Newbie Going All In!

[gammaray13]

Hello all! I purchased a 59 gallon used white wine barrel with the intensions of filling it 5-10 gallons at a time. My thought is to displace the oxygen with co2 between batches. Is this even necessary? Is this a good idea, bad idea? Anyone with experience and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[flars]

How will you cool the beer to serving temperature?

 

[dozer5454]

Agreed. Even if you end up with 55 gallons that is either going to be a ton of bottling or 11 kegs of the same beer. It may be a beer you really like, but is it worth it to you to have that many gallons lying around? Are you looking to build a nano brewery? If so you may want to get your flagship beer perfected and do one huge batch. With even multiple batches your dealing with temp fluctuation, additional yeast, and consistent starting gravities across the board. I commend the "go big or go home" attitude but I think you may have to see what the end product will be before you jump into such an endeavor.

 

[gammaray13]

So the barrel will be used to age the beer over approximately an 18 month period. That is definitely a lot of beer not knowing how its going to turn out. So my primary question than is will it be okay to age 5-10 gallons in that large of a barrel, given all the extra space?

 

[Homercidal]

What kind of beer is this? 18 months sound like a very large beer, which would be the only viable option for this. Even so, I'd be tempted to split this up into smaller batches and use several vessels where I could control the headspace and O2 absorption. Not only that, but you are stuck using a certain amount of oak. It might end up being too much. Using smaller vessels and adding oak chips would allow you to rack the beer off the oak when it's oaky enough.

I don't know. The thought of adding several small batches together, probably weeks apart, is a turn off to me. Even with purging with CO2 (Which would probably work just fine for the headspace, but the wood will leak some O2 though in 18 months time.)

I say find a 55 gallon primary and brew enough beer to fill it and ferment in that. Add that to the barrel one time and purge the headpsace. 18 months is a while, but not uncommon for certain very big beers. That's a lot of $$ to spend if something goes wrong. Is there a special reason you really need to go 59 gallons?

 

[gammaray13]

What kind of beer is this? 18 months sound like a very large beer, which would be the only viable option for this. Even so, I'd be tempted to split this up into smaller batches and use several vessels where I could control the headspace and O2 absorption. Not only that, but you are stuck using a certain amount of oak. It might end up being too much. Using smaller vessels and adding oak chips would allow you to rack the beer off the oak when it's oaky enough.

I don't know. The thought of adding several small batches together, probably weeks apart, is a turn off to me. Even with purging with CO2 (Which would probably work just fine for the headspace, but the wood will leak some O2 though in 18 months time.)

I say find a 55 gallon primary and brew enough beer to fill it and ferment in that. Add that to the barrel one time and purge the headpsace. 18 months is a while, but not uncommon for certain very big beers. That's a lot of $$ to spend if something goes wrong. Is there a special reason you really need to go 59 gallons?

I'm thinking a Sour Flanders Red by adding a dry yeast starter with dredges from a Hanssens Artisanaal Oude Kriek. That's where I'm getting my approximately 18 month aging period from-To allow the bugs to do their magic. Honestly I really don't want to do 59 gallons. I'm just trying to figure out a way to capture the flavor from the used wine barrel. Perhaps I could cut the barrel up into pieces? I also just ordered a 5 gallon American Oak barrel. I'm wanting to do a sour brown utilizing this barrel. Thanks for the input!

 

[Pie_Man]

I think there may be entirely too much head space for 5-10 gallons in a 59 gallon barrel.

Probably not the answer you're looking for, but I would sell that 59 gallon behemoth and buy some more appropriately sized homebrew equipment and a smaller wooden barrel. Or, go in on a large batch with other brewers, a homebrew club is good for that. That's my two cents, you do what you gotta do.

 

[cogsmithsfermentorium]

I would tend to agree with pie man. Even if you did purge the barrel with co2 to keep the oxygen out during your ageing, o2 would seep in like nobody business. temperature fluctuations make the barrel contract and expand forces the beer or booze to go in and out of the wood. That's why everyone thought you wanted to fill it all the way up. i would suggest selling the big boy or repurposing it for a wicked ass dog house. and finding a smaller one you can find them online.

lots of small batch bourbon distilleries have loads that they unload after each barrel is emptied. One of the best rules about being a bourbon is great for brewers, they can only use a barrel once. you can find them in lots of different sizes and lots of different char levels.

 

[gammaray13]

I would tend to agree with pie man. Even if you did purge the barrel with co2 to keep the oxygen out during your ageing, o2 would seep in like nobody business. temperature fluctuations make the barrel contract and expand forces the beer or booze to go in and out of the wood. That's why everyone thought you wanted to fill it all the way up. i would suggest selling the big boy or repurposing it for a wicked ass dog house. and finding a smaller one you can find them online.

lots of small batch bourbon distilleries have loads that they unload after each barrel is emptied. One of the best rules about being a bourbon is great for brewers, they can only use a barrel once. you can find them in lots of different sizes and lots of different char levels.

You know of any websites to purchase a used bourbon/wine barrel in the 5 gallon variety? I've searched eBay and amazon and have found only new. Thanks

 

[bethebrew]

You know of any websites to purchase a used bourbon/wine barrel in the 5 gallon variety? I've searched eBay and amazon and have found only new. Thanks

Here ya go. 8 gallons. I used a 100% rye whiskey fresh dumped and added stout to it. This honey and maple syrup barrel is a new thing not sure about it.

http://www.woodinvillewhiskeyco.com/barrels/

 

[gammaray13]

Here ya go. 8 gallons. Beautiful whiskey, very cool barrel has extra surface area even. Made probably THE BEST beer ever put a big stout in the 100% rye whiskey barrel. The half I added a little vanilla bean extract to was just so good. Very nice people to deal with too...

http://www.woodinvillewhiskeyco.com/barrels/

Awesome! Thanks