If you have the common 5 gallon setup, realize it is going to take more than twenty pounds of grain (plus water) to get into the middle range of the starting gravity. A general rule of thumb is to use around twice as much dry hopping in a barely wine as you would say, a bitter or pale ale. If dry hopping, you may want to leave out your kettle aroma addition. Late hop additions are usually held to one or two additions, added between 20 minutes and flame out and can range from anywhere between 1 and 6 ounces, depending on the aroma you want in the finished product.Р”Вry hopping is often used in barleywines, and according to Ray Daniels in Designing Great Beers, was even traditional though it seems more common in American barleywines today.

There are several online hop utilization calculators to help with hop quantity and hop utilization to gravity calculations. And itРІР‚в„ўs worth mentioning again, that if you are using extract, holding a portion of the extract in reserve until about 15 minutes before the end of the boil will increase hop utilization. This will minimize hop mass in your kettle, which will reduce the amount of wort lost to trub. Stick with high alpha hops for bittering, and pellets are recommended. A bitterness-to-starting-gravity (IBU:OG) of 0.5 to 0.6 is average, but if looking for slightly higher bitterness or youРІР‚в„ўre planning on aging the finished beer for an extended time, up it to between 0.6 and 0.8. Though, tipping the scales just slightly toward the hops still falls under this styleРІР‚в„ўs guidelines.Р”Р„ single bittering addition is normal. Generally, youРІР‚в„ўll be looking to balance the sweetness without overwhelming the malt character. Remember, English barleywine IBUs can range from 35 to 80. Also, adding all or a portion of your malt extract toward the end of the boil will help with hop utilization. You donРІР‚в„ўt need as much grain, so you can make a larger volume then might have been possible otherwise. Using malt extract makes a barleywine recipe a little more manageable. In Designing Great Beers, Ray Daniels notes that more than half of the recipes he surveyed included extract and, on average, the extract accounted for half of the total gravity. It is important to note here how often malt extract is used in conjunction with grain.

Also, stay away from higher kilned malts that might bring inappropriate roastiness into the profile. Complexity - Victory, Munich, Biscuit, Special Roast, among others can be used to bolster and broaden complexity.Р”В«ut, again, at least to my mind, if using a high-quality English base malt, coupled with long boil times, none of these additions are truly necessary.

Head Retention - Wheat and Carapils may be used to help head retention.

Flavor & Color - Darker crystal (60Р’В°L and above) may be added, at 5 to 8 percent, to give nice color, while adding elements of toast, caramel, and dried fruit flavors.

Keep any specialty additions lower than about 10 to 15 percent total. If you do venture into specialty malts, go sparingly. Buy a Barleywine Recipe Kit on Amazon Specialty Malts:

Sweet wine homebrew recipe