St Thomas Barleywine

This is a 2015 BJCP style 17d beer.

Recipe: Dark English-Style Barleywine
Volume: 5 gallons
Dates:

Brew date: Aug 15, 2020
Transfer to secondary: Aug 29, 2020
Bottling: Sep 8, 2020

Ingredients:

Water source: basement utility sink filtered dispenser
Yeast: White Labs WLP002 English Ale and Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale

Grain bill

	Potential sg ppg	Points per gal
10.0 lbs Maris Otter 10.0 lbs Vienna 2.0 lbs Amber Malt 1.5 lbs Wheat 2.0 lbs Victory 1.5 lbs Carapils 3.0 lbs Crystal 60 0.75 lb Crystal 120 1.0 lb Light Brown Soft Candi Sugar	1.037 1.035 1.037 1.037 1.037 1.035 1.034 1.033 1.046	370.0 350.0 74.0 55.5 74.0 52.5 102.0 24.8 46.0
31.75 lbs	Ideal: Pre-boil: Target:	1148.3 ((1102.3 ((1102.3	/ 6 gal = 191.4 >>> 1.191b> * 60%) + 46)/ 7 gal = 101.1 >>> 1.101 * 60%) + 46)/ 6 gal = 117.9 >>> 1.117

Pellet Hops

1 oz Columbus - 15.8 avg alpha Utilization: 60 minutes @ 1.120 = 12.3%	*IBU = 1.0 15.8 * 12.3 * 0.75 / 6 = 24.3**
0.5 oz East Kent Goldings - 4.7% avg alpha Utilization: 45 minutes @ 1.120 = 11.3%	*IBU = 0.5 4.7 * 11.3 * 0.75 / 6 = 3.3**
0.5 oz Fuggle - 2.9% avg alpha Utilization: 30 minutes @ 1.120 = 9.4%	*IBU = 0.5 2.9 * 9.4 * 0.75 / 6 = 1.7**
1 oz East Kent Goldings - 4.7% avg alpha Utilization: 5 minutes @ 1.120 = 2.5%	*IBU = 1.0 4.7 * 2.5 * 0.75 / 6 = 1.5**
SRM = 30	Total IBU = 31

Other

1 teaspoon gypsum
beginning of mash 2 bags (4 oz) rice hulls
beginning of mash 2 teaspoons yeast nutrient
yeast starter

Activity Log

Yeast Starter:

About 36 hours before brew, added 5 oz of DME to 1.4L of hot water in 2L flask. Added yeast nutrient and boiled for 10 minutes. Cooled and aerated by shaking for 1 minute. Pitched vial of yeast, covered with foil and placed at 72f.

Mash/Lauter/Sparge:

The mash was performed twice where the grain bill was divided in half with identical grains in each mash.
Added gypsum to 4.5 gallons of water, heated to 170 f and added grain and 1 bag of rice hulls. Mashed at 152 f for 60 minutes. Sparged with 170 f water until 4 gallons of first runnings was obtained in large pot and 2 gallons of second runnings in small pot for St Thomas Barleygyle.

Boil:

Brought to boil and added Candi Sugar. Boiled for 30 minutes and then followed hop schedule. Cooled through counterflow chiller into carboy through filter funnel, which aerates the wort. Took specific gravity reading of 1.095. Pitched yeast, fitted blow-off bubbler then placed at 72 f.

Fermentation:

Observations of primary stage:

8-16-2020: fermentation did not start (due to yeast starter error)
8-17-2020: fermentation finally started with 1/2 inch of dark, mottled foam and a glub in the blow-off bubbler about every 3 seconds
8-17-2020: due to concern about the late start I added Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale yeast
8-18-2020: switched to airlock
8-18-2020: 3/4 inch of active mottled foam, 77 bubbles per minute
8-19-2020: 1/2 inch of active mottled foam, 64 bubbles per minute
8-20-2020: 1/8 inch of active mottled foam, 38 bubbles per minute
8-21-2020: 1/8 inch of foam, 25 bubbles per minute
8-22-2020: thin film of foam, 19 bubbles per minute
8-23-2020: patchy thin foam, 12 bubbles per minute
8-24-2020: small patches of foam, 4 bubbles per minute
8-26-2020: small patches of foam, 1 bubbles per 103 seconds

Observations of secondary stage:

Transferred to clean 5 gallon carboy and fitted stopper and airlock. Took specific gravity reading of 1.025. Captured 2 liter bottle 3/5 full. Pressurized with 30 lbs/sq in CO2 and placed in fridge.

Bottling:

Took specific gravity reading of 1.023. Siphoned into 2 liter bottle until 3/5 full. Pressurized with 30 lbs/sq in CO2 and placed in fridge. Siphon remainder from carboy into bucket. Boiled 5 ounces of corn sugar in .5 liter of water for 10 minutes. Cooled and placed in bottling bucket. Filled and capped 45 bottles. The bottles were placed at 72 f to condition.

On Oct 8, after a month of bottle conditioning, the beer still had no carbonation and was a little sweet because of the bottling sugar. I opened each of the 42 remaining bottles and put some grains of CBC-1 high-gravity conditioning yeast in and recapped. I used about 1.5 grams of yeast split across the 42 bottles. The bottles were placed at 72 f to condition.

See St Thomas Barleywine labels here.

Results:

This beer won third place in its class at the 2020 Walk The Line On Barleywine competition held by Dunedin Brewers Guild (Dunedin, FL). Click here for score sheets.
This beer won second place in the 2021 Missouri MASH-in
This beer won third place in Brixtoberfest 2021 Click here for scoresheets.
This beer won second place in Spooky Brew 2021. The score sheets can be found here.
This beer won first place in Winterbrew 2022