Well I got one of the Balcones whiskey barrels and I brewed an Eng BW for it on Saturday. Unfortunately it's a 20L barrel and if I'm extra lucky I'll get five gallons after my carboy settles down and stops spitting out beer. So I'll be short a pint or more. Since it's a new barrel I'm figuring that it won't be in there long. Since racking normally out gases some CO2 and if I purge the barrel really well, could it survive with a small head space and not get any added oxidation? All in all I think that I should brew a small batch or maybe just add some caned wort. But what's a good way to hold fermented beer to top off? I hope that this barrel with work for many batches. I guess it would be to get a small corney to have on deck with the original beer in it. Or can some of the original beer.
I have a couple of barrels and what I do it brew an extra batch and keep it next to the barrel in a carboy. That way I can top it off when it needs it. I don't want there to be any oxidation or acetic acid so I figure the more full the barrel the better. I have wondered though it you could just keep adding sterilized water, assuming only water is evaporating from the barrel.
Thanks fro the reply. I'm just probably over thinking this, which I normally do. PS, Angels don't drink water.
