Barrel ageing

Hey guys, I'm looking at getting a small wine barrel to age some beer in. I haven't decided on a recipe yet, but I'm gonna go with a porter. I've been looking through the smoke/ wood aged recipes on HBT but can't seem to find any recipes that are actually using a barrel.

My questions are;
A)Is there any additional info I need to know about ageing in a wine barrel
B) what is the process for preparing the barrel(it has already being used for wine), as in charring/soaking etc.
C) if I were to fill the barrel with, lets say a few bottles of Pinot, orange zest and cinnamon for a couple of weeks, then dry and add my beer, are these flavours likely to transfer into my beer, or am I wasting my time/money?
D) is sanitizing the barrel as straight forward as a starsan rinse?

Cheers?
Jono

Hi,

There is a good thread going on here about whiskey aging. It's not wine but might be worth a read.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/whiskey-barrel-aging-388355/

-Mike

LaFinDuMonde said:

Hi,

There is a good thread going on here about whiskey aging. It's not wine but might be worth a read.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/whiskey-barrel-aging-388355/

-Mike

Click to expand...

Thanks mate, will have a gander.

a) http://morewinemaking.com/public/pdf/wobcg.pdf
http://morewinemaking.com/public/pdf/oakinfopaper09.pdf
b) depends how recently it was dumped. you should fill it to make sure it doesnt leak at the least. see above links for more info
c) only the pinot would soak into the barrel, but if it's already been used for wine this has already been done, so kinda a waste aside from adding a lil more freshness if its an old barrel
d) do not use star-san in a barrel. see a) for info in sanitizing

dcp27 said:

a) http://morewinemaking.com/public/pdf/wobcg.pdf
http://morewinemaking.com/public/pdf/oakinfopaper09.pdf
b) depends how recently it was dumped. you should fill it to make sure it doesnt leak at the least. see above links for more info
c) only the pinot would soak into the barrel, but if it's already been used for wine this has already been done, so kinda a waste aside from adding a lil more freshness if its an old barrel
d) do not use star-san in a barrel. see a) for info in sanitizing

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated!

Cheers,
Jono