Megalodon

Style: Barley Wine
Brewed by The Brewologist

Ingredients:
6 lbs Pale LME
3.3 lb Munton's Dark DME
4 lbs Dark Brown Sugar
1 lb Chocolate Malt (to steep)
2 oz Czech Saaz
2 oz UK Fuggle
1/2 cup oak chips (secondary)
Ale Yeast (make starter)

Instructions:
Preparation: prepare a yeast starter on the morning of your brew day. Or the night before if you brew early. I use a 1 gallon glass jug, brew up about 1 quart of water and 1/4 cup of malt extract. Just like making a little mini-brew. Pitch the yeast and cap with your stopper and airlock. I highly recommend a yeast starter. You will notice an increase in fermentation time and a very active fermentation. Meanwhile... let the oak chips soak in a 1/2 cup of rum for as long as the yeast starter is waiting.

When you're ready to brew:

Create grain tea by heating water to 160° while steeping the cracked chocolate wheat malt grains in cheesecloth.

Add the grain tea to the brewpot half way through the boil.

(45 minute boil)
Begin boil with 1.5 gallons of water in a large pot. Once boil is steady add .5 oz. Fuggle hops. After 15 minutes add the next .5 oz. Fuggle and begin dissolving the Pale LME. After 30 minutes add 1 oz. Saaz. Begin dissolving the Dark Brown Sugar in a second pot containing 1/2 gallon of water.

At this time start dissolving Dark DME in the main brewpot. Brew until you reach the 45 minute mark and add the last ounce of Saaz. The remaining 1 oz. of Fuggles will be added to the fermenter after the yeast is pitched.

Add the dissolved dark brown sugar to the main brewpot.

Cool, rack to primary fermenter with 2.5 gallons cold water and pitch yeast starter. Let ferment for 6 or 8 days. Rack to secondary fermenter with oak chips and any additional flavorings you'd like (if any). You can sit on this for a while. Two weeks at the least, but 3 or 4 weeks in the secondary isn't a bad idea. If you have a decent storage area with consistent temperature, you can leave the barley wine to age for a few months.

For bottling use the standard 3/4 cup priming, then bottle. Wait a week or two before sampling. Also, put some aside and plan to let them age for a year or so. Barley wine will improve with age, just like a good scotch. :)

Believe it or not the sugars used will displace about 1 gallon of water. That's why I recommend two pots to dissolve all of the sugars. That depends on the size of your brewpot of course.

O.G. 1.102, F.G. 1.022 = 10.64% ABV.

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