Pelican Brewery: Stormwatcher’s Winterfest clone

Pelican Brewery: Stormwatcher’s Winterfest

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.129   FG =1.026
IBU = 31 SRM = 40 ABV = 13%

This barleywine is the winner of numerous awards, including a gold medal at the World Beer Cup in 2012. Features aromas and tastes of toasted malt, toffee, and caramel, with a warming finish.

Ingredients

15 lb. 9 oz. (7.1 kg) Golden Promise pale malt
7 lb. 7 oz. (3.4 kg) Munich malt
1 lb. 11 oz. (0.75 kg) melanoidin malt
1 lb. 15 oz. (0.88 kg) caramel malt blend (Pelican uses a blend of four different caramel malts, ranging from 15 to 120 °L — pick four that cover this range and add roughly 0.5 lb./0.23 kg of each)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) torrified wheat
6.0 AAU Magnum hops (60 min.) (0.50 oz./14 g of 12% alpha acids)
5.6 AAU Golding hops (30 min.) (1.4 oz./40 g of 4% alpha acids)
2.6 oz. (75 g) Hersbrucker hops (whirlpool)
0.88 oz. (25 g) Golding hops (whirlpool)
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) or White Labs WLP002 (English Ale) yeast
3/4 cup (150 g) dextrose (if priming)

Step by Step

Mash the grains at 138 °F (59 °C) for 90 minutes with a liquor-to-grist ratio of 2.4-to-1. Mash out, vorlauf, and then sparge at 170 °F (77 °C) to collect wort until run-off extract is about SG 1.040 (10 °Plato). Below that and you are adding too much water (which you are going to have to boil away). Typical boil times for Stormwatcher’s are 4 hours, with an overall evaporation rate of about 35%. Add hops at times indicated. Chill, aerate, and pitch yeast at a rate of about 50–60 million cells per milliliter. Ferment at 65–66 °F (18–19 °C) until complete (at 80% apparent attenuation). Remove finishing beer from yeast after first week to ward off autolysis. When finished, carbonate to 2.5 volumes of CO2. This beer should continue to mature and evolve for months and years.

Partial mash option:

Substitute the Golden Promise malt, Munich malt, and terrified wheat in the all-grain recipe with 8.5 lbs. (3.9 kg) Coopers light dried malt extract and 5 lbs. (2.3 kg) Briess liquid Munich malt extract. Place crushed grains in a large steeping bag and steep at 148 °F (64 °C) for 45 minutes in 5 qts. (4.7 L) of liquid. Rinse grains with 5 qts. (4.7 L) of water at 170 °F (77 °C). Add water to the “grain tea” to make 6 gallons (23 L). Stir in malt extracts and bring to a boil for 60 minutes. Follow the remaining portion of the all-grain recipe.