I am planning out the recipe for my barleywine multi vessel solera.
General idea is three sanke keg vessels, I fill one each year, while also taking a third out to cascade to the older vessels. The fourth year, I will pull 5 gallons from the oldest vessel, and cascade fill from the next oldest, and then refill the youngest sanke keg with the newest 5 gallons. I will be adding in oak cubes to each vessel, and possibly vanilla beans to one or more of the vessels.
I have 1056 slurry that I'll be using, starting with 5 gallons, adding another 5 shortly after, and then adding 10 gallons after that for a total of 20 gallons fermenting in the same fermenter. I'll be boiling for a while, with an intended alcohol percent at the end of around 12%. I didn't want anything too crazy, but something that would handle the long term aging well. I'm thinking getting the gravity to 1.12, and hoping to be in the range of 1.02-1.03 for my FG.
Right now for 5 gallons, my recipe is just:
25# 2-row
5# munich
1# biscuit
1# special b
Really, I have two main questions. What are your thoughts on the grain bill? I wanted to keep it fairly simple, allowing for the boil to add most of the complexity, but I also wanted just a few hints of other flavors as well.
Then, I'm wondering about the hops. Since this will be blended through the years, I expect the hops to subside considerably by the fourth year. Should I make this into more of a double IPA to try to retain as much hop balance as possible by the end? I was also thinking about dry hopping the serving soda keg when I do the annual pull and refill (not in the aging sanke keg part of the solera). Needless to say, I haven't fully decided on the hopping schedule, or even what I should shoot for IBU wise.
I'm also open to general thoughts and suggestions.
Edited by gnef, 04 March 2017 - 03:28 PM.