I was given a 12.5 oak barrel from a local brewery, if I wanted to age one of my beers in it, do I have to fill it up all the way to prevent oxidation? Can I just put 5.5 gallons into it? Does it age faster since there is so much surface area for just 5.5 gallons? If it does age faster, how long would it take to impart a medium taste of oak? Thanks in advance.
If you are brewing a sour beer, it can start to get very sour very fast with that much head space, I would guess. If you are brewing a clean beer, I would top it up and not leave just 5.5 gallons in it. Brewing twice back-to-back would get you there.
About a year or so ago there was a thread about barrel usage, etc. If this will be your first time aging in a barrel, I suggest doing some research about making sure the barrel is water tight, sanitized, etc. I recall that a post in that thread has a link to a barrel vendor's website that discussed all of these things.
Yes, fill it up, you do not want that much head space. As far as oakiness you'll have to taste as you go. The amount of oakiness depends on many factors. If the barrel was only used a couple of times, you could be talking in the days or weeks time frame. If it is well used, you could be in the months or years time frame. Only your palate can tell you what medium oakiness is for you. I have a barley wine that was oaked for only a week in a fairly new barrel, it is now 2 years in the bottle and I would still say it has more than medium oakiness.
