How to Home Brew Barley Wine

The term "barley wine" was coined by the Bass brewery around 1900 for their Number 1 Ale. It is brewed from grain and, therefore, a beer rather than wine, which is brewed from fruit. However, it is a very strong ale with an alcohol content in the eight to 12 percent range, with a sweetness that is balanced by some bitterness from the hops. Read on to learn how to home brew barley wine.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 10 lbs. DeWolf-Cosyns Belgian Pilsner malt
• 8 lbs. DeWolf-Cosyns Pale malt
• 1.5 lbs. DeWolf-Cosyns CaraVienne malt
• 0.5 lbs. DeWolf-Cosyns Belgian Munich malt
• 0.1 lbs. rbasted Barley
• 2 oz. BC Kent Goldings plug (5 percent AA)
• 2 oz. Northern Brewer pellets (9 percent AA)
• 1/2 oz. Fuggles plug (4.3 percent)
• London ale yeast

1. Heat 2.5 gallons of water to 42 C and add the grain. Cook the mash at 39 to 42 C for 20 minutes. Then add 2.5 gallons of boiling water to raise the temperature to 60 to 62 C for 30 minutes. Add another 1.5 gallons of boiling water to heat the mash to 67 to 70 C for 1.25 hours.

2. Drain all the liquid wort without sparging to yield about 4 to 4.5 gallons of wort with a specific gravity of 1.080.

3. Heat the wort to a boil and add the Northern Brewer hops. Add 1 oz. Goldings hops in 30 minutes and add another 1/2 oz. at 45 minutes. Add the final 1/2 oz. of Goldings hops and the Fuggles hops at 55 minutes. Continue boiling the wort until it is reduced 3 gallons, about an hour total boil.

4. Allow the wort to settle for 15 minutes and siphon it into the primary fermentation container through a counterflow chiller with an aerating cane on end. Pitch the yeast and ferment for about two months at 65 to 70 F.

5. Rack the beer into the secondary container and add 1 oz. of EKG hops. Allow the beer to ferment for another month and add more yeast immediately before bottling and add enough hot water to make 7 gallons.

Resources

• More About Barley Wine