[rodmanxxx]

My barley wine is sitting at .035. OG was 1.120 5 weeks ago. Lots of sediment in secondary. Temp 68. Should i wait more or do something to get it lower? Looking for .026. I would prefer to bottle instead of bulk aging. Thanks!

[klickitat jim]

You're at 70.5% apparent attenuation. What yeast? Grain bill? Mash temp?

At nearly done you could rouse the yeast and bump temp to 72° ish. Might get a few more points

[wsoublo]

Without knowing the specifics (grain bill, yeast strain, mash temp, pitch rate and dissolved oxygen amounts), I'd say you're finished, especially since it's been 5 weeks.  Have you measured a drop in FG over a few days time?  If not, I'd say you're definitely finished with that initial pitch.

1.035 from 1.120 isn't bad, it's nearly 71% attenuation, which is pretty good for such a large beer.  Consider that  the beer is around 11% alcohol, which is a toxic environment for a lot of yeast strains. 

Getting large beers to ferment low is a challenge.  Common tips are to pitch the proper amount of yeast.  This beer needed around 600 billion healthy yeast cells for a 5 gallon batch.  Also, its recommended to inject pure O2 prior to inoculating and around 12 hours after inoculation to ensure there's enough available oxygen for the yeast to synthesize sterols and fatty acids in order to build strong cell membranes.  It's also common to turn the heat up after primary fermentation has slowed down to really crank out those last few points to increase the yeast activity.

[HoosierBrew]

At nearly done you could rouse the yeast and bump temp to 72° ish. Might get a few more points

+1.  That's what I would do. If you rouse and there's no change after a week @ 72F or so, then I'd call it done. You should post your recipe as said.

[bonjour]

I am VERY satisfied with a 1.035 FG for an English BW.  IMHO it's the sweet spot.  American BW I like a bit drier.

That said the beer is done when the beer is done.  But to say where your beer is the recipe and process, mash temp, mash length, rousing routine, size of pitch (I like to use an entire yeast cake for this) all matter.

[rodmanxxx]

 Grains was 45% pils _35% maris otter _ 3% special b 180 and dark candi syrup and lyles golden syrup. Got recipe on this forum and did it a few months ago no prob. This is first time i havnt dropped to final gravity. 3 gallon batch. Belgium abbey II 1762 3 litre starter. Mashed around 152 but it was 35 degrees so had some fluctuation and had to keep adding heat. My new stir plate would have been handy for this batch. Think tomorrow i will rouse yeast and bring temp up 7 degrees or so. Thanks for idears

[erockrph]

Starter might have been a bit small. You can certainly try rousing and raising the temp a bit, but since it's 5 weeks out the yeast may have given up the ghost. Still, FG is where the yeast decides it should be, not the recipe. 1.035 is perfectly acceptable for a beer of this size. How does it taste?

[duboman]

Starter might have been a bit small. You can certainly try rousing and raising the temp a bit, but since it's 5 weeks out the yeast may have given up the ghost. Still, FG is where the yeast decides it should be, not the recipe. 1.035 is perfectly acceptable for a beer of this size. How does it taste?

This was my question, how does it taste, is it still sweet or does it taste done?

[bonjour]

Get a growler of slurry from a friendly local brew pub.  and pitch the entire growler.  The idea being a FULL working population of fresh yeast.  The variety is not as important as the size, the basic fermentation characteristics of you indended yeast are already there.  You are not pitching to grow yeast, you are adding yeast to possibly finish fermenting to your final gravity.

[rodmanxxx]

I think it tastes great. A little bitter of course but aging will take care of that. Recognize the recipe erockrph? Thanks for all the ideas. I was worried about bottle bombs more than anything else

[denny]

I think it tastes great. A little bitter of course but aging will take care of that. Recognize the recipe erockrph? Thanks for all the ideas. I was worried about bottle bombs more than anything else

Then you can do a fast ferment test to see if there are fermentables left.  No fermentables, no bottle bombs, no matter what the FG.

[erockrph]

I think it tastes great. A little bitter of course but aging will take care of that. Recognize the recipe erockrph? Thanks for all the ideas. I was worried about bottle bombs more than anything else

I do Glad it worked out for ya!

+1 to Denny's suggestion about the fast ferment test if you're worried about bottle bombs.

[fmader]

I think it tastes great. A little bitter of course but aging will take care of that. Recognize the recipe erockrph? Thanks for all the ideas. I was worried about bottle bombs more than anything else

I do Glad it worked out for ya!

+1 to Denny's suggestion about the fast ferment test if you're worried about bottle bombs.

Is this like a hybrid? a Barley-Quad-Wine?

[rodmanxxx]

Good idea on fast ferment test. I had to google that. If it aint on google it doesnt exist. There was alot of discussion on the style in original post here https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=12743.0

[erockrph]

I think it tastes great. A little bitter of course but aging will take care of that. Recognize the recipe erockrph? Thanks for all the ideas. I was worried about bottle bombs more than anything else

I do Glad it worked out for ya!

+1 to Denny's suggestion about the fast ferment test if you're worried about bottle bombs.

Is this like a hybrid? a Barley-Quad-Wine?

Bingo. When I first brewed this I was shooting for a cross between Thomas Hardy's Ale and La Trappe Dubbel, but leaning more towards the English Barleywine side. Sort of like an English BW with some of those dark Belgian flavor characteristics. It actially ended up more like right in between the two - fuller than a Quad, but not as heavy as a big English BW.

It sounds like Rodmanxxx's version may end up closer to what I was shooting for in the first place. Mine went 1.110-1.026 and drinks like a big red wine. At 1.035 it may drink more like a sherry, and that's not a bad thing.