Home Brewing & Barleywine

June 3, 2008 by dave.

I got into home brewing several years ago mainly because I found it hard to find commercially available Barleywine. For those who aren’t aware - Barleywine is not actually wine; it’s beer. Barleywine is a very strong, sweet ale having a pretty high gravity. The higher gravity directly results in a higher alcohol content….usually around 10% depending on the type / brand / brewing techniques.

I also like other types of beer and often tell people I enjoy beer like some people like wine. I’m a beer snob and am not afraid by any means to spend more money for a high-quality beverage of this type.

Since homebrewing basically allows for an infinite variety of ‘creations’ it’s something that gained my interest. I stopped doing it for a few years when my children were born - because life got too busy. This past weekend though I started up again.

I had all the equipment to do the brewing but had to get ingredients. We have a pretty good local home-brewer shop in my town and since this was my first brew in about 5 years I decided to get an ingredient ‘kit’. A kit basically provides all the ingredients you need to make (usually) 2 cases of a particular type of brew. I’ll venture on to assembling my own ingredients next time to match a recipe of my choice (that’s where it gets even more fun).

The kit I got was the True Brew India Pale Ale and right now it’s in the fermenter. In another 5 days or so if it’s progressed enough I’ll move it to bottling and will be able to enjoy it in another month and a half.

I think I’ll try a Barleywine soon after this moves to bottles. A Barleywine can take 6 months to condition….so it’s quite an ‘investment’. A friend referred me to www.northernbrewer.com and I think I’ll give them a try with whatever recipe I decide on. As I said, I do have a local home brew store but when you need very specific ingredients it’s often easier to buy it all on-line.

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