Oh So Fine Barleywine

Here is my New Year's Barley Wine inspired by the Go Gos...

Danger - This batch blew the lid off my fermenter 3 TIMES before it calmed down!

Brewer:	Trip Rice		Email:	-
Beer:	Oh So Fine Barleywine		Style:	Barley Wine
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5.0 gallons
Color:	53 HCU (~23 SRM)		Bitterness:	99 IBU
OG:	1.125		FG:	1.028
Alcohol:	12.5% v/v (9.8% w/w)
Water:	Overland Park, Kansas tap water
Grain:	3.0 lb. American crystal 60L 4.0 oz. Dextrine malt (Cara-Pils)
Steep:	Steeped the grains for about 30 minutes...from heat on to 180°. Boiled 4 gallons in two pots cuz it kept boiling over. Took me 30 min. to chisel off the carmalized DME from the stove.
Boil:	60 minutes	SG 1.156	4.0 gallons
	14.0 lb. Light malt extract 1.5 lb. Honey
	Added honey @ 45 min. left in the boil. Irish Moss at 20 min left. 1 oz of Dried Ginger added at 5 min. left in boil.
Hops:	3.0 oz. Chinook (13.2% AA, 60 min.) 1.0 oz. Nugget (12.7% AA, 60 min.) 3.0 oz. Northern Brewer (6.6% AA, 30 min.)
Yeast:	Wyeast 1056 in a 1.5 pint starter. Added Champagne yeast when I racked to the secondary.
Log:	Brewed on 8/16/02. I may dry hop in a couple of weeks. Haven't made up my mind yet. I have some Willamette in the fridge that might be destined for this batch. Boy, was it expensive! 14 lbs. of light DME isn't cheap. This is going to be a special holiday concoction, hope it comes out. 8/24/02 Racked to secondary, added Champagne Yeast, added 1 oz. Willamette hops to dry hop. 9/8/02 Racked to tertiary for the long sleep. I will add sterile water to top up to 5 gal. I lost some when I racked to the secondary. I'll probably wait until October to bottle it. 10/29/02 Bottled in 22 oz. bottles with 8 PrimeTabs for carbination.
Carbonation:	I use 8 PrimeTabs per 22 oz. bottle.
Tasting:	8/16/02 Brewed today...smelled good, can't wait to tatse it. 11/24/02 Tasted first bottle. Very, very young with just a hint of carbination. Prominent alcohol taste is balanced by slightly sweet malt and hefty hop presence. This is going to have sit in the back of the closet until probably next fall before I open another one. 1/12/03 Couldn't wait any longer to taste it again. Very nice, still a little sweet. 3/29/03 Whoa! This is the best beer I have ever made! This was batch # 20. I am drinking less beer now because I am on the Atkins diet, so I am brewing less. This will be the only beer I brew for a while. Look for Oh So Fine Barleywine II for my next batch. This stuff is really good.

Recipe posted 04/11/03.