I'm looking to do my first barrel aged beer and I'd love to do a bourbon barrel aged beer, but I'm having difficult locating one. I do have the opportunity to get either a Rum barrel, Brandy barrel, or Concord Brandy barrel though. Any advice among those options? Here are a few types of beers I was thinking of that could go in them but if you have any other suggestions I'd appreciate it. Rum Imperial Porter (coffee, vanilla, or coconut seem appropriate) RIS Something with pineapple? Brandy Barleywine RIS Wee Heavy/Scotch Brandy driven cocktails often have a citrus component (Grapefruit, Lemon or Orange), any citrusy beers that might work? Never had a barrel aged IPA before but maybe a trippel with Citra or Nelson hops might work. There's often something that creams brandy cocktails (i.e. eggs or creamy liqueur) though so that might not work. Concord Brandy Belgian Strong Pale or Strong Dark Ale Trippel Barleywine
I am also looking for a barrel. It seems like the 50 gal ones are really cheap, but I'm looking to do a 10gal batch for sours. Anyone know where I can find a cheaper barrel for the homebrew scale?
I just received two 6 gallon fresh oak whiskey barrels that I ordered through a homebrew club here in Omaha, NE (at $60 a pop). They're from Balcones Distillery in Texas. You might be able to contact them and see if you can snatch up a few of their barrels. I brewed a monster of an Imperial Stout back in November, fermented it out completely, and threw it into secondary on top of vanilla beans for WAAAAY too long. I never got around to racking it off of the vanilla beans so it became almost too much vanilla flavor to even stand - I racked it into my fresh Balcones Blue Corn Whiskey barrel 10 days ago and it has already started to round out and is taking on some characteristics of some of my favorite barrel aged beers. I figure another week or two and it will be real nice. Also, I just snatched up a 15L french oak wine barrel today for $30 from a local hotspot for wine enthusiasts. It was a barrel that housed beaujolais which I was told is a young grape fresh barreled wine. I'd recommend finding all the little wine hotspots in your area and asking them about something like that if you like wine barrel aged brews.
Other than that.....why hesitate to get the other barrels? Grab them while you have the chance and set them aside if you're not going to use them right away - keep them moist as often as you can so as not to let the wood dry and shrink and create gaps between the staves. All of your brew to barrel match ups sound completely reasonable....stop asking our opinion and have fun with it! Cheers!
