Hey All! I'm brewing up a batch of Chocolate Porter (home recipe!) with the intentions of putting 5 liters into a 5-liter oak barrel, and giving it to my Dad for Fathers Day. Problem is... I have no idea what I'm doing. So I have a few questions... Do I prime the beer with sugar when I cask it? - or - Do I just fill the cask straight from the carboy without priming with sugar? If I don't prime it... after we're ready to bottle, do we prime it then? Or... for a general, overall question... HOW DOES THIS ALL WORK?!
5 Liters of beer in that small of a cask is going to get over oaked quick. If you are going to bottle it I would leave it un-carbed. Let it go in for a few days tops, then get it out and bottle it. Honestly, it sounds like a great idea as a gift, but the extra work seems like too much for it to be worth it. I would get a bottle of bourbon to put in the cask, and brew a whole batch of the porter for dad. Give him both and tell him to mix the bourbon from the cask into his porter in the glass.
The timing seems to be perfect... because by the time it gets into the cask, it'll 2-3... maybe 4 days to Fathers day. ..and its Fathers day, man! A lil extra work and money won't hurt to make Dad feel important. I'm not necessarily going for a bourbon/oak thing, too.... just oak.
Also--- if it sits in the cask for only a couple of days, when I bottle it, do I prime it then? Or should it stay un-primed the whole way through?
I think the question here is whether the cask is to be an aging vessel or a maturation vessel. If it's the former - and you're going to transfer it out and bottle it - don't prime into the cask. Prime at bottling. If it's the latter - and you're going to serve it live from the cask - prime the cask.
I REALLY would like to serve it live from the cask... that'd be the best thing for the party. To show up and give my Dad a cask of his boys 'brew, and THEN to say "it gets better... cause we can drink it RIGHT NOW" would be the best. How long do you think it'd have to prime in the cask?
If the cask is pretty well sealed up and not dried out, you could rack the beer into there, prime it with sugar, and then serve from it if you have a spout on it, or need to hammer it like a firkin. Speaking of which, look up firkins. Might give you some insight on what to do, and how much to prime. I'd use a calculator on there and be weary of your volume. You'd end up wanting to ideally carbonate it less than normal, keep it sealed up, warm for the yeast to prime, and then chill it slightly before serving it. You won't have it cold, but cellar temp, and then serve it. It could get foamy though, with all the nucleation points inside being wood and all. In all honesty, serving from the wooden vessel might not be the easiest or most enjoyable. Where did you get the cask from?
I think my old man would appreciate the "nostalgia" of serving right from the cask. I think we all know it might not exactly go as planned. I'm getting the barrel from OakBarrelsLtd.com
Well.. then look up a priming calculator and give it a shot. I'd guess at roughly 1/3 the amount of sugar would be needed. Give it a couple of days at room temp in the cask with the priming sugar, and then maybe chill it a bit. Carrying it around and working up all the trub that will be in there will be something you'll have to work out or accept.
