RIS barrel aged... bourbon or wine

I have a recipe that came out good. I think I wrote the recipe my self, and it's great.

I was thinking of aging it on a bourbon barrel or a wine barrel. I might have a connection on the bourbon barrel, and might want to buy the wine barrel for around 60$ i think.

My concern it that they are full sized barrels and I might only be brewing this on a 5gal system.


My biggest concern is how can I brew 3 batches to fill this thing. what would be the best method? also can anyone throw in any pointers to this entire en devour? I'm reading stuff, but wondered what else you guys can throw at me....

Are you stuck on the barrel idea, or are you ok with say....Oak spirals/chips soaked in some wine or bourbon....soo much easier.

If those are full size barrels it will take a lot more than 3 x 5 gallon brews to fill it. You could always do a group brew.

I undertook one of these sort of huge brewing projects as well. I brewed a huge RIS at about 12% abv 7 gal at a time. I have some friends over at a winery that set me up with a freshly dumped pinot noir barrel at a full 60 gals. Took forever to brew, and it let it age a long time, but after a couple year wait, the beer is very worth it.

Other than take your time, make a beer that is worth waiting for, and be patient. I dont know what abv your shooting for but it is going to be a huge amount of work, time, and expense.

I dont know what sort of questions you might have, but i can confirm that it is possible...

beng said:

Are you stuck on the barrel idea, or are you ok with say....Oak spirals/chips soaked in some wine or bourbon....soo much easier.

Click to expand...

thanks all!

What is the difference, ie. any one done both that can compare? I have been debating going the epic route of using actual barrel, and "cheating"with wood chips, but how long would you soak the chips? And should they be toasted

I was thinking a full barrel was keg size, not 60gal. wow. It looked smaller I guess... (thats what she said)

Btw, drinking the ris now and really getting jazzed to take this thing up a notch!

Chips and cubes aren't cheating. It is what alot of the bigger guys are using for oaking nowadays