Lots of Crap Happenning

The Barleywine is fermenting away over in the corner.  If it ends up how I planned (which almost never happens) it should end up around 10% ABV...in like 6 weeks.  After that, its going to sit in a secondary vessel for a few months before I bottle.  I'm still trying to figure out why this is recommended, but everyone I talk to and/or read says its important.  It will sit in bottles for at least 10 months before I give it a try...if I can remain patient.  Recipe:

2.35Lbs 2-Row
1.15Lbs Maris Otter
0.1Lbs Crystal 40
0.1Lbs Crystal 60
0.1Lbs Crystal 20
0.02Lbs Crystal 120
0.02Lbs Special B
0.05Lbs Table Sugar

0.4oz Centennial @ 70
0.2oz Cascade @ 60
0.4oz Citra @ 20
0.2oz Cascade @ 10
0.2oz Centennial @ 10
0.2oz Centennial @ 0

I'm going to dry hop after 7 days with 0.2oz each of Citra and Centennial, and leave them in for 14 days more before transferring it to the secondary.  It should be a strong, hoppy, sipping barleywine without too much sweetness.

The second Robust Porter experiment is in bottles now, and should be ready in two weeks.  It ended up at about 1.018 SG, putting the beer at just about 6% ABV...which is perfect.  The American yeast and warmer fermentation temps seemed to have helped a lot.  I thought it would end up at 1.014, but 1.018 is acceptable, but I can get it lower if I lower the mashing temps, which I don't want to do because I like the mouthfeel the higher mash temps provide.

The Wheat tastes just like the batch we won in competition with, which means its not American at all.  The next batch, brewing this weekend, will have no spices (the original has coriander) and American yeast as opposed to the Hef yeast in the original.