I've always been curious about the barrel aging process, and haven't found much about it on the subject. I have two main questions I'm wondering about. First, many beers age in bourbon barrels. Are these bourbon barrels completely empty, with only the lingering whiskey on the barrel, or is whiskey added? Second, a more general question, how do breweries transfer the beer? Nowadays, IPAs to Stouts are aged in bourbon barrels, and I would assume the brewer would want the least amount of oxygen touching the beer as possible in the process. So how do they transfer the beer? And cheers, as I sip on a BA Bigfoot!
If you follow enough people on Facebook, you start to get some sort of answer to those questions, but I am also interested to hear a full answer from within the industry. As far as the first question tho, I'm fairly certain there is no added alcohol, and the beer just absorbs the flavor from the barrel over time. IPA's aged a few months in barrels take on a different profile than Stouts aged longer. But that might also have more to do with the composition of the beer being aged. Just what I've figured out from Facebook posts.
It's a really interesting process, and drinking an BA Bigfoot made me thing about it a little. Then, I thought about a beer like Founders Doom. A BA IPA sounds nuts, but considering the reputation Founders has, I think they could pull it off.
Although I wouldn't say we're an industry leader. The brewery I work at has recently started aging beers in barrels. Bourbon barrels are the most common as it is law I believe to only use once for whiskey makers. The barrels we've received are completely empty and add some yet little alcohol to the finished beer. We have so far shown best results using a completely decarbonated version of our beer in the barrel to obtain as little off flavors as possible. There will always be a bit of oxidation from barrel aging as even the tightest barrels will still "breath". Some breweries top off the barrel every so often. For an in-depth way of moving the beer, we take decarbonated kegs of beers we think will match well with the barrels were going into via beer couplers with backflow preventers removed pushing beer from the keg to another keg coupler with backflow preventers removed and a spike taken from the organs of a disassembled keg to insert in an empty barrel and fill till it's overflowing and then we cap it with a bung. So far we've only used brandy barrels but have managed to earn a medal at the World Beer Cup.
I am no expert but here is what I have learned from BA, fbook, web, etc. barrels are empty and when freshly emptied the barrels have some of the liquor that has been absorbed into the wood. This is where the bourbon and flavors come from. I know the beer is pumped into the barrels by hoses and a steel tube, but not sure how it is removed but would assume it is somehow pumped out.
I've been curious, as I know little of the barrel aging brewing step by step process, how you barrel age a beer and not infect it. Is the barrel sanitized in some way before racking the beer into? Really curious on this.
That's a good question. Would sanitizing it kill off/dilute some of the alcohol present? I know the barrels are charred and sanitized before use, maybe they just run with it? Or maybe the yeast is already active and therefore helps prevent infection.
We've never done any extra sanitization as the barrels come with a bung already in them. As far as keeping them from spoiling them and causing infection is using a stronger beer that stands up to intense flavors or infection.
Thanks guys for the responses. It sounds incredibly interesting. And Jparker, aging a beer in brandy barrels sounds delicious. I've heard of them, but have never had the chance to try a brandy aged beer. Since I'm a little out of your vicinity, I'll keep an eye out for any brandy aged beer.
You should check out calvados, cognac, or wine aged products as well. There are lots of great barrel aged offerings and each one offers its own unique characteristics.
The beer we won with was a Belgian Dubbel, you could imagine how well that would work with a brandy barrel.
I imagine if you're careful racking the beer into the barrel, the odds of infection are pretty small. After all, the barrel is still coated on the inside with 100+ proof liquor.
I tried a brandy barrel aged Dark Lord a month ago (unfortunately it was beer #30 during a bottle share...so I didn't really 'experience' as much as I would have liked). However, I did have a brandy barrel aged barleywine a month ago too...kind of like a sweeter bourbon barrel aged taste.
