I just found a guy selling oak bourbon barrels he claims to have picked up from Goose Island Brewery. These barrels were used by the brewery to age their beers, and originally were used at the Heaven Hills Distillery (they make Elijah Craig). What do you think is a good price to pay for a 53gal barrel? Would these be worthwhile to age my homebrew beers, or have they likely been "used up" by Goose Island?
I can't make 53gal, but I could run a few consecutive 10gal batches and combine them in the barrel. Do you have to full it completely, or would it have a similar effect with say, 20gal?
But to your point, yes you can brew and ferment out 55 gallons worth of the beer in carboys/buckets and blend them together in the barrel.
Hmm... if I have to fill the barrel all at once, that sounds like a really long day! I guess I'll pass for now. It would be sweet to age my beers the same barrels as the BCBS tho!
Get 4 other brewers to go in with you and brew 11 gallons each. Fill it after fermentation is done with everyone's beers, and put the left overs into 1 gallon jugs for topping up the Angel's Share over time. When it is done, everyone gets back 2 kegs worth.
As stated above, you could brew several 10 gallon batches at different times, let them ferment in carboys, then blend them all into the barrel after primary fermentation has ended. Do a 10 gallon batch per week for 6 weeks, and blend them a couple of weeks after primary fermentation on the last batch has ended.
As others have said, you can brew it all yourself and stagger each beer, then fill all at once... but then the next question becomes do you have the capability to package all 53 gallons of beer? Do you have room to store all that? Depending on the beer you make, can you consume it all? That is over 20 cases of beer, or nearly 11 kegs.
Also an excellent point! I have been known to consume massive quantities of beer... but 53gal would slightly exceed my bachelor party consumption! Seems the ideal way to handle this would be to work with a group.
Also relevant: http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/thoughts-on-filling-a-full-bourbon-barrel.124954/
Do a collaborative effort and hit up your local brewing club. This is an intriguing idea: I WILL do this one day!!!
