Old Apocalypse Barley Wine

[Brian_S]

So as we are a little over a year out from Dec 21 2012 and as I truly belive a civilization that wore loin clothes and crapped in the jungle can accurately predict the Apocalypse I decided to brew up this bad boy with a planned tapping date of Dec 21 2012.  

Batch size: 2.5 Gallon.
Mash 90 mins @150F
Boil 120 mins
Yeast:  BIG US-05 prior slurry
Est. OG: 1.130


Grain Bill
11lbs  - Domestic 2 row
1 lbs - Munich
.5 lbs - Biscuit malt (2 row roasted at 75c for 30 mins, then increase to 100c for another 30 mins))
.5 lbs - Special B

Hop bill
1.6 oz EKG pellets 4.75 AA @ 60
1.5 oz EKG pellets 4.75 AA @ 5

Primary for 1 month @~68F
Secondary for 3 months @ ~68F

Age for at least and additional 8 months in keg.

 B

[Brian_S]

Missed the OG by a mile as my efficiency was around 55% which is likely for the best as the OG still came in at 1.105 and an FG of 1.012 , any higher and I most likely would have pushed the yeast (US05) to its limits.

With an ABV of 12.4% I'm glad I only made 2.5 gallons

B

[brew]

So the countdown has begun - did you try this out yet? Carb it? Better dig it out of the cellar as there's only a few days left before us meek inherit, um, well I guess nothing...

[Brian_S]

Well I did crack it Friday and its definately up for a repeat performance.  I'm not so good at the tasting notes, here goes:

Colour:  a slightly murky ruby to mohagany.

Smell:  Muted plums, raisins and perhaps a few other dark fruits with a hint of alcohol.

Flavour:  First you are hit with a pleasant molasses followed by dark fruit with a very mellow alcohol finish.  I think the year long cellaring is a must.  It was interesting how the flavour chnaged as it warmed, the dark fruit became more pronouced.

Mouth feel:  Vicuous and thick much like a port.


I'd liken this to a nice tawny port in colour and flavour.

[brew]

Mmm sounds nice - even better now that we've not actually exploded into a million tiny bits...