We are following an American barleywine recipe that calls for dry hopping with 1 oz Cascade 2weeks prior to bottling. This raised some questions to me.
Does the hop aroma produced by dry hopping hold up over the long bottle conditioning times of a barleywine?
If so, would it be better to dry hop heavier, say 2 oz, if we plan on cellaring it for at least the next 9 months?
“better” would be left up to your tastes. if you feel 2oz might hold up better than 1, go for it. or you could split it & try both ways for a personal comparison.
Rather than bottling and cellaring, you could age it in a carboy or keg for nine months, then dryhop, add fresh yeast, and bottle. You’ll get both the mellowing and the nice, fresh hop aroma doing it this way.
[quote=“Shadetree”]Rather than bottling and cellaring, you could age it in a carboy or keg for nine months, then dryhop, add fresh yeast, and bottle. You’ll get both the mellowing and the nice, fresh hop aroma doing it this way.[/quote]this might be the way I’m gonna go with my latest BW. perhaps with some medium toast oak chips.
The hop aroma will fade over time, but that’s part of the fun of barleywine for me. I enjoy the way the flavors change as the beer ages.
Excellent ideas. I think we’ll go with 2 oz (my co-brewers really like the hop aroma), bottle, and then sample it every few months to taste how it matures.
I’m tempted by the idea of a little oak (1-2 oz) in barleywine. I had excellent results with a 1 oz of toasted oak chips in an IPA. It gave it a subtle flavor at the finish that moved to the front as the dry hopped aromas receded with age. A barleywine should be all about maturity and complexity with age.
