Roeselare Yeast in Oak Barrel

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by Henderson1897, May 15, 2015.

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  1. Henderson1897

    Henderson1897 Initiate (0) Apr 16, 2015 Wisconsin

    Greetings, all. I'm a little new to the online version of BA, despite receiving the magazine for years. Any ways, I asked this question on a different site and wanted to get some opinions here:

    I'm going to age 15 gallons of a saison in an oak barrel in my basement. It has already gone through primary and secondary fermentation with White Labs 670. We just racked it into the barrel; we plan to add cherries (or maybe peaches?) and also Roeselare 3763 yeast for a funky finish. I suspect it will hang out in the barrel for 10-12 months?

    My question is, since the barrel will "breathe", what are your thoughts on fermenting other beers in the general vicinity? My basement isn't huge, so another carboy could be within 10-15' of the barrel. Is there risk of any Roeselare "stuff" getting airborne and disturbing other fermenting beer? Thanks in advance and cheers!
     
    #1 Henderson1897, May 15, 2015
  2. nickfl

    nickfl Initiate (0) Mar 7, 2006 Florida

    I wouldn't worry too much about it. Your basement/house/skin... everything is already full of "stuff" you don't want in your clean beers, if the roselare barrel was going to be a problem, then the ambient microbes probably already would be. Practicing good sanitation and keeping separate hoses and soft parts for your sour and clean beers should be sufficient to prevent any unwanted infections without worrying about keeping those beers in different rooms (as long as you aren't open fermenting any clean beers). Remember, nothing is getting into a carboy as long as it has an airlock on it... thats what they are for.
     
    #2 nickfl, May 15, 2015
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  3. Henderson1897

    Henderson1897 Initiate (0) Apr 16, 2015 Wisconsin

    Thanks - that's where my head was, just looking for a little added confidence.
     
    #3 Henderson1897, May 15, 2015
  4. GreenKrusty101

    GreenKrusty101 Initiate (0) Dec 4, 2008 Nevada

    No, but make sure you have some extra saison to top-off the barrel every month or so
     
    #4 GreenKrusty101, May 15, 2015
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  5. FATC1TY

    FATC1TY Pooh-Bah (2,564) Feb 12, 2012 Georgia
    Pooh-Bah

    The other beers should be fine as long as you keep your testing/sample stuff separate.

    However, the real issue is, the needing to top off the barrel with more beer after such a long time, and the fact that a 15 gallon barrel will have WAY more surface area than a traditonal larger barrel.

    You will over oak the beer by leaving it so long in a smaller barrel, depending on how used the barrel is, and how neutral the oak is.

    I'd suggest adding the roselare to your beer now, in whatever vessel you have it in.. age it for a couple months, and then add to the barrel, and taste as it goes on.
     
    #5 FATC1TY, May 16, 2015
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  6. TomTown

    TomTown Initiate (0) Feb 7, 2011 Texas

    @FATC1TY brings up a great point about over-oaking in a small barrel. If you do end up with pretty substantial oak character after only a few months, and you don't feel that the tart/funk combo is quite where you want it yet, you could always transfer your beer to another fermentor to let the bugs keep working even though the oak pick-up has been halted.

    Of course, then you would want to get more beer into the barrel pretty quickly!
     
    #6 TomTown, May 16, 2015
  7. Henderson1897

    Henderson1897 Initiate (0) Apr 16, 2015 Wisconsin

    Great point, guys. You are right about the surface area ratio on a smaller barrel. The barrel was used once for a rye whiskey before I bought it. This is the third (and last batch) for my use with this barrel. The first was an imperial stout @ 13.8% ABV. That stayed in the barrel for about 10 months and was indeed pretty oaked - but the beer held up to it nicely. The second use was a red rye PA @ 7.8%, dry hopped in a glass carboy and then transferred to the barrel for about 3.5 months. Just tried it yesterday and it's great.

    So I was hoping that after those first two, the risk of over oaking was reduced, but I should still be careful. I want more funk than oak on this one, so I like the idea of keeping it in for a few months and then letting it finish in a carboy for the bugs. Thanks a lot, guys. Great feedback.
     
    #7 Henderson1897, May 17, 2015
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