Oak Barrel

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DaksBrew

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I recently bought an 5 gal oak barrel originally for looks more than anything. I've brewed around 10 times and am starting to really get the hang of things. but I do not know if I could use the oak barrel for the beer?

Can I use the oak barrel to "Cask" the beer? If so, how?
 
Depends on what you want to do. Are you planning on age-conditioning your beer in it -- then sure. The key is going to be sanitizing the thing. Probably the easiest approach will be to fill it with 5 gallons of boiling water. I would absolutely not use any chemicals to sanitize or clean.
 
You do know there are lots of folks on this forum that are jealous of you right now.

Use it! Clean it with Starsan (that will also check for leaks), brew a beer, and rack to barrel for secondary for a month.
 
Go big or go home with this. Brew a big barley wine or something that is going to need some serious time to mellow. Oak usually takes some time to help a brew.
 
just kegged an ipa from my oak cask today. put the beer in it, age it anywhere from 6 weeks to a year (depends on the beer), and bottle or keg as usual. make sure the beer you cask is very strong-flavored; otherwise the oak or remaining whiskey flavor will overwhelm it. next in the cask? speaking of bugs: flanders red :D
 
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