As a tradition, we always brew two beers in the month of December. The first one is an English barleywine. We close our homebrew store early and invite a few fellow brewers over to make a ten-gallon batch of this big British beer. We brew outside on a propane burner. The eve of our barleywine brew session also brings out the barleywine we brewed last December. It has been tucked away for a year, just waiting for the cold winter day when its successor is brewed. We also find time to take advantage of the weather and brew a doppelbock. Doppelbock is one of our favorite styles and can be lagered all winter.

 English-Style Barleywine
 OG = 1.080 to 1.120+  
 FG = 1.020 to 1.030+  IBUs = 50 to 100  
 SRM = 10 to 22  ABV = 8 to 12+%

Style Guidelines

English barleywines are the strongest ales offered by English breweries. Many are dated by vintage. Fullers Vintage Ale, for example,  is dated by year and each bottle has its own serial number. Ballard’s barleywine was once brewed to the original gravity of the year. The term barleywine is used to imply that these beers are as potent as wine, with alcohol by volumes (ABVs) as high as 15 percent. They are aged extensively before they are put to market and are usually released for the winter and holiday season. Barleywines are sometimes brewed for a special event, a royal wedding, the birth of a royal heir or a coronation. In general, the difference between English and American barleywines is that the American barleywine puts more emphasis on hop character and uses American hops.

Our English-style barleywine has a light-brown head that sits on a deep amber beer. The flavor is full of toffee malt with a citrusy dryness and a vinous flavor. In England, oak barrels full of barleywine are rolled around the brewery to rouse the sleeping or drunk yeast. This produces the complex wine-like flavors that are traditional to this style. In this recipe, the aroma is moderately to intensely fruity tempered with caramel. The English hops range from mild to lightly assertive. The high alcohol content may cause low head retention.

The color ranges from burnished gold to very dark amber to brown with ruby highlights. Fruity in flavor, the focus is on the malt. Hop bitterness must balance the flavor and be prevalent. The alcohol should be apparent and some oxidative flavors may appear. English barleywines are full-bodied and smooth. Alcoholic warmth should be present.

Commercial Beers to Try

Young’s Old Nick, Fuller’s Golden Pride, Ballard’s Trout Tickler, Bass No. 1, Whitbread Gold Label and Woodforde Headcracker are all good examples of barleywine.

Hops, Malt and Yeast

High-alpha hops (Target, Brewers Gold U.K., Challenger, Herald, Northdown, Omega, Phoenix or Pioneer) should be used for bittering (8 to 16 percent).  Any English hop can be used for flavor and aroma such as U.K. Fuggles, Kent Goldings, Challenger, Target or Northdown.

A well-modified English two-row pale malt should comprise the majority of the grain bill, with Maris Otter being the superior malt. Use crystal for sweetness and color (up to 1.5 pounds in a five-gallon batch) and use up to 8 ounces of torrified wheat for head retention. In the grain with extract recipe, up to 2 ounces of chocolate malt may be used for color. Use a U.K. extract, such as Muntons or John Bull.

For yeast, use Irish Ale (Wyeast 1084), London Ale (Wyeast 1028), London Ale 111 (Wyeast 1318) or California Ale V (White Labs WLP051). A one-quart starter, Wyeast tubes or XL packs should be used to begin fermentation. Three days before bottling, dose the beer in the carboy with the same strain of yeast that the beer was fermented with (1.75 fluid oz. liquid yeast) and carefully rock the carboy. This will ensure that the beer has reached the desired final gravity and will assure carbonation.

Serving Suggestions: Serve at 55° F in a brandy snifter with a light entreé salad of seared sea scallops, grilled figs, Stilton cheese and watercress. Deglaze the pan that the scallops were seared in with barleywine and butter. Drizzle sauce over the salad and add touch of olive oil, sea salt and pepper.

English-Style Barleywine
(5 gallons, extract with grains)
OG = 1.104 to 1.106  FG = 1.025 to 1.026  SRM = 28  IBU = 59  ABV = 10.1%

Ingredients
14 oz. British crystal malt
  (55° Lovibond)
6 oz. torrified wheat
2 oz. British chocolate malt
12 lb. Muntons extra-light dry
  malt extract
8 AAUs Northdown (1 oz. of 8%
  alpha acid) (bittering)
9 AAUs Fuggles (2 oz. of 4.5%
  alpha acid) (bittering)
5 AAU East Kent Goldings (1 oz. of 5%   
  alpha acid) (flavor)
1 tsp. Irish moss for 15 minutes
2.5 AAUs East Kent Goldings (0.50 oz.   
  of 5% alpha acid) (aroma)
2.25 AAUs Fuggles (0.50 oz. of 4.5%   
  alpha acid) (aroma)
London Ale (Wyeast 1028) or   
  California Ale V (White Labs   
  WLP151)
1-1/4 cup Muntons extra-light dried   
  malt extract (DME) for priming

Step by Step

Bring 1 gallon of water to 155° F, add crushed grain and hold for 30 minutes at 150° F. Strain the grain into the brewpot and sparge with 1/2 gallon of 168° F water. Add the dried malt extract and bittering hops. Bring the total volume in the brewpot to 4 gallons. Boil for 45 minutes, then add the flavor hops and Irish moss. Boil for 14 minutes, then add the aroma hops. Boil for one minute, then remove the pot from the stove. Cool the wort for 15 to 25 minutes in an ice bath or chill with a wort chiller.

Strain into the primary fermenter and add enough pre-boiled water to obtain 5-1/8 gallons. Add yeast when wort has cooled to below 80° F. Oxygenate-aerate well. Ferment at 68° F to 70° F for 7 days then rack into secondary (glass carboy). Ferment at 68° F to 70° F until target gravity has been reached and beer has cleared (approximately 6 weeks). Prime and bottle the batch. Carbonate at 70° to 72° F for 3 to 4 weeks. Store the beer at cellar temperature.

Partial-mash option: Acidify the mash water to below 7.2 pH. Mash 2.25 pounds British two-row pale malt and the specialty grains in 1 gallon of water at 151° F for 60 minutes. Sparge with 1.5 gallons of water at 5.7 pH and 168° F. Then follow the extract recipe, omitting 2.25 pounds of Muntons extra- light dry malt extract from the boil.

All-grain option: Acidify the mash water to below 7.2 pH. Mash 18.5 pounds British two-row pale malt and the specialty grains in 6.25 gallons of water at 151° F for 90 minutes. Sparge with 5.5 gallons of water at 5.7 pH and 168° F. The total boil time is approximately 120 minutes.

Add 13.5 AAUs of bittering hops for the last 90 minutes of the boil. Add the flavor hops, Irish moss and aroma hops as indicated by the extract recipe. To make this mash more manageable, you can decrease the pale malt by 5 pounds (2.3 kg.) and add 3 pounds (1.36 kg.) Muntons extra-light dry malt extract into the boil.

Helpful Hints: If your water is soft (below 50 ppm hardness) add 1/4 tsp. gypsum, 1/4 tsp. non-iodized table salt and 1 tsp. calcium carbonate (chalk). If it is moderate (between 50 to 200 ppm hardness) add 1/4 tsp. gypsum and 1/4 tsp. non-iodized table salt. If your water is hard (greater than 200 ppm) dilute it one-to-one with distilled water and add 1/4 tsp. gypsum and 1/4 tsp. non-iodized table salt.

This English barleywine is ready to drink two months after it is carbonated. It will peak between six and eighteen months and will last for up to two years at cellar temperatures. Adding another dose of yeast three days before bottling will ensure that the beer is fully fermented and will greatly improve carbonation.

Doppelbock
 OG = 1.072 FG = 1.011 to 1.020
 IBUs = 20 to 35  SRM = 4 to 10
 ABV = 6 to 7.5%

Doppelbock was first developed and brewed in 1780 in Munich, Germany by the brothers of St. Francis of Paula (the Paulaner monks of Munich). They named it after the Savior (Salvator) who they worshiped. This malty beverage, often called “liquid bread,” was brewed for sustenance during the long Lenten season. The original, historic versions were less attenuated than today’s versions. The alcohol was lower and consequently the sweetness was higher. Many doppelbocks have the suffix “ator” in their names, imitating the original Salvator. In order to be an “-ator” the beer must have an OG greater than 1.074.

Style Guidelines

Most examples of doppelbocks are dark in color, due to the malt. There are, however, some pale examples of this style. The aroma is of intense malt with no hop aroma. Diacetyl should be low to none. Fruit aroma, described as grape, dried fruits or plums,  may be evident because of the reactions between the malt, boil and lagering. In the darker offerings, a slight roasted aroma may be evident.

The color ranges from gold to dark brown. The beer should have good clarity due to lagering. Head retention and carbonation might be impaired by high alcohol levels.  

Doppelbocks are full-bodied, rich and malty. Alcohol should be evident with a subtle, warming pleasantness and no harshness or burning (no fusel oils). There is little to no hop flavor and bitterness varies from moderate to low. The hops always allow the malt to dominate the flavor.

Hops, Malt, Adjuncts and Yeast

Continental European hops should be used throughout this beer, with the higher alpha acid varieties for bittering. In certain versions, flavor hops are put in the kettle but no aroma hops are used. Hop varieties include German Northern Brewer, German Hallertau Hersbrucker or Mittelfrüh and Tettnang. For pale versions, German pale lager malt should be the base grain. Munich and Vienna malts are used in the darker versions (this is where the color comes from), with a small fraction (1/2 to 2 ounces per five gallons) of dark-roasted malt. When doing a grain with extract version, use a German-style malt extract, such as Bierkeller or Weyermann. Use 6 ounces to 1 pound of malto-dextrin to emulate the maltiness of decoction mashing. German lager yeasts should be used, such as Munich Lager (Wyeast 2308), Bavarian Lager (Wyeast 2206), Bohemian Lager (Wyeast 2124) or Old Bavarian Lager (White Labs WLP920).

Commercial Beers to Try

The original doppelbock is Paulaner Salvator. Ayinger Celebrator, Spaten Optimator, Augustiner Maximator, Hacker-Pschorr Animator and Würzburger Hofbrau Sympator are a few other fine examples.

Serving Suggestions: Serve in a stemmed goblet or tumbler glass at 50° F with Chateaubriand and oven-roasted mushrooms and baby potatoes in a sauce made with doppelbock.

Doppelbock
(5 gallons, extract with grains)
OG = 1.083  FG = 1.022 to 1.023  
SRM = 35  IBU = 24  ABV = 7.6%

Ingredients
12 oz. German Munich malt
12 oz. Belgian caraMunich malt
8 oz. German dark crystal malt
  (65° Lovibond)
2 oz. British chocolate malt
7 lb. Bierkeller light malt
  extract syrup
3 lb. Muntons extra-light
  dry malt extract (DME)
8 oz. malto-dextrin
7.5 AAUs German Northern Brewer
  (1 oz. of 7.5% alpha acid) (bittering)
1 tsp. Irish moss
Bavarian Lager (Wyeast 2206) or     
  (White Labs WLP920)
1-1/4 cup Muntons extra-light
  dry malt extract (DME) for priming

Step by Step

Bring 1 gallon of water to 160° F, add crushed grain and hold for 30 minutes at 150° F. Strain the grain into the brewpot and sparge with one gallon of 168° F water. Add the malt extract syrup, DME, malto-dextrin and bittering hops. Bring the total volume in the brewpot to 3.5 gallons. Boil for 45 minutes, then add the Irish moss. Boil for 15 minutes, then remove the pot from the stove. Cool wort for 15 to 20 minutes in ice bath or chill with wort chiller. Strain into the primary fermenter and add enough pre-boiled water to obtain 5-1/8 gallons. Add yeast when wort has cooled to below 70° F. Oxygenate-aerate well. Start fermentation at 60° to 62° F until fermentation begins (24 hours). Bring primary fermenter to 47° to 52° F for 7 days then rack into secondary. Ferment at 47° to 52° F until target gravity has been reached and the beer has cleared (this will take roughly five weeks). Prime and bottle. Carbonate at 70° to 72° F for two to three weeks. Store at cellar temperature.

Partial-mash option: Acidify the mash water to below 7.2 pH. Mash 1 pound German two-row pilsner malt and the specialty grains in 1 gallon of water at 122° F for 25 minutes and then at 153° F for 60 minutes. Sparge with 1.5 gallons of water at 5.7 pH and 168° F. Then follow the extract recipe, omitting 1.75 pound of Muntons extra-light dry malt extract from the boil.

All-grain option: Acidify the mash water to below 7.2 pH. Mash 11 pounds German two-row pilsner malt, the specialty grains and an additional 3.25 pounds of Munich malt in 5 gallons of water at 122° F for 25 minutes and then at 153° F for 90 minutes. Sparge with 5.25 gallons of water at 5.7 pH and 168° F. The total boil time is approximately 105 minutes. Add 6 AAUs of bittering hops for the last 90 minutes of the boil. Add the Irish moss as indicated by the extract recipe.

Helpful Hints: If your water is soft (below 50 ppm) add 1/4 tsp. gypsum, 1/2 tsp. non-iodized table salt and 1.5 tsp. chalk. If your water is moderate (between 50 to 200 ppm) add 1/4 tsp. chalk. If it is hard (greater than 200 ppm) dilute it one-to-one with distilled water and add 1/4 tsp. calcium carbonate (chalk). This beer can be lagered for three to four weeks. Begin lagering at 45° F and slowly decrease the temperature to 34° F over a period of two weeks. This doppelbock will peak between five and nine months after it is carbonated and will last at cellar temperatures for one year.  


Tess and Mark Szamatulski are the authors of “Clonebrews” (Storey Publishing, 1998) and “Beer Captured” (Maltose Press, 2000).