What volume is a 'barrel'?

ColoradoXJ13 · 08-21-2007, 04:25 PM

Is it 36 gallons as one would guess? One always hears about the 'barrel' capacity of a brewery, and a recipe I am trying to clone was described by the brewer on basic brewing radio as having over a pound of late hops additions per barrel, that doesn't seem like a whole lot, 16oz=1lb, so that would make about 2.2oz of late hop additions for a 5-gallon batch, which doesn't seem like 'a lot'.

wwest · 08-21-2007, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ColoradoXJ13

Is it 36 gallons as one would guess? One always hears about the 'barrel' capacity of a brewery, and a recipe I am trying to clone was described by the brewer on basic brewing radio as having over a pound of late hops additions per barrel, that doesn't seem like a whole lot, 16oz=1lb, so that would make about 2.2oz of late hop additions for a 5-gallon batch, which doesn't seem like 'a lot'.

A half-barrel keg is 15.5 gallons, so a full should be 31.

Google (Search Results)

yup.

WOP31 · 08-21-2007, 04:30 PM

31 gallons

wwest · 08-21-2007, 04:31 PM

wikipedia says 31.5:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrel_(unit)

WOP31 · 08-21-2007, 04:52 PM

Actually to be completely correct:

Quote:

Barrel -- A volume of 36 Imperial gallons (163.7 litres) which gives its name to a wooden or metal container holding that nominal volume of beer. However, the name "barrel" is often applied colloquially to other sizes of beer or cider container.

http://www.nickelinstitute.org/index.cfm/ci_id/12606.htm

So I guess it depends on where the brewery is you are talking about. If it is stateside then more than likely it is 31 gal per barrel, if they go by the old ways it is 36 imperial gallons which is 1.20095 U.S. Gallons per Imp Gallon giving you somewhere around 42 U.S. Gallons

Cheers

**Brewer3401** · 08-21-2007, 06:03 PM

42 US gallons is a barrel of oil.

Thought a barrel in the brewery is 31 US Gallons

Llarian · 08-21-2007, 06:18 PM

IIRC breweries with large systems get better hop utilization than homebrewing setups.

I can't find the article I read that said why that was the case however. So its not a direct correlation from commercial brewery to homebrew recipe. You might try to find some homebrew recipes that're similar in style to see what kinds of amounts people are using.

-D

**ajf** · 08-21-2007, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wop31

Actually to be completely correct:

imperial gallons is 1.20095 U.S. Gallons per Imp Gallon

Actually, to really be completely correct:
1 Imperial gallon is 1.25 US gallons, so 36 Imperial gallons is 45 US gallons.

Also, a pint is a pound the world round is not correct, because in England, a pint of water weighs a pound and a quarter.

-a.

WOP31 · 08-21-2007, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajf

Actually, to really be completely correct:
1 Imperial gallon is 1.25 US gallons, so 36 Imperial gallons is 45 US gallons.

Also, a pint is a pound the world round is not correct, because in England, a pint of water weighs a pound and a quarter.

-a.

Interesting, Everything I found said it was

1.20095042

I would be interested in seeing your source, But Breweries do go by the 31 gallon barrel, at least the ones i have been too.

Cheers

**kappclark** · 08-21-2007, 10:48 PM

2 barrels = 1 hogshead, I believe.

How many firkins in a kilderkin ?

How many Hogsheads in a pipe ?