Reusing a whisky barrel

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Yeahman99

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I just got a 5gal oak barrel from Balcones that had single malt whisky in it. I already put a RIS in there to age. My question is how do I get 2, 3, 4, etc beers to age in there without souring them? I brew once a week so I would always have something to immediately put in the barrel once I empty it.
 
Googled it,
1) sulfur strip
2) Barolkleen 3 ounces per gallon hot soak for one hour, rinse well
3) sodiummetabisulfite 2 grams per liter plus citric acid one gram per liter, hot soak for 30 minutes, rinse well
4) rack the beer!
not sure what they mean by sulfur strip hopefully someone else will chime in
 
I can't imagine you could get too many batches through one barrel before to pick up something. I would just keep refilling it once you empty it and not let it sit for too long. Once a batch goes south, start making sours. (warning, no barrel experience here).
 
As long as you are diligent with your sanitation between batches you should be able to age many beers in it although the oak character will decline to the point it adds nothing to the beer.

I would be careful with that sulfur strip and a barrel with a lot of whiskey character.
 
I just got a 5gal oak barrel from Balcones that had single malt whisky in it. I already put a RIS in there to age. My question is how do I get 2, 3, 4, etc beers to age in there without souring them? I brew once a week so I would always have something to immediately put in the barrel once I empty it.

Don't leave the RIS in there too long, it could get too oakey.

Why would the barrel get sour bugs? You don't get them in your normal beers. Alcohol + hops keeps bugs at bay.
 
Don't leave the RIS in there too long, it could get too oakey.

Why would the barrel get sour bugs? You don't get them in your normal beers. Alcohol + hops keeps bugs at bay.

You can get anything in the barrel.. It's no different than your carboy.

Try brewing and not ever wash your carboys/buckets out, just empty and re fill..

A barrel has pores and breathes a bit, some of the "barrel age" taste is slow oxidization as well.

You can catch stuff pretty easy in a barrel if you aren't careful, and once you do, it's still good.... Start brewing sours and whatnot and go with it.
 
You can get anything in the barrel.. It's no different than your carboy.

Try brewing and not ever wash your carboys/buckets out, just empty and re fill..

A barrel has pores and breathes a bit, some of the "barrel age" taste is slow oxidization as well.

You can catch stuff pretty easy in a barrel if you aren't careful, and once you do, it's still good.... Start brewing sours and whatnot and go with it.

I don't think my question was aimed at you. But .....

I assume he would at least run sanitizer thru it between batches ..."no different than your carboy" to use your words.
 
I don't think my question was aimed at you. But .....

I assume he would at least run sanitizer thru it between batches ..."no different than your carboy" to use your words.

Your "question" seemed a bit lost. Have you used a barrel before?

There are pores in the wood. They will harbor wild bugs if you aren't careful, and can happen to even large breweries that are careful even.

Sanitizer won't penetrate in the pores of the wood, similar to the fact that if you have a plastic fermenter with scratches, it won't always clean it properly and you run the risk of infections.

Soaking a barrel in sanitizer isn't advised, because you'd then have a barrel wetted out with star san.

You could use sodium metabisulphite to treat the barrel after making sure it's wet and sealed, but mostly people do that for wine.

Barrels will just go sour over time, it happens.
 
Your "question" seemed a bit lost. Have you used a barrel before?

There are pores in the wood. They will harbor wild bugs if you aren't careful, and can happen to even large breweries that are careful even.

Sanitizer won't penetrate in the pores of the wood, similar to the fact that if you have a plastic fermenter with scratches, it won't always clean it properly and you run the risk of infections.

Soaking a barrel in sanitizer isn't advised, because you'd then have a barrel wetted out with star san.

You could use sodium metabisulphite to treat the barrel after making sure it's wet and sealed, but mostly people do that for wine.

Barrels will just go sour over time, it happens.

I'll concede that he can potentially get 'bugs'. But your response gave the impression that he would get an infection/bugs. Yes, he might, but with reasonable sanitation, one would expect not to have a problem. There are wineries around the world using oak barrels without infections. Yes, they occasionally get them, and they toss the barrels, but if it were a real issue, they would be out of business.
 
I have used two different rum barrels multiple times, in between batches I put a bottle of rum in and rotate on a regular basis to keep the entire inside wet. The alcohol from the rum is/should be adequate to kill any bugs. My first barrel was good for 4 batches this way, no issues with souring.

FYI, the first use of a 5 gal barrel is quite potent, more than a week or two could easily overpower the beer so sample after a week and every few days to get the right amount of flavor. The second round in the barrel may take twice as long to get the same flavors. The spirits are typically aged at fairly high concentrations then diluted after aging. The oak and spirit flavors fade with each batch, after 4 batches my first barrel was ready to become a sour barrel and I washed and soaked it multiple times with hot water until the rum flavor was diminished.
 
The RIS has been in the barrel since Thursday and I plan on sampling tonight or tomorrow. I brew weekly so I always have something ready to go into the barrel once I remove the RIS. I have heard to go lighter with each batch as well. Thoughts? I am thinking I will slosh around some cheap vodka between batches and only allow at most an hour between emtying and refilling. That will hopefully reduce the possibility of souring or bugging out.
 
I bought a 5 gallon Balcones barrel about 2 months ago from Adventures in Homebrewing. I kept it with a liter of bourbon in it for a few weeks while I got an imperial stout brewed. I swirled the bourbon around in it just about every day to keep it clean and moist. I know a guy who does a lot of beer aging in 5 gal barrels, and he recommends this method for storing empty barrels between uses.

Anyway, my stout has been in the first use barrel for 16 days now and I am botting it today. I tasted it yesterday and it already has a ton of bourbon and oak flavor.
 
I've got a Balcones barrel from the local HBS, and have aged two beers in it so far. Following similar advice I keep a liter of cheap bourbon in, and splash it around every few days. Before and after aging a beer I rinse it out with a little distilled water.

First beer was hit pretty quick with the Bourbon notes, and a bit of oak.
Second was Bourbon on the nose (very nice) and a nice background of oak flavor.
Third...we'll see

My best advice for aging is: taste, taste, taste. Once a week at least. The small volume really speeds up the effects.
 
I, too, picked up my Balcones barrel from Adventures in Homebrewing. I moved my barleywine into the secondary about a week ago and plan to put it into the barrel following some travel during the next two weeks. Between the concern of over-oaking and just plain being busy, I decided to push it off until then and ensure I will be around to taste it on a regular basis. I'm also dry hopping this barleywine, which I plan to do after pulling it out of the barrel, due to the fleeting nature of hop aromas/flavors.
 
Reviving this thread momentarily lol.

I have citric acid/sodium metabisulphite. The barrel I own is 10 gals, and was used for Rye. I'm worried, however, that filling the barrel with the citric acid, sodium metabisulphite will strip away the rye flavor, especially since I plan on storing it away for a few weeks before I brew.

Is this something I should worry about?
 
SeanGC said:
Reviving this thread momentarily lol. I have citric acid/sodium metabisulphite. The barrel I own is 10 gals, and was used for Rye. I'm worried, however, that filling the barrel with the citric acid, sodium metabisulphite will strip away the rye flavor, especially since I plan on storing it away for a few weeks before I brew. Is this something I should worry about?

Yes. Whatever you put in your barrel will eventually strip it of its character. Hence the reason most will clean and wet the barrels with something that was in it before.

If just use it and let it take its course. Get some rye and put in there to slosh around and call it good. Barrel aging in hombrew and even commercial is a risk, period.
 
If the barrel is in good condition (wet inside, staves tight) you should not need to do anything to it other than keep it hydrated. And remember, that rye was probably a good 50% alcohol, so there is very little chance of anything beer spoiling hanging around in there.

I agree, a couple bottles of the cheapest rye you can find is all you need to do. My couple of bourbon barrels have gone for over a year that way. Although I've had to add more bourbon along the way.
 

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