Barrel aged beer question

So, I've got about another week or two until I plan on racking a barleywine out of my 5.25 gallon barrel. I plan on letting it sit in a carboy for a few more weeks to round out the bourbon notes.

My question is, will I need to add fresh yeast before I bottle it? I have kegging capabilities, but I think I'd rather bottle it and wax the caps. I am just concerned that after 4+ weeks in the bourbon barrel, and the beers high alcohol, won't leave much viable yeast.

Anybody have any suggestions?

Thanks!

Force carb in the keg and bottle from there.

Beer gun FTW

@ Irrenarzt-"FTW"? What does that stand for?

I_B_Mongo said:

@ Irrenarzt-"FTW"? What does that stand for?

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For The Win.

4+ weeks in a 5.25gal barrel? Just curious if you have sampled that beer along the way... the surface area/beer volume in that size barrel is pretty high. I would think it would be a might overpowering with the oak for that long... curious to hear about the oakiness of the barleywine

maxhavoc said:

For The Win.

4+ weeks in a 5.25gal barrel? Just curious if you have sampled that beer along the way... the surface area/beer volume in that size barrel is pretty high. I would think it would be a might overpowering with the oak for that long... curious to hear about the oakiness of the barleywine

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I sampled it this weekend (which would be about 3 weeks). The oakiness is very nice...the only thing that is a bit overpowering is the bourbon (it was a bourbon barrel from a craft distiller before). But I figured I can let it age in a carboy for a few weeks to mellow it out.

FWIW, I did a Robust Porter as the first brew in my 5 gal barrel and after 3 weeks the whiskey was kinda strong but the wood not so much. I kegged it at 3 weeks. After a month conditioning it seems the whiskey flavor has subsided a bit and now I can detect a vanilla note. Porter #2 is in there now and I intend to go ~4 weeks with it, then Porter #3 for ~5 weeks. I'm hoping that over subsequent brews the whiskey flavor will fade a bit and I'll get more of the wood.

SpanishCastleAle said:

FWIW, I did a Robust Porter as the first brew in my 5 gal barrel and after 3 weeks the whiskey was kinda strong but the wood not so much. I kegged it at 3 weeks. After a month conditioning it seems the whiskey flavor has subsided a bit and now I can detect a vanilla note. Porter #2 is in there now and I intend to go ~4 weeks with it, then Porter #3 for ~5 weeks. I'm hoping that over subsequent brews the whiskey flavor will fade a bit and I'll get more of the wood.

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@SpanishCastleAle, what did you do w/ the barrel between beers, or did you just time it so that one went in after one came out?

Timed it except for a day or so. Porter #3 is sitting in a carboy (brewed 4 weeks ago) and is poised for the barrel whenever I am. I did make a 50:50 mixture of water and scotch (only whisky on hand, Highland Park 15 no less!) and sloshed it around and then let it drain for a while before Porter #2 went in. Intend to do the same between #2 and #3. Porter #1 is absolutely delicious.

Thanks. I wish I had the organization skills to be so well planned. I'll just have to do the whiskey & water while my next brew is in primary. I plan on putting a porter in next, so it's nice to hear how well yours turned out.

I use citric acid and metsulfite solution to keep barrel moist. Mine was an unused barrel.