Do brewers re-use barrels multiple times?

General rule of thumb is, one time to "barrel age" a beer. Then up to 3 times to "sour" a beer. The first use of the barrel soaks up most of the flavors associated with said barrel.

 

Yes they do reuse barrels. It's my understanding King Henry was done is used Rare barrels. Lindley Park is done in used Event Horizion barrels. I think not sure than BA Peoples Porter is done in used BASC barrels this year Buffalo Trace. These are just off the top of my head, some barrels when fresh are too hot so they are reused and blended to soften the Bourbon. I'm guessing maybe 3X max on barrel usage, but this defiantly a guess.

 

Pappy Van Winkle barrels are good forever.

 

Bourbon County BW was aged in old BCBS barrels, so yeah, it happens. I don't think this is the norm though, but interested to hear from others who may know.

 

It's my understanding that the barrel is only "supposed" to be used once. There are several examples of second use barrels producing great beer- BCBW, Williamsburg Cafe Royale, etc. But there are diminishing returns- much like making copies of copies, with every use the flavors will fade a little bit more.

 

The example I was going to cite. Says 3rd use barrels right on the label.

 

So the barrel was used once for bourbon, once for BCBS, and once for BCBBW? Wonder what's next for them, besides the fireplace. (that would smell great, wouldn;t it?)

 

unfortunately this is more proof of how advanced GI is with barrel aging relative to the rest of the craft brewing landscape.

i want to root for the ones not bought by AB, but GI's barrel aging knowledge is greater than all, even better than firestone walker, 50/50, hill farmstead, [name your favorite other BA beer maker]. add that they're such champions at making big stouts and english barleywines (BCBW tastes like j.w. lees blended with 100% BBA bruery cuir, it's phenomenal).

 

Couldn't agree more, I'm wait for someone who can match GI. To me no one even comes close. I don't even think Parabola is on the same level as BCBS

 

COAST did this with their Blackbeerd Stout. In 2012, they released their aged batch in 'first-use' Blanton barrels and then reused them for the 2013 release. I did a vertical with both at my New Year's Day party last month, which was sampled by myself and several friends. We all agreed that they tasted like 2 different beers. The first was heavy on the bourbon, while the second was a lot smoother and had more 'oak' flavor. They were both really good, but the unanimous favorite was the 2012.

 

Read this: http://www.nordeastbrewersalliance.org/group-projects-and-experiments/barrel-project/

 

Get over barrels people. Seriously

 

I use barrels multiple times before delagating them to sour duty. Subsequent uses just take longer than first use, and give up less flavor of the spirit originally aged in them. I usually get three uses before I switch over to sour beer.

 

This is not true. Maybe this is true in the sense that maybe most American beer makers only use barrels this many times for sour beers (I have no idea), but as long as the microflora resident in the barrel haven't begun to take on characteristics that you dislike, and as long as the barrel's still intact, there's no particular reason you can't reuse a barrel for sours many, many, MANY times. My understanding is that there are barrels at Cantillon and other classic lambic producers that have been there for decades.

If you want the beer to have barrel character, that's one thing, and yes, it will fade rapidly with each batch, but if you're just looking at the barrel as an incubator for microorganisms, there's no reason I know of you can't use a barrel indefinitely.

 

Barrels rule. All the best beer (at least to my palate) has had some interaction with a barrel.

 

Correct. Thats why they are 3rd use. 2nd for beer, but 3rd overall.

 

re-char & re-use.

 

A local nano just got some Jack barrels to do some things with. He plans on doing at least 2 really heavy beers to leech out the whiskey, and depending how the 2nd is, then may go to sours. But he did say he will at least have to do 2 batches in a barrel so leach out as much of the whiskey flavor as possible.