Monthly Archives: February 2016

Brewing Log

Barrel filling and baby brew day

The baby beer is fermenting and the bourbon barrel has been filled. I meet up with some club members for the barrel fill on the February 20th. Thankfully the barrel was water tight.  Each beer had its own character but blended together nicely.  The first planned tasting will be in one month.

The baby beer has been brewed.  I ended up with an OG of 1.135 which did not match my target of 1.160 at 65% efficiency but this was due to me not setting my target efficiency to the kettle volume not fermenter volume.  Using a 6 gallon target in the kettle 65% efficiency is 1.133 much closer to my actual results.  The beer was blowing off in less than 12 hours.  Now I will start a new starter with the WLP099 yeast to be pitched when this initial fermentation slows down.  I am hoping to hit 13% ABV with this barley wine.


plugged filling full

Brewing Log, Recipes

Baby Barleywine

I finally decided on a recipe for the baby beer.  The goal will be 5 gallons of packaged beer or at least 24x bomber bottles.

OG at 65% efficiency 1.160, FG 1.039, 15.8% ABV, 78 IBU (Second pitch of WLP099 should hopefully lower the FG to 1.021 with an ABV of 18%)

28# Maris Otter
4# Munich 10L
1# Crystal 60L

2oz Magnum at 60min
1oz Fuggles at 15min
1oz Fuggles at 0min

Mash at 146° for 30 minutes then raise to 156° and hold for 30 minutes.  Collect 8 gallons and boil for 90 minutes.

Wyeast 1272 American Ale II  – Starting pitch @ 1 gallon (decanted)
White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity Ale Yeast – Finishing pitch @ 1 gallon (decanted)