Bourbon Barrel decision

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MisterOJ

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I'm going to be brewing batch No. 4 this weekend. This is going to be my first "adventurous" brew - meaning not straight from a kit.

I'm going to be doing a bourbon barrel old ale. I plan on letting this age a long time - like at least six months - but here's my dilemma:

There's a small-batch distillery here that sells 5-gallon, used bourbon barrels for $100 each. I really like the idea of aging my old ale in one of these. (The bourbon they make is really good stuff, so no worries about the flavor.) But I just worry a little that doing that might be a bit over my current experience level.

I could always just go the route of buying some oak cubes, soaking them in bourbon and putting them in a carboy with the beer. That would probably be easier and simpler, but it doesn't seem nearly as "cool."

What do you guys think?
 
If cost is no concern, go for it! That's the joy of homebrewing - you get to try stuff. There's plenty of info on here for barrel aging.

If cost is a concern, see if you can get 'em down to $50 for the barrel, then go for it!
 
I would kill or die to have a five gallon bourbon barrel. Once it started leaking I would take it apart and use pieces of it jusy like oak chips we can both buy in the store.
 
Just be sure they're freshly emptied,no staves drying out & shrinking apart. Basically,it has to still be moist with a significant amount of bourbon still in it. That's the way the distillery in Cinci sold them when I worked down there.
 
I thought when they tapped a barrel for bottling they knocked a hole in it with an ax, rendering it unusable. Is that just for Rum?
 
Just be sure they're freshly emptied,no staves drying out & shrinking apart. Basically,it has to still be moist with a significant amount of bourbon still in it. That's the way the distillery in Cinci sold them when I worked down there.

This is what I worry about. I was told "they're not über fresh, but they should make fine beer barrels."

I know the guys that run the place, so if I got a barrel and it didn't work, I'm sure they'd refund my $100, BUT... I'd likely lose out on the 5 gallons of beer I brewed.

Right now, I am leaning toward just getting the oak cubes. I'm leaving for the LHBS (actually it's Rebel Brewer, but they're the closest LHBS to me) in a couple hours to pick up my order. I'll probably just pick up some oak cubes while I'm there.

If I change my mind and decide to go with the barrel, I'll only be out $3 for the cubes.

If anyone else has any words of advise, I'd love to see them. Thanks!
 
I used oak chips myself. they work faster ime. I soaked 4oz (half a small bag) in 5 jiggers of Beam's Black the entire time my dark ale recipe ws fermenting. I put the mix in a tight lidded plastic container (the kind oscar meier puts their deli meats in). It soaked up 2/3's of the bourbon in that couple of weeks.
 
Yeah, I considered chips, but since this is an old ale and I am going to be aging it for several months, I figured cubes would be best. If I was just doing a standard bourbon barrel ale that would only be in secondary a few weeks, I'd got with chips, I think.
 
Being relatively "early" in your brewing career,:mug:, I'd just go with a 2 oz. of bourbon soaked oak cubes. You can always use a barrel on your next batch!
 
Oh yeah,the chips def do the job faster. That 4oz chips/5 jiggers bourbon did their job in 8 days flat. So the cubes would be better if you want to age it on the oak longer. I took the opposite route. I oaked it faster & aged it in bottles for 9 weeks,6 days. Then it def needed 2 weeks in the fridge to get good carbonation & good head. There's a couple of pics in my gallery. But the latest one is after all the aging/fridge time.
 

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