Have a Bourbon Barrel, Now to Fill It...

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by notCreative, Aug 30, 2012.

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  1. notCreative

    notCreative Initiate (0) Apr 17, 2009 Minnesota

    Happened upon a 55gal bourbon barrel, now it needs to be filled. We'll have 5 people brew 10+ gallons, and transfer from secondaries into the barrel for extended aging. For my portion, I'll need to break that into 2x 5.5gal batches due to capacity issues.

    I've compiled a couple of recipes from the internets, but wanted to float it out there for some feedback/suggestions (my first time trying to get near this OG with all-grain):

    5.5 gal (assuming 65% efficiency);
    Malt: 23#Marris Otter; 0.5#C120; 0.5#Special B; 1.107/1.025;
    Hops: 2oz CTZ (60); 5oz EKG (5); 82.5IBU;
    Boil for 180m, boil first 2 gallon runnings to ~syrup;
    Yeast: Wyeast #1028 - London Ale w/ big starter

    I've also have been entertaining the idea of adding Brett to the secondary prior to putting in barrel? Bad idea? Terrible idea?

    Thanks guys,
    -MH
     
    #1 notCreative, Aug 30, 2012
  2. koopa

    koopa Initiate (0) Apr 20, 2008 New Jersey

    Depending on how long you are aging in the barrel, realize you will lose some beer to evaporation aka "angels share" so you might actually want to brew an extra 10-15 gallons and keep it for top ups through the barrel aging process. Also realize that brett performs extremely slowly in beers over 8% alcohol.
     
    #2 koopa, Aug 30, 2012
  3. Gonzoillini

    Gonzoillini Initiate (0) Oct 15, 2008 Illinois

    If you have a freshly emptied bourbon barrel and you can get it refilled quickly, I wouldn't want to contaminate the barrel on the first round. You can get a clean English Barleywine / Strong Scotch Ale like beer out of the barrel first and then if you want to reuse said barrel and play with Brett / Bacteria you will still have one solid beer for your troubles.

    Saying this as I just got back from emptying our homebrew clubs 3 - 33 gallon barrels from our second run. First run was clean x2 RIS and Barleywine, and this second run was a soured weizenbock, brett American Brown and a harsh acetaldehyde / solventy strong scotch ale.

    If you aren't going to be able to fill this used bourbon barrel in the very near future, you should look into ideas for keeping it hydrated / clean between now and your fill day. I've never used a barrel that wasn't freshly emptied so I have no first hand advice.

    Wish you luck and Cheers!
     
    #3 Gonzoillini, Aug 30, 2012
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  4. coffygrinder

    coffygrinder Initiate (0) Nov 18, 2010 Pennsylvania

    We picked up a barrel from and filled it about a month later. We have lost about 12 gal as of today. We brewed a additional 15 gal to cover the loss. It seemed like we lost 5 gal pritty quick then it has been slow from that point. Its was filled in March and has been sitting sense that point I am guessing we will use all 15 extra by March of 2013. We might even need 20.....

    We waited a month, but we put a bottle of booze and rolled the barrel around everyday.
     
    #4 coffygrinder, Sep 6, 2012
  5. Homebrew42

    Homebrew42 Initiate (0) Dec 20, 2006 New York

    Just out of curiosity, what exactly are you trying to brew with this recipe?
     
    #5 Homebrew42, Sep 6, 2012
  6. LeeryLeprechaun

    LeeryLeprechaun Savant (1,094) Jan 30, 2011 Colorado
    Trader

    Did you rehydrate the barrel before you filled it with beer? I am wondering if you lost so much beer becuase the barrel was dry when you filled it.
     
    #6 LeeryLeprechaun, Sep 6, 2012
  7. coffygrinder

    coffygrinder Initiate (0) Nov 18, 2010 Pennsylvania

    no we rehydrated it.
     
    #7 coffygrinder, Sep 9, 2012
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