Are barrel aged beers flat?

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by lester619, Mar 29, 2014.

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  1. lester619

    lester619 Initiate (0) Apr 17, 2009 Wisconsin

    I was explaining how some beers are aged in bourbon barrels to a Pabst drinking buddy of mine. He responded by asking this rather perseptive question. I've never had anything barrel aged, so I'll ask the BA universe. Feel free to let me know if this is a stupid question. Cheers!
     
  2. busternuggz

    busternuggz Initiate (0) Mar 9, 2008 California

    Someone more educated than me might give a better answer, but I'm pretty sure barrel aged beers are either put it in the barrel after initial fermentation or fermented in the barrel, but it doesn't really keep its carbonation. I think they either give a second fermentation after barrel aging and before bottling, or they bottle condition them.
     
  3. aasher

    aasher Grand Pooh-Bah (4,557) Jan 27, 2010 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah

    Some are still on purpose (select lambic), others can carb in the barrel, others can be force carved after barrel aging. It just depends.
     
  4. FATC1TY

    FATC1TY Pooh-Bah (2,564) Feb 12, 2012 Georgia
    Pooh-Bah

    They are barrel aged flat, after fermentation is done. There will be some residual Co2 left from the fermentation process, something around .8-1.0 volumes, but it will be significantly less once it's pumped into the barrels. Between the movement, and the nucleation points in a barrel, the beer will be pretty close to flat. If anything, when you taste it even from the fermenter, will taste "flat".

    They will bottle condition, or force carb it in a brite tank once it's removed from the barrels and blended in some cases.
     
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  5. HighWine

    HighWine Initiate (0) Dec 11, 2010 Illinois

    This is correct. I would say that most (if not practically all) commercially available BA beers are carbonated.
     
  6. FATC1TY

    FATC1TY Pooh-Bah (2,564) Feb 12, 2012 Georgia
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    Your close with most of this, but do tell, how would they carb a beer in a barrel. A barrel isn't airtight at all. You need pressure to get the co2 into solution, so you can't carbonate a barrel in the barrel to the point where it has any real carbonation.

    Keep in mind, that most styles of BA beers are stouts, and stouts to style, will have less vols of carbonation than a typical beer would be.
     
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  7. deadonhisfeet

    deadonhisfeet Pooh-Bah (2,481) Apr 23, 2011 Kentucky
    Pooh-Bah

    In my experience, most bourbon barrel aged beers are pretty flat. Of course, there are exceptions. Sometimes the brewer will subject it to an additional fermentation, some are bottle-conditioned, and sometimes the beer gets infected(!). In any event, I never consider low or non-carbonation to be a defect when reviewing a bourbon barrel aged beer. I'd be interested in hearing how other BAs view this.
     
  8. aasher

    aasher Grand Pooh-Bah (4,557) Jan 27, 2010 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah

    I was considering wilds with that statement. Depending on how aggressive fermentation is you could definitely get carbonation.
     
  9. FATC1TY

    FATC1TY Pooh-Bah (2,564) Feb 12, 2012 Georgia
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    Agreed, read my post above. There will be some residual Co2 in solution from fermentation, but once the beer is moved or has a temp change, it will start to come out of solution. An oak barrel isn't gonna carbonate a BA beer like one would consider ample carbonation.

    Wild and sours aside, there are also other BA beers that fall into the same category.
     
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  10. Roguer

    Roguer Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,811) Mar 25, 2013 Connecticut
    Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Not a stupid question.

    From my (somewhat limited) BA experience, "flat" isn't exactly right. Is a BBA stout less carbonated than its cousin, a regular stout? Yes. Is it flat? Not in my experience. I'm sure that's some bottle forced carbonation that makes this the case, as mentioned above.

    Also not a stupid question? Why haven't you had a BA beer yet? :slight_smile:
     
  11. SFACRKnight

    SFACRKnight Grand Pooh-Bah (3,348) Jan 20, 2012 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I also don't rate a BA beer porrly for lack of carbonation. It may be on purpose, it may be due to stressed yeast unable to bottle condition, or a lack of viable yeast from aging so long. Also, cask conditioned ales are les carbonated than theirr counterparts, I throww the barrel aged beers in a similar category.
     
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  12. Pahn

    Pahn Initiate (0) Dec 2, 2009 New York

    this is exactly the answer. aged flat, whatever carbonation naturally arises in the barrel is trivial and trivially lost, then the beer is bottle conditioned (refermented with some sugar in the bottle that adds neither flavor nor an appreciable amount of alcohol) or force carbed-- unless it's served still on purpose (rarely seen outside of lambic, but sometimes, e.g. xyauyu).
     
  13. afrokaze

    afrokaze Pooh-Bah (1,962) Jun 12, 2009 Oregon
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    Really? Not even one Lost Abbey joke? Man, this place has changed.
     
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  14. CraftBeerBrotha

    CraftBeerBrotha Initiate (0) Jul 23, 2013 Georgia
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    I totally had one lined up :wink:
     
  15. honkey

    honkey Maven (1,350) Aug 28, 2010 Arizona
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    Most breweries are force carbonating their barrel aged beers. Most of us find that carbonating to a low volume is better than carbonating to the normal 2.4 volumes of co2 though. At my brewery, our barrel aged wee heavy is 1.5 volumes of co2.
     
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