kcross13

Recipes 

I read that the oak mellows with aging in the bottle. Is this true cause my brew would be almost perfect right now. nice oak slight vanilla, but I dont' want that flavor to mellow when I bottle condition. Any one have any thoughts on this?

This is the first attempt with my oak barrel. It was a new barrel and has been in for two days now.

Camping57

Recipes 

Yup. The oak will tend to mellow out with aging. Most people leave it in the barrel for 1-2 weeks (or a lot more for a big stout). I know New Glarus leaves it's beer in the barrels (but those are sours) for a couple months.
Depends on what flavor you are shooting for.

kcross13

Recipes 

This is an unused barrel. I read that the first batch could be too much after one week. I did treat with barrelclean.

sfrisby

Recipes 

What is barrelclean? I am sure it's self explanatory, but is it used for a new barrel?

I was going to swirl starsan. Not long enough to absorb, just to sanitize for a couple of minutes. Then I was going to add a bottle of Makers and rotate it every 12 hours or so for a week before I add the beer.

kcross13

Recipes 

Barrelclean is used to pull excess tannins out of new barrels. The makers will probably assist you with this. I looked on line and found some good directions on care and maintenance.

http://www.beer-wine.com/node/1855

Not sure if I set up hyper link right.

I am a novice at this as well.

sfrisby

Recipes 

That link worked perfectly. Great info. Thanks!

Camping57

Recipes 

Keep tasting until you get a flavor that is a little bit more than what you are looking for and then bottle. Most folks seem to have used barrels so I understand that your situation is really different. At the end of the day the length of time is going to depend entirely on your wants and tastes so you'll have to keep tasting and make a decision. The flavor will mellow out in the bottle though, so you want it a little strong to start.

Ser182

Recipes 

Please keep us updated. I am Thinking of using a new charred barrel also. What about an uncharred barrel for aging?

kcross13

Recipes 

Beer tastes great but has become pressurized in the barrel. Want to bottle, but not sure how to release pressure.

Johnnyhitch1

Recipes 

If fermentation never stoped then you might have a problem with bottling...

As for the time in the barrel i think most go by the rule of 3-3-3
3 days for first batch
3 weeks for second
3 months for third
After that most of the flavor and spirit have been removed from the barrel

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