Oak barrels

Has anyone brewed in a oak barrel before? Is it possible?

That's how brewing was done before stainless steel tanks were used. Firestone walker ferments in barrels.

Are you asking about FERMENTING in a barrel or brewing (producing wort) in a barrel? People used to almost strictly ferment in barrels back in the day. This practice is still used widely in winemaking and a bit in brewing. Firestone walker being the most widely known as stated above.

jphebbie2 said:

Are you asking about FERMENTING in a barrel or brewing (producing wort) in a barrel? People used to almost strictly ferment in barrels back in the day. This practice is still used widely in winemaking and a bit in brewing. Firestone walker being the most widely known as stated above.

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Well how is it done? How do you Sanitize them?

mrrshotshot said:

That's how brewing was done before stainless steel tanks were used. Firestone walker ferments in barrels.

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It seems like it would be awesome to do ... What kind of beer would work I wonder?

lazarus0530 said:

Well how is it done? How do you Sanitize them?

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Fill the barrel with water and add an appropriate amount if sodium metabisulfite.

Any beer would work I imagine.

mrrshotshot said:

Fill the barrel with water and add an appropriate amount if sodium metabisulfite.

Any beer would work I imagine.

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Interesting ....

It depends on the barrels previous usage. Generally new oak isn't used on beer because of the cost and because it's too intense. Barley wines and stouts lend well to whiskey barrels dark sours, clean reds and browns to red wine barrels saisons and light Belgians to white wine barrels ect.. Big beers normally age better in barrels as well. Generally these beers are clean fermented then racked to barrels and aged. Potassium metabisulfate is added if you don't want sour beer. The sky's the limit though, I've had a juniper beer aged in gin barrels that was pretty tasty for example

jphebbie2 said:

It depends on the barrels previous usage. Generally new oak isn't used on beer because of the cost and because it's too intense. Barley wines and stouts lend well to whiskey barrels dark sours, clean reds and browns to red wine barrels saisons and light Belgians to white wine barrels ect.. Big beers normally age better in barrels as well. Generally these beers are clean fermented then racked to barrels and aged. Potassium metabisulfate is added if you don't want sour beer. The sky's the limit though, I've had a juniper beer aged in gin barrels that was pretty tasty for example

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Awesome thank you

I'm currently aging my RIS in a used whiskey barrel. I just washed it out a couple times with warm water to wash out any loose particles inside and to also check for any possible leaks.

@ brewkid

Did u add sulfites to keep it from souring?? I had a 10% abv barley wine go sour that I thought would be self sanitizing. Since them ive added them to every beer in my new whiskey barrel to protect the beer and the barrel from the nasties

jphebbie2 said:

@ brewkid

Did u add sulfites to keep it from souring?? I had a 10% abv barley wine go sour that I thought would be self sanitizing. Since them ive added them to every beer in my new whiskey barrel to protect the beer and the barrel from the nasties

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Good question

BrewKid said:

I just washed it out a couple times with warm water

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Watch the hot water usage with barrels! There's likely bacteria and "stuff" in your hot water heater that you may not want in your barrel since some things proliferate in the hot environment. I've had 2 barrels and had 2 unintentional barrel infections. They were great for sour beers, but even my non-sour strong beers (10%+) caught a bug and ended up souring. It's touchy with barrels but rewarding if done correctly. Don't expect to get more than a few batches - the first batch will be very oaky but each batch will take more and more time to achieve the level of oakiness you get initially. Using barrels is a whole new world so enjoy

jessup said:

Watch the hot water usage with barrels! There's likely bacteria and "stuff" in your hot water heater that you may not want in your barrel since some things proliferate in the hot environment. I've had 2 barrels and had 2 unintentional barrel infections. They were great for sour beers, but even my non-sour strong beers (10%+) caught a bug and ended up souring. It's touchy with barrels but rewarding if done correctly. Don't expect to get more than a few batches - the first batch will be very oaky but each batch will take more and more time to achieve the level of oakiness you get initially. Using barrels is a whole new world so enjoy

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Looking into finding barrels ...thank you

lazarus0530 said:

Looking into finding barrels ...thank you

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Homebrewing.org has barrels 1,2,3,5,10,20L from $60 to $160 depending on size. No idea if that is a good price as i haven't shopped around.

I'm sure there are other places but like I said, I haven't shopped around.

From all the material I have read online everything said not to use chemicals like sulfates because it will decay the charred oak on the inside of the barrel. When used hot water I constantly washed it out with fresh hot water. After that, I added my beer. But again, I posted a thread before getting my barrel and asked what I should do to properly "clean" it. Someone sent me a PDF article that talked about what the proper steps to keeping a barrel clean and what not. No where did it mention adding sulfates. My guess is the barrels you all purchased were foul to begin with. I would be very weary of the places you purchase from. Mine has no problems.