Barrel Aging help: 10 Gal Whiskey Barrel already used for a beer

[darklion23]

Hi, I'm new to Barrel aging and just recently got a 10 gallon Wood Barrel that was used primarily to age Whiskey from a local Distillery in NYC and then used once to age an Imperial Stout at a Local Brewery. They were getting new ones so they sold their used ones. According to them they still have Oak character since they've been used once for whiskey and once for beer.

I wanted it anyway because it's a cool barrel even if it's as a decoration but as a homebrewer I want to use it for a couple of beers and eventually try a few sours if possible.

I have a main question that i cant seem to find answers to. I know I can do beers on it because that was the previous use, but can I age or ferment wine? It may be a stupid questions but i've never heard of that being done before. Feel free to educate me on the good and bad about this. If you have any feedback that may help me please give me anything and I will appreciate it.

Thanks

Andy

 

[Cape Brewing]

I'm not a wine guy at all but I'm willing to at least toss out a guess... Personally, I wouldn't ferment anything in it. I would ferment in a different vessel and then age in it. I guess you could age wine in it. I don't know why not... assuming it is still sterile (possibly a huge assumption if it wasn't properly taken care of). The only thing I would be nervous about with a barrel that size is the surface area-to-volume ratio and the fact that you're going to get much more oxygen/air leaching through the wood than you would with a regular sized (59-60 gallon) barrel.

One option, which I've considered but never tried, would be to actually "paint" part of the barrel in melted bees wax in order to seal the air completely out of it while still allowing the barrel to breath a bit. Not sure if there would be a huge downside that I'm not thinking of but it's at least something to consider.

 

[darklion23]

Thanks for the reply Cape Brewing. The barrel was recently used to age a beer right after it was drained of the whiskey it was aging, so I believe it's pretty sterile since it is pretty fresh. You bring a good point about the surface area.