So I have this 15 gallon barrel...

And want to brew a sour. I've been reading as much as I can, but would appreciate any/all additional guidance. I have a few commercial sours, as well as two homebrew sours that I was just given, my basic plan is to use the dregs from both of these, mixed with some roselare. What are your thoughts on using the barrel as the primary (only) fermenter? I have read that lambics are typically aged on the yeast cake, but at this point am unsure. Basically, I want to start a sour project and hopefully turn it into a miniature solera, but am unsure how to start/what recipe to use for my first try. Help point a sour newbie in the right direction?

Edit:I realize that I am asking for a lot of hand holding, links to other resources etc would be much appreciated, if you don't want to type out a response

is this a fresh or used barrel?

Used. It has very little oak or whiskey character left. Will work well for the sour, my problems are deciding on what to do before the sour enters the barrel...

IMO, even a little bit of oak/whiskey is too much for a Lambic-esque beer, if youre going to go for a Brown or a Red then it may be able to handle it. What "style" are you going for? Or what character?

These 15g barrels, of which I have 2, are more o2 permeable then the larger varieties (well more surface to volume resulting in more o2 exposure). I'd advise waxing the barrel to minimize to o2 exposure for the long haul, here is a good tutorial on doing that.

http://www.funkfactorygeuzeria.com/2012/02/paraffin-waxing-barrel.html

I have been looking at waxing this barrel and will likely do so. I have not seen any potential downsides to waxing it, do they exist? It was used to age two beers already, so I believe that almost all of the oak/spirits flavor is gone. I also do not currently have room to have 15 gal souring in primary, which is why lambic appealed to me, as it could go directly from mash tun into barrel. Really, I do not care what type of sour this is, as I haven't had a sour I haven't liked, it's just a type of beer I've never brewed so am somewhat in the dark. Would it be possible to brew three different 5 gal brews, two weeks apart, and add each to the barrel after primary fermentation in a carboy is complete? I worry that there would be way too much head space and the first five gallons would become highly oxidized waiting 2-4 weeks for the barrel to be filled.

I don't know of any downsides of waxing the barrel, if you're concerned that you're not getting enough o2 exposure, for some reason, after you wax then you can just out a foam stopped in or something.

When you say mash tun to barrel you mean boil kettle to barrel right? Just go for a Lambic type beer, 60/40 Pils wheat, mashed high, low alpha hops, boil 90 and pitch a bug/lambic blend.

I'm assuming you don't have the capability to brew 15 gallons at once, you could brew 3 separate 5 gallon batches into 3 Carboys then rack them all into the barrel. Or just do a marathon brewday and do all 3x 5 gallon batches on one day and all the wort goes into the barrel and primary right in the barrel. To cut down on time just do no chill and pour boiling wort into the barrel and pitch after it all cools.

I would go with the marathon brewday.

Thedutchtouch said:

Would it be possible to brew three different 5 gal brews, two weeks apart, and add each to the barrel after primary fermentation in a carboy is complete? I worry that there would be way too much head space and the first five gallons would become highly oxidized waiting 2-4 weeks for the barrel to be filled.

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This is a good plan. Brew 3 5 gallon batches and let them finish primary. If 1 or 2 have to sit an extra week you aren't going to hurt a thing. When they're all done via gravity readings, rack all 3 into the barrel. Pitch your bugs into the barrel when doing this.

One option to do with a barrel like this is a solera. The latest BYO has a great article from our own Oldsock (Michael T) on doing a solera just like this, it is also on his webpage (madfermentationalist.com). Let the whole 15 go for a year, pull 5 gal next year and replace with 5 gal of fresh wort. Keep it going for a while, see what happens.

Coff said:

I don't know of any downsides of waxing the barrel, if you're concerned that you're not getting enough o2 exposure, for some reason, after you wax then you can just out a foam stopped in or something.

When you say mash tun to barrel you mean boil kettle to barrel right? Just go for a Lambic type beer, 60/40 Pils wheat, mashed high, low alpha hops, boil 90 and pitch a bug/lambic blend.

I'm assuming you don't have the capability to brew 15 gallons at once, you could brew 3 separate 5 gallon batches into 3 Carboys then rack them all into the barrel. Or just do a marathon brewday and do all 3x 5 gallon batches on one day and all the wort goes into the barrel and primary right in the barrel. To cut down on time just do no chill and pour boiling wort into the barrel and pitch after it all cools.

I would go with the marathon brewday.

Click to expand...

I'm planning a 4 day weekend marathon brew later this year to fill up my four 15 (actually 17) gal fermenters so I can rack into a wine barrel by myself.