Youngs Harvest Barley Wine.

[Delta3]

I bought two of these kits the other day at £7 each (which I'm quite chuffed with).

After a reasonable search around there still seems a sparcity of information about the kit.

Ive got a kilo of soft brown sugar and half a kilo of molasses to go in it and was planning to brew short to 25l rather than the 27l (ish) to account for the other half kilo of sugar. Any advice or suggestions from anyone before I stick it on? I'm thinking of cellering it in bottles over the summer for drinking at Christmas :-)

 

[Slid]

OK, so I suggest you look long and hard at the age of the yeasts these kits came with. If they are "in date" you might use both yeast sachets, but I would be inclined to go US 05 for a dried yeast, maybe a new Gervin (Nottingham yeast) you can get from Wilko.

The brown sugar is fine, but I would suggest no more than half the molasses, even at 6 months in the bottle, treacle is a bit intrusive. This is not going to be a particularly big beer and perhaps 20L is plenty for a Barley Wine style?

I make this suggestion having done Coopers Stout and Wilko stout plus 1kg of sugar to 27L more than once. Very nice drink it is too, but not a strong beer, by the standards of a Barley Wine.

 

[GerritT]

Doesn't soft brown sugar have an anti-caking agent?

 

[Delta3]

Awesome thanks @Slid, I'll grab a pack from Wilko's on the way home, I've not checked the dates yet but better safe than sorry :-).

Ooo I've not tried that, I've been looking for two can mixes but I've not managed to find many suggestions so far aside from off the Cooper's website.

@GerritT I've no idea, I was planning on boiling the sugar before I added it to the fermenter anyway do you recon that will get rid of any additives?

 

[GerritT]

@GerritT I've no idea, I was planning on boiling the sugar before I added it to the fermenter anyway do you recon that will get rid of any additives?

No experience myself, just some basic chemical knowledge.

" Corn starch or tricalcium phosphate is added at 3 to 5% concentration to absorb moisture and to improve flow by reducing friction between sugar crystals.[2][3]Because of these anticaking agents, it cannot always be used as a substitute for granulated sugar, such as in coffee or tea."

So it probably will settle at the bottom during fermenting, but might add taste (although in a batch of 27L it could be unnoticeable.). I expect Belgian candi sugar not to have that problem.

 

[Slid]

Doesn't soft brown sugar have an anti-caking agent?

Interesting observation here, @GerriT - although I doubt it will have much impact on the outcome for a beer.

As always, I would welcome being corrected on this, but my experience of using simple sugars is that they all sort of come out the same in the end.
Having said that, I do like playing around and making Golden Syrup to put into especially Belgian beers, fantasising that this will somehow impress the chosen yeast.
Hercule Poirot was always very keen of the "syrup of the golden sugars", n'est-ce pas?

 

[Delta3]

I put this on last night, with 1.25kg brown sugar (I found a part of a bag in the back of the cupboard), 250g molasses and 0.9kg honey. Boiled all for 10mins before I added them to the fermenter. I'd read on one thread that not boiling the sugar might be contributing to the "home brew taste" in beer so thought may as well give it a go. I binned the kit yeast and used the Wilko's ale yeast too.

I'd planned on brewing to 20l but the gravity was working out at 13% ish so topped up to 23l to drop the abv to around the 10% mark. It's started fermentation this morning at around 19degrees :-).

Next time I'll give the golden syrup a try, I've not tried that before as a fermatable.

Thanks for all the help

 

[Delta3]

Ok so just poured a bottle now even though id planned to leave it for 3 months, but curiousity got the better of me.

Its been in the bottle for about two weeks and has pressurised nicely.

Wow the flavour is strong, I'm so glad I followed @Slid and put half the amount of molasses in that I was going to. The treacle flavour comes through strongly, with the hints of honey coming in after.

Its brewed to about 9.1% abv, and is quite heavy. So definitely not something I'm going to be downing. I'm looking forward to having a pint over Christmas on a cold day :-).