King Henry Clone: Input?

Looking to clone Goose Island's King Henry, because after consuming and trading my remaining bottles away, I figured I'll never lay my taste buds on that beauty again.

Here's the LINK to GI's website, it gives you a very brief overview of the recipe, I need your knowledge and opinions to decipher it into something close-ish. I took a look at another website that had a clone listed and we damn near came up with the same recipe, which I thought was cool.

I've got this written up so far:

OG: 1.134
FG: 1.033
ABV: 13.7%
IBUs: 59.4
SRM: 25.1

22lbs Maris Otter
1lb 8oz Crystal Wheat
1lb Crystal 120
4oz Dark Chocolate
Mash @154F for 60minutes
Boil for 120 minutes - separate one gallon of first runnings and boil down into about half of its original volume - add to full boil and begin boil/time.

Pilgrim bittered to 42.5IBUs @60minutes (2oz 11.5aa)
Styrian bittered to 11.5IBUs @30minutes (1.5oz @5.4aa)
Styrian bittered to 6IBUs @10minutes (1.5oz @5.4aa)

Now obviously I'll have to adjust the hops if the AAs very greatly. This is listed for 5 gallons, but I'm doing a double batch (mash twice and boil twice, separately) in order to fill my 10 gallon conical. Also, I've got a couple 6 gallon oak barrels, one of which I plan to soak with a couple bottles of '12 Bourbon County Stout and a small amount of Buffalo Trace (I know, not Pappy 23, but it's my bourbon of choice....and affordable!). Once the barrel is filled the remainder will hit bottles where it will set and wait until it's ready to drink. I think This is looking pretty solid so far, but any insight from the more experienced brewers would be cool.

Cheers,

Kyle

 

By boiling my first runnings down I believe I get a ton more caramelization and add a lot more depth than you can't get by just layering specialty malts. It should add complexity and deep caremel notes all while helping with that insanely high gravity as well. The technical terminology refers to it as Maillard Reactions - a browning reaction caused by external heat wherein a sugar (glucose) and an amino acid form a complex, and this product has a role is various subsequent reactions that yield pigments and melanoidins. Melanoidins are basically just strong flavor compounds produced while browning the malt.

Hope this helps!

Cheers

 

You got it buddy. We'll set something up once this daunting task is complete.

 

I forgot to add, Wyeast 1968......a MONSTER of a starter over a week's time.

I am going to mash lower, probably 149 for 90 minutes now.

And the 60 IBUs was taken from Goose Island's provided info so I plan to stick there. KH didn't have a ton of hop presence to me, just enough to let you know it was there and justify the bold assertive flavors of the malt and barrel aspects.

 

I'm going with MO to make it a truer to style English Barleywine, I suppose.

 

Ya i made some adjustments and listed them above, they match pretty well with what you're saying.

I too am concerned with my SRM but I'm worried if I lower the amounts of the specialty malts it will be lacking in complexity and boldness. Perhaps I should count on the Bourbon County Stout and Buffalo Trace soaked barrel to deliver more flavor if I do drop some of the specialty malts??

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MKnhkKdMI...A4A/FNr3ClOkf_U/s1600/2012-10-09+19.24.07.jpg

I had a couple photos of my own but can't seem to find them so I copied this one from a google search. It is pretty dark, I think my initial recipe might be closer than we think unless the lighting and angle is bad and we're not seeing the true color.

 

I'm thinking I'll shoot for 64F for the beginning of fermentation and raise it 2F every 24 hours until I reach 70F so it's kicking out some fruity byproducts towards the end - I get a lot of dark fruits such as raisin and currant in KH's yeast flavor profile. I also plan to pump oxygen into it not only for initial fermentation, but twice more - after the initial 24 hours and again at 48 hours. Also, a thorough diacetyl will be needed.