Barrel Aging

I was considering barrel aging a beer, but I can't seem to find an answer to one simple question that seems pretty important.

If the barrels are 8 gallons, do I want to brew 8 gallons of beer to fit in the barrel versus a traditional 5 gallon batch?

When I barrel age I make sure that there is enough beer after racking from primary into the barrel so there is minimal air space. I also purge the barrel with co2.

If your barrel is 8 gallons you would want 7.5 or better available to rack into your barrel.

This is just how I do it, others may do differently.

How do you clean or prep the barrel for aging? Any special way to clean the inside?

cmdrico7812 said:

How do you clean or prep the barrel for aging? Any special way to clean the inside?

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I use this process exclusively to keep my barrel in good shape.

http://www.ehow.com/how_7722446_sanitize-oak-barrels.html

The barrel I'm getting is quite old and has probably not been stored properly (a long story, but that's where I'm at). Any advice on reviving an old barrel?

cmdrico7812 said:

The barrel I'm getting is quite old and has probably not been stored properly (a long story, but that's where I'm at). Any advice on reviving an old barrel?

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It is dried out I'm assuming.

I make sure the bands are on secure and then put the barrel in a bathtub. I fill the barrel with water and depending on how bad it leaks I fill the tub as well. In a day or so the staves should be swelled and seal up the barrel. Sometimes some persuasion with a rubber mallet will help align the leaky areas. Once sealed up I soak a couple days longer so be sure the barrel heads are tight, recheck the bands and drain. Occasionally I will add a liter of whiskey to my barrel for a few days to a week to bring back that flavor it had when new.

Morebeer I believe has as article on barrel care. Proxycarb works pretty well to clean barrels (similar to oxiclean) but the wood needs to be re-acidified afterward. You can do that with a weak citric acid solution. With wine barrels we use sulphur when they are empty to prevent microbial growth. The downside to proxycarb is it tends to strip the oak character...but that is pretty much gone after 3 seasons of use anyway (the barrel becomes neutral), so if you are using an older barrel that doesn't matter.

The Hungarian oak barrels are very nice, come in a variety of sizes, and are very reasonably priced.

cmdrico7812 said:

The barrel I'm getting is quite old and has probably not been stored properly (a long story, but that's where I'm at). Any advice on reviving an old barrel?

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Am also wondering this! In a similar situation......

vscout said:

Am also wondering this! In a similar situation......

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I posted what I do a couple posts up, worked great on 2 of my barrels