Barrel Aging Beers

[eagle23]

Hello all, I finally got a friend actively excited about brewing, and a few weeks back he went out and picked up a used whiskey barrel from one of the local distilleries. He wants to make a beer to age in it, but neither of us really know anything about barrel aged beers. I'm planning on picking up a few this weekend to remedy that though.

I dont think he has any real idea what he wants to put in it. When i was at the LHBS I asked them what the recommended and their suggestions were:

1) Make a higher alcohol beer, because it will help kill off any bugs in the barrel, and I think another reason I don't remember.

2) Make a darker beer like a stout because a whiskey barrel will dry out the flavor of the beer and the flavors from a darker beer like a stout will stand up to that effect

3) When making said darker beer, switch the roasted malt over to debittered roasted malts, because the the barrel will bring out the astringency of the regular roasted malts.

I thought about recommending a scotch ale, with some of the base malt subbed out for Malted Rye( since it was a rye whiskey what was in it before). Thinking that might work well the the flavors from the oak, but I'm no expert.

I know you can make just about anything and barrel age it but what i read, using a barrel a second time can be tricky if not taken care of, so I'd like to try and do it right the first time.

Any recommendations are more than helpful, Thanks in advance.

 

[porterpounder]

Hello all, I finally got a friend actively excited about brewing, and a few weeks back he went out and picked up a used whiskey barrel from one of the local distilleries. He wants to make a beer to age in it, but neither of us really know anything about barrel aged beers. I'm planning on picking up a few this weekend to remedy that though.

I dont think he has any real idea what he wants to put in it. When i was at the LHBS I asked them what the recommended and their suggestions were:

1) Make a higher alcohol beer, because it will help kill off any bugs in the barrel, and I think another reason I don't remember.


2) Make a darker beer like a stout because a whiskey barrel will dry out the flavor of the beer and the flavors from a darker beer like a stout will stand up to that effect



3) When making said darker beer, switch the roasted malt over to debittered roasted malts, because the the barrel will bring out the astringency of the regular roasted malts.


I thought about recommending a scotch ale, with some of the base malt subbed out for Malted Rye( since it was a rye whiskey what was in it before). Thinking that might work well the the flavors from the oak, but I'm no expert.


I know you can make just about anything and barrel age it but what i read, using a barrel a second time can be tricky if not taken care of, so I'd like to try and do it right the first time.

Any recommendations are more than helpful, Thanks in advance.

1) If the whiskey hasn't killed what's in there, then a beer of any strength certainly won't
2) Any kind of beer can be barrel-aged in a spirit barrel. It shouldn't dry a beer out at all as long as it isn't infected.
3) Can't see how this would happen. If you leave it on wood for too long the wood tannin complexes may lead to astringency, but with a newly dumped barrel you won't be leaving it in there for long enough to pick up lots of wood character. Depending on the size of the barrel, as little as 1-2 weeks will add a significant whiskey component to the beer.

A nice rye scotch ale sounds perfect.

 

[microbusbrewery]

Congrats on getting your first barrel. They're awesome but there are a few things you'll want to consider. To address your questions above, here are my 2 cents:

1. High ABV beers will not kill bugs, at least not all bugs. By bugs, we're usually talking bacteria, but sometimes people throw brett and other wild yeast in there too. Red wine barrels are notorious for having brett infections even though wine abv tends to average 11-12%. There are ways to ensure a sanitary barrel. Ideally you want one that is as freshly emptied as possible and that has been stored with a solid bung in place. I've always filled mine with 200F water if I had any concerns (e.g. the last bourbon barrel I got sat empty at the distillery for over a month, then at my house for another 6 weeks before being filled). If it's a fresh barrel, consider adding some of the whiskey that aged in the barrel and roll it around once a week or so until you're ready to fill it. That should keep it sanitary in the meantime. Whatever you do, don't use iodophor or starsan on a barrel, and don't ever use sulfur wicks on a spirit barrel.
2. Drying out usually refers to attenuation as in fermenting out as much sugar as possible, so I'm not quite sure where they're going with that. Most barrel aged beers I've had have been styles that are mashed higher for fuller body and more unfermentable sugars...not ones that I would consider to be dry. Darker beers tend to have bolder flavors so they're complimented by the barrel character rather than dominated. Same with imperial versions. I'd consider an imperial stout, imperial porter, wee heavy, barley wine...something along those lines.
3. I've never noticed this, but I tend to add dark malts right before the sparge rather than during the entire mash. On the contrary, I've found that the barrel rounds out flavors much faster than aging in carboys, on stainless, etc. All the barrels I've used are charred rather than toasted and I think it's the char that helps smooth out the flavors.

If you haven't already looked, shine a flashlight inside and see if the staves are smooth(ish). Some barrel manufacturers will mill grooves or honeycomb patterns into the staves. The purpose is to increase surface area and therefore extraction rates. If yours has milled features, it will extract flavors faster than a smooth barrel, so you'll want to pull samples pretty early...say at 4 weeks. If it's smooth, you can probably get away with waiting 8 weeks before pulling a sample.

Another thing I've done is wax my barrels. This is where you wax a portion of the staves and it's supposed to mimic the oxygen transfer rates of larger barrels (e.g. 55 gallon). Don't wax the heads, just the staves. Smaller barrels have thinner staves than large barrels so they're more permeable than large barrels. On my 10 gallon barrel, I waxed the top 75% of the staves. On my 15 gallon, the top 50%. It seems that it has also reduced the amount lost to angels' share. All that said, I know lots of folks that have excellent results with unwaxed barrels, so don't think that you have to do this extra step. I tend to switch to sours after doing a couple clean beers, so permeability is more of a concern when you age for longer periods.

Last thing I can think of, consider a Vinnie nail. It's more common when doing sour beers, but it works great for clean barrels as well. You put a stainless steel nail through one of the heads and it allows you to pull samples without removing the bung, reducing chances of oxidizing your beer. When you want to pull a sample, simply pull out the nail and fill your taster glass, then reinsert the nail.

Hope this helps.

 

[Dcpcooks]

A five gallon fresh barrel will impart a big flavor into your beer in a short period of time. 2-6 weeks should be more than enough for a low abv beer. I have several barrel aged beers that I prefer. A wee heavy with bourbon or rye is nice. My fav is an imperial stout.

You will get a little tanin and oak from the barrel so you need a bigger beer in my opinion. You can get two to three batches from a barrel of clean beer. The key is to empty and refill it asap. Preferable the same day you empty it. After that you will not get much of the booze flavor and may get some lacto or wild yeast after that. That's not necessarily a bad thing if that's what your expecting.

I don't worry about debittered grains nor do I see any evidence to support a barrel drying out the beer. That's possible if you have a wild yeast infection but again you will have the beer out of the barrel before you would really notice a secondary fermentation from Brett Pedio or lacto.

Keep the bung on at all times. You don't want open air access to the barrel at anytime unless filling or draining.

Don't put it in a place that's really damp or really dry. You want to keep it from drying out and shrinking.

Put a gallon or so of hot water in before you fill it with beer, roll it around to look for leaks. You need to make sure it's water tight before you fill it with beer. Warm water will help it swell faster if it has dried out.

You can make a solution of campden tablets and citric acid to keep the barrel a little cleaner a little longer. That will prevent it from drying out and will kill most bugs that may be lurking. If it's a freshly emptied barrel I would not rinse at all, you'll just rinse the spirit flavor out.

Higher abv does nothing relative to killing wild yeast. Brett literally translates to British fungus and was isolated in dark strong English stouts, porters and IPA's if I remember correctly.

Have fun with it, take the time to research a few recipes, you'll want to put a good to great beer in the barrel to justify the cost of the barrel and grain bill. Remember it may my take a few weeks longer to complete primary fermentation on a stronger beer. Your really just using the barrel for secondary fermentation and flavor from the spirit that was in it previously.

 

[RevKev]

I don't agree with anything your LHBS said.. that's my opinion and skimming lots of others don't too.

He'll make a cider don't conform! Scotch ales, stouts, porters are the classical forms of BA brews but think about it. Do what you feel it intriguing

I have also researched quite a bit a long time ago and I think it's important to clean the barrel prior to use. What you use exactly is not in my area of expertise.


Keep in mind that local distilleries start off on 5gal barrels and move up because bourbon can be sold after 6 months in a 5gal barrel and needs multiple years in a larger. Factor in the surface area of the barrel to the amount in barrel