Aging in my new barrel

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kcross13

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I read that the oak mellows with aging in the bottle. Is this true cause my brew would be almost perfect right now. nice oak slight vanilla, but I dont' want that flavor to mellow when I bottle condition. Any one have any thoughts on this?

This is the first attempt with my oak barrel. It was a new barrel and has been in for two days now.
 
Yup. The oak will tend to mellow out with aging. Most people leave it in the barrel for 1-2 weeks (or a lot more for a big stout). I know New Glarus leaves it's beer in the barrels (but those are sours) for a couple months.
Depends on what flavor you are shooting for.
 
This is an unused barrel. I read that the first batch could be too much after one week. I did treat with barrelclean.
 
What is barrelclean? I am sure it's self explanatory, but is it used for a new barrel?

I was going to swirl starsan. Not long enough to absorb, just to sanitize for a couple of minutes. Then I was going to add a bottle of Makers and rotate it every 12 hours or so for a week before I add the beer.
 
Barrelclean is used to pull excess tannins out of new barrels. The makers will probably assist you with this. I looked on line and found some good directions on care and maintenance.

http://www.beer-wine.com/node/1855

Not sure if I set up hyper link right.

I am a novice at this as well.
 
Keep tasting until you get a flavor that is a little bit more than what you are looking for and then bottle. Most folks seem to have used barrels so I understand that your situation is really different. At the end of the day the length of time is going to depend entirely on your wants and tastes so you'll have to keep tasting and make a decision. The flavor will mellow out in the bottle though, so you want it a little strong to start.
 
Please keep us updated. I am Thinking of using a new charred barrel also. What about an uncharred barrel for aging?
 
Beer tastes great but has become pressurized in the barrel. Want to bottle, but not sure how to release pressure.
 
Beer tastes great but has become pressurized in the barrel. Want to bottle, but not sure how to release pressure.

If fermentation never stoped then you might have a problem with bottling...

As for the time in the barrel i think most go by the rule of 3-3-3
3 days for first batch
3 weeks for second
3 months for third
After that most of the flavor and spirit have been removed from the barrel
 
Thanks Johnny. What about using a new charred barrel for aging? Not a used whiskey barrel. Also could i use a small uncharred barrel as a growler to store my beer in the fridge? I have a one liter barrel that looks pretty slick. thnaks.
 
If fermentation never stoped then you might have a problem with bottling...

As for the time in the barrel i think most go by the rule of 3-3-3
3 days for first batch
3 weeks for second
3 months for third
After that most of the flavor and spirit have been removed from the barrel
Interesting idea. I just put a milk stout in a new-to-me used bourbon barrel. After 3 days it had a pretty strong alcoholic taste so I took it out after 4 days. Guess we'll see how long the next one takes.
 
Good taste, bottled today. Think that it was just fermentation re starting and not infection
 
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