once the boil starts and the first bits of hot break show, add your bittering hops and boil for 75 minutes. If hops cling to the side of the brewpot, knock them back into the wort with your brewing spoon. Add Irish moss with 15 minutes left in boil. Stir in remaining malt extract and sugar in the last 20 minutes of the boil. (Dissolve extract and sugars in a small amount of wort to make it easier to stir in.) You can do this by adding roughly a pound of extract or sugar at a time and then letting the boil recover. Keep the boil clock going and don’t worry if you’re almost out of time when you stir the sugar in. Add aroma hops at knockout.
Chill wort to 66 °F. Let chilled wort sit, covered, to let hop debris and trub settle (unless you are filtering or straining it). Let it sit for an hour or two.Transfer wort to fermenter, top up to 5 gallons and aerate thoroughly. Pitch yeast and ferment at 68 °F. Option: You can collect the trub and “gunk” at the bottom of your kettle in sanitized mason jars. Let them sit overnight in your refrigerator. This will allow the trub compact a bit more. The next day, pour the clear wort into your fermenter. You may want to heat it to 170 °F to sanitize it, then cool it down before doing this.
If you made the yeast starter, this strain of yeast should not require any additional help finishing this fermentation. (You don’t need to rouse the yeast or let the temperature rise, for example.) Let beer sit on yeast for a few days after all signs of fermentation have ceased. Rack beer to a secondary fermenter or keg, and dry hop for 7–10 days. If you use whole hops for dry hopping, treat them with CO2 so you aren’t introducing the air trapped in between the bractioles to the beer. Carbonate beer to 2.4 volumes of CO2 and let condition for two months. (Pitching the right amount of yeast and running a good fermentation should set this beer up to condition properly in that amount of time. If you pitch less yeast, expect to have to age the beer longer.)
Hero Barleywine
by Chris Colby
Extract; metric units
INGREDIENTS (for 19 L)
Water
use filtered tap water that is low in mineral content, or else distilled or RO water
if using distilled or RO water, add 4 tsp. gypsum (~ 200 ppm sulfate)
Malt (for an OG of 1.096 and 15 SRM)
1.1 kg English pale ale malt
140 g English crystal malt (60 °L)
85 g US crystal malt (40 °L)
450 g sucrose (cane sugar)
4.5 kg light liquid malt extract (US, such as Briess)
Hops (for 88 IBUs total)
Magnum hops (50 IBUs)
35 g (at 12% alpha acids), boiled for 75 minutes
Simcoe hops (22 IBUs)
14 g (at 13% alpha acids), boiled for 75 minutes
Summit hops (15 IBUs)
7.1 g (at 18% alpha acids), boiled for 75 minutes
Chinook hops (0 IBUs)
7.1 g, added at knockout
Centennial hops (0 IBUs)
14 g, added at knockout
Amarillo hops (0 IBUs)
21 g, added at knockout
Cascade hops (0 IBUs)
35 g, added at knockout
28 g Cascade dry hops
14 g Centennial dry hops
14 g Amarillo dry hops
Yeast (for an FG of 1.021 and 9.7% ABV)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Fermentis US-05 yeast
(4.6-L yeast starter)
Other
1.25 tsp. Irish moss
PROCEDURES
Make yeast starter (at OG ~1.020) 3 days ahead of time. Let ferment to completion. Chill to sediment yeast, if needed.
In your brewpot, begin heating 8.5 L of water. Aim to reach 66 °F when the partial mash is finished. In a second (8-L or larger) pot, heat 3.8 L of water to 72 °C. Place crushed grains in a steeping bag and submerge in second pot. Hold temperature around 66 °C for 60 minutes. This is a small partial mash. In a third pot, heat 1.9 L of water to 77 °C to use as sparge water. After the grains have mashed, place a colander over your brewpot, set the grain bag in it and pour the wort through it (to filter out solid pieces of grain); then, rinse it with the sparge water. Stir in roughly 3 kg of the malt extract and hold at 66 °C for 10 minutes, then bring wort to a boil. You should have about 13 L of wort. Do not let wort volume drop below 13 L during boil. (Keep a pot of boiling water going and top up your brewpot with it, as needed.) Once the boil starts and the first bits of hot break show, add your bittering hops and boil for 75 minutes. If hops cling to the side of the brewpot, knock them back into the wort with your brewing spoon. Add Irish moss with 15 minutes left in boil. Stir in remaining malt extract and sugar in the last 20 minutes of the boil. (Dissolve extract and sugars in a small amount of wort to make it easier to stir in.) You can do this by adding roughly a pound of extract or sugar at a time and then letting the boil recover. Keep the boil clock going and don’t worry if you’re almost out of time when you stir the sugar in. Add aroma hops at knockout.
Chill wort to 19 °C. Let chilled wort sit, covered, to let hop debris and trub settle (unless you are filtering or straining it). Let it sit for an hour or two. Transfer wort to fermenter and aerate thoroughly. Pitch yeast and ferment at 20 °C. Option: You can collect the trub and “gunk” at the bottom of your kettle in sanitized mason jars. Let them sit overnight in your refrigerator. This will allow the trub compact a bit more. The next day, pour the clear wort into your fermenter. You may want to heat it to 77 °C to sanitize it, then cool it down before doing this.
If you made the yeast starter, this strain of yeast should not require any additional help finishing this fermentation. (You don’t need to rouse the yeast or let the temperature rise, for example.) Let beer sit on yeast for a few days after all signs of fermentation have ceased. Rack beer to a secondary fermenter or keg, and dry hop for 7–10 days. If you use whole hops for dry hopping, treat them with CO2 so you aren’t introducing the air trapped in between the bractioles to the beer. Carbonate beer to 2.4 volumes of CO2 and let condition for two months. (Pitching the right amount of yeast and running a good fermentation should set this beer up to condition properly in that amount of time. If you pitch less yeast, expect to have to age the beer longer.)
—
Related articles
Krampus Klaws (14% ABV holiday lager, extract)
Speak Your Mind