Bourbon barrel!

SkinnyShamrock · 02-19-2011, 05:42 PM

(sorry for blurriness)

The beer for my wedding. 10 gallons will be the final volume; 3 gallons went into that little bourbon barrel, the remaining 2 gallons from that carboy went into a little 2 gallon carboy. The other half of the beer is still in primary fermentation.

It's a huge imperial stout with brown sugar added at high krausen. It matches Brooklyn's Black Choc Stout in color, and nearly in body and alcohol. If anyone's interested in the recipe, I can post that up.

JoeBronco · 02-19-2011, 05:45 PM

(OK you fixed the photo)

ODaniel · 02-19-2011, 07:39 PM

Was bourbon actually aged in that barrel or is it just a small oak barrel? All the distilleries around here use the normal size ~51gal barrels. I still haven't been able to find one for under $100. Damn things are like gold now. Use to be they couldn't get rid of them.

SkinnyShamrock · 02-20-2011, 11:09 PM

No they actually aged their bourbon in it. 3 gallons, $76. They also had 7 and 15 gallon ones for sale. Tuthilltown Spirits, look them up, you can buy the barrels online. I e-mailed with a question about sanitizing the barrel (whether they had already done that) and my e-mail was forwarded to the head distiller, and he was insanely helpful. Very cool place.

And I've had their bourbon, it's effing delicious.

Daver77 · 02-20-2011, 11:16 PM

Just out of curiosity can you reuse that thing?

ODaniel · 02-21-2011, 12:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkinnyShamrock

No they actually aged their bourbon in it. 3 gallons, $76. They also had 7 and 15 gallon ones for sale. Tuthilltown Spirits, look them up, you can buy the barrels online. I e-mailed with a question about sanitizing the barrel (whether they had already done that) and my e-mail was forwarded to the head distiller, and he was insanely helpful. Very cool place.

And I've had their bourbon, it's effing delicious.

We just got that brand here. $45 for a 375ml, no thanks. I don't have that high hopes for it (the bourbon).

However, good luck with your brew.

Yes you can reuse bourbon barrels and put beer in them, however it should be a lighter style each time. If you use it a 3rd time it better be a Helles or something. I've had a bourbon barrel helles, actually pretty tasty.

**fishkid** · 02-21-2011, 01:23 PM

Wow looks great, bet that'll be mighty tasty.

As for reusing the barrel, after a couple batches of beer could you age more bourbon in the barrel to replenish the bourbony goodness in the wood?

ODaniel · 02-21-2011, 04:32 PM

If you cleaned it out and added already aged and bottled bourbon, let that sit for awhile, I supposed that may work. May not be the same though.

usmclar1 · 02-23-2011, 07:06 PM

How ARE you supposed to sanitize a barrel?

cfonnes · 02-23-2011, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by usmclar1

How ARE you supposed to sanitize a barrel?

Many people want the bugs to live in the wood, adding brett or lacto is common for barrel conditioning.