First Born Barley Wine

Hot Damn! I finally achieved "Maltiness" with this one! I have brewed
beer of all types since entering the homebrew world, but never have I
really achieved the level of malt taste I've always wanted (one of
the main reasons I brew) although many were more strong or hoppy.
I will try not to use domestic malt any longer (only in wheat beers).
It really does make a difference in taste (I can tell a micro-brew
which utilized U.S. malts as a base immediately).This beer should be
ready by the time my wife gives birth in about six months!

Brewer:	Tom Healy		Email:	Thomas_iii_m3@hotmail.com
Beer:	First Born Barley Wine		Style:	Barley Wine
Type:	All grain		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	21 HCU (~12 SRM)		Bitterness:	149 IBU
OG:	1.095		FG:	1.023
Alcohol:	9.3% v/v (7.3% w/w)
Water:	Liqour (the brewing water) consisted of a 3:1 ratio of boiled/decanted San Gabrial river valley (Los Angeles) tap water (med hardness / aprox. 248 ppm carbonates - specific ionic components available on line) to filtered deionized tap water (boiled only as wort). Added to mash water: aprox 3 tspn gypsom/ 1/4 tsp kosher salt/ 1/2 tsp epsom salts This is to somewhat approximate "Burtonized Water"
Grain:	14.5 lb. British pale 1 lb. German Melonan 1 lb. American crystal 40L (Breiss) 8 oz. Rolled oats
Mash:	65% efficiency
	° Employ simple step mash initially: Protien Rest, 122 F @30 min. Step to 150 F 20 min, Then: ° Employ partial decoction type method: Remove enough mash (liquid and grist) to raise mash to 158 F (I needed about 1 gallon) ° Bring this to boil (hold 5 - 10 min): return to mash ° Repeat once or twice (will result in more body / maltiness the more it is repeated) ° The decoction cycle should last 30 - 45 minutes ° Sparge & collect wort according to your tradition.
Boil:	120 minutes	SG 1.095	5 gallons
	1.5 lb. Honey
	° Add hops after hot break (coagulated protein) is collected. ° Boiling down from 9 to 10 gallons to 5 or 5.5 is a good character builder (for the beer). ° I do not have Irish Moss, but this may be helpful. ° My boil was med to med high (standard range top) ° Add Honey (Mesquite from TRADER JOES) for last five minutes of boil with 3 oz hops.
Hops:	7 oz. Northern Brewer (8.0% AA, 90 min.) 3 oz. Northern Brewer (8.0% AA, 5 min.)
Yeast:	° Utilized Yeast Lab Edinburgh type liquid yeast (understand it actua lly has very sim characteristics to their "burton" yeast.
Log:	° Pitched yeast at 85 F (long, slow cooling in my parent's swimming pool) ° S.G.@ 1.060 to 65 after one week ° The beer has been fermenting for only two weeks ° The beer will use gellatin as a clarity enhancer (standard for me) ° My main technical references (for actually brewing) are "The homebrewers companion and The new joy of home brewing" ° Use "malt liqour" size caps for "old australia stout" and "martinelli's apple juice" bottles.
Carbonation:	° Bottle conditioning: sugars are 1:3 sucrose,invert sugar, mollases. ° Calculated .5 cup per 5 gal, but fermentation resulted in almost 1.5 gallons of yeast sediment! (will have much greater carbo than tradit- ional for this style)
Tasting:	° Sample after one week (very yeasty / young) revealed lots of malt flavor / balanced hops. ° At four weeks (at bottling) the green beer is potent (9.3%). needs to mellow. dark amber color, bitterness/ethanol covered by body sweetness ° Should be quite impressive post conditioning! UPDATE!!!!!!23JAN2001!!!!!!!!!!! THE BEER is now over a year old, and boy has it improved! It is now: -much drier, great red hue, medium carbonation -TASTE: strong leather/tobacco/pipe smoke ballanced with apropriate N. Brewer Hops unique bitterness (much smoother now) aroma: scottish ale type with hints of hops/ethanol/honey-malt body has heaviness and creaminess (oats!)but is becomming more sharp/dry as I sample it! Alc has increased to aprox: 10 to 10.5%. to be continued....

Recipe posted 01/23/01.