Homebrewing Milestone- Buying my first barrel

Something I always wanted to do, but brewing 60 gallons (or even 30 for that matter) never really seemed like something I wanted to do.

My homebrew club however did obtain a honey wine barrel that Town Hall used for what we believe was an American Strong Ale. We filled it with a Belgian Blonde (Mad Fermentationist's RR Temptation clone) that 14 members each brewed 5 gallons where the extra is being used to top it off. Tsted this last night, after a little over a month, and it is nice and funky but the oak isn't coming through yet.
http://nordeastbrewersalliance.wordpress.com/group-projects-and-experiments/barrel-aging-project/

The mad fermentationist (http://www.themadfermentationist.com/search/label/Barrel Aged) has some good pointers on using barrels as well as some other resources out there.

Good luck should be fun...

 

Yup! My friends and I have done two barrels now. Both are freakin' outstanding. The lambic hasn't been bottled yet but at 2 years old it tastes incredible.

Read about our travails here:

http://renegades-of-funk-beer.blogspot.com/2011/12/update-on-barrel-projects-flanders-red.html

 

We got a 5.5gallon barrel used once by Tutillton Distillery. The barrel previously contained their 4 grain Whiskey. I have since used it twice for variations on an imperial stout recipe. Not sure how much it costed as it was a present.

Make sure you prepare the bottle correctly (sanitizing and soaking). Also, don't be afraid to taste whatever is in the barrel. I left the first stout in too long, and now the whiskey flavor is overpowering. Even though opening the stopper will allow oxygen to come in, the beer is already in a barrel that breathes so oxidation iinevtiable.

 

We, I brew with a partner, did the same as you and got a sixty gallon wine barrel. We brewed six 12 gallon batches of the same base beer, Brown Ale, and filled it all at once after they had all been fermented with a variety of yeasts, 2 Belgians and one red wine yeast, then inoculated with a mixed yeast/bacteria culture that I have been using for several years. It has been in the barrel for six months now and has developed quite the pellicle although we have topped up several times.

A few pointers, First; it took me way more beer than I thought to fill it, glad I had extra. Second; even once we had it full the first time it soaked in a ton more into the wood. The barrel had not been empty long, a few weeks, and we swelled it with boiling water prior to filling. Maybe we should have left it for days full of water but our barrel sucked up almost six gallons. Third; after it had been filled from the initial sucking in of the wood it has still evaporated much more than we would have thought. Now we are hesitant to top up for fear of disturbing the pellicle. We could fill from underneath by pushing tubing thru the pellicle but we have yet to do so. Best of luck with your project and welcome to the ancient art of barrel aging.

 

sounds like you might want to ask around the local homebrew club to borrow some bigger homebrewing equipment to save yourself a heap of time!

...or go all in! (as pictured in my profil pic) I made a 1.5bbl system from bubbasbarrels + KAB6 burners + little giant pump + dudadiesel plate chiller various triclamp fittings from glacier tanks and 1/2" silicone tubing.

 

Just filled a 60 the other month --> http://snbbrewing.blogspot.com/2012/05/sour-barrel-ale-project-update-1.html

 

Put my first two (Flander's Red and Wheatwine) in the barrels, french oak cabernet barrels (Only 15.5 gallons) about 1.5 months ago. Trying to figure out what to do with the third...