What to do with a 53 gallon bourbon barrel

Victory Brewing is selling bourbon barrels that held Dark Intrigue over the summer. Barrels will be sold for $40.

The barrels hold 53 gallons and are 2.5ft by 3ft.

I know I have seen mini barrels that can be bought for homebrewers to age stuff in, but could these be used? or is this more practical for making a table or something.

My homebrew club bought a used 60 gallon chardonnay barrel. We brewed up a Judgement Day clone (quadrupel) and stuck it in there with WLP sour blend as well as some Consecration dregs. It's been in there for about 6-8 months now and is pretty awesome, and just getting better as it ages.

The interesting part was that my 10 gallon batch was the only one of 6+ batches that went into the barrel that actually fermented out in primary before we stuck it in there. All the others had problems with fermentation stalling at 1.040+ whereas mine was something like 1.018.

I considered something like this as I am about 1.5 hours away from them, but my homebrew group doesn't really do group brews - most guys are still doing extract in small batches.

I would love to get in on one of these things but without other people its kind of pointless.

rootbrewskies said:

Victory Brewing is selling bourbon barrels that held Dark Intrigue over the summer. Barrels will be sold for $40.

The barrels hold 53 gallons and are 2.5ft by 3ft.

I know I have seen mini barrels that can be bought for homebrewers to age stuff in, but could these be used? or is this more practical for making a table or something.

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Yumm....

If these were fresh bourbon barrels, I'd snap one up in a heartbeat, brew up 40 gallons RIS with a massive lactose addition, and age it out for 6 months or so. (Hell, even if I had to do it 5 gallons at a time.)

Given that these have already been used by a brewery, I'd be concerned that there might be a lot of flavor left in them that may or may not be desirable for my plans. Also that some of the flavors that I WOULD want from an oak bourbon barrel have already been pulled out...

Still, that seems dirt cheap. Might have to do a little research on that beer and maybe take a shot at one.

I'm lined up to get one of these. We're making 50g of vanilla bourbon stout.

weirdboy said:

My homebrew club bought a used 60 gallon chardonnay barrel.

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I have a barrel about the same size that was used previously for a red wine (not sure what kind exactly). I really want to use it, but I am having a hard time deciding on how to sanitize so that it's "beer ready". How did you sanitize your barrel?

beardedbrew said:

I have a barrel about the same size that was used previously for a red wine (not sure what kind exactly). I really want to use it, but I am having a hard time deciding on how to sanitize so that it's "beer ready". How did you sanitize your barrel?

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I think I've read that a lot of people drop some high-proof liquor in there and rinse that way.

our homebrew clubs is going to brew a RIS in an apple brandy barrel I picked up locally. Our plan is to all primary, then add into this for secondary. Brew day will be shortly after the Southern NJ/PA group buy shows up!

iijakii said:

I think I've read that a lot of people drop some high-proof liquor in there and rinse that way.

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Yikes, that sounds expensive.

I would think that heat would work. Boil up 10 gallons of water in your brew kettle, get it into the barrel ASAP, losing as little heat as possible, then slap in a bung and roll it around for a few minutes. Dump the water and throw the bung back in, and it should be close enough for beer......

why not just fill it with a star san solution? it would accomplish the desired sanitation as well as keep the barrel nice and moist so the staves don't dry out and leak. that much star san would be cheap and easy!

just realized I was responding to a thread I read earlier, stupid homework distracting me from brewing. Fill it with a big giant Stout.

subliminalurge said:

Yikes, that sounds expensive.

I would think that heat would work. Boil up 10 gallons of water in your brew kettle, get it into the barrel ASAP, losing as little heat as possible, then slap in a bung and roll it around for a few minutes. Dump the water and throw the bung back in, and it should be close enough for beer......

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Don't need to fill it, LOL.

I don't know. It seems remiss to put starsan or water in a barrel that's been in contact with such greatness. Seems like you'd be washing away a lot of goodness.

runningweird said:

why not just fill it with a star san solution? it would accomplish the desired sanitation as well as keep the barrel nice and moist so the staves don't dry out and leak. that much star san would be cheap and easy!

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I was thinking that, too, but what effect would an acid sanitizer have on wood? I just don't know enough either way to actually advise someone to try it.

iijakii said:

Don't need to fill it, LOL.

I don't know. It seems remiss to put starsan or water in a barrel that's been in contact with such greatness. Seems like you'd be washing away a lot of goodness.

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I hear ya. On the other hand, how would 10 gallons of water even come close to filling a 50 gallon barrel?

I'd probably just leave it as-is and go with it, as long as it had been kept closed up. Brew up something nice and strong that could "self-sanitize" the thing.

Really, if we're talking about a whiskey barrel, that had bourbon aged in it for several years, would the interior even be a hospitable environment for nasties anymore? We might be having a "how should I wash my bar of soap" type conversation here.....

I picked up one of the Victory barrels on wed and they smell so good!! i plan on rinsing the beer out with some water then saran wrapping around the keg until i have a brew marathon weekend to fill it.

10 g boiling water rolled around and dumped after a few should sanitize just fine. I'm sure starsan would work too but I don't like the idea of leaving that sanitizer in there after it's dumped, although against that large of a volume it wouldn't matter much, huh?

We just used a Heaven Hill barrel with the above method - keep in mind tho that it hadn't been compromised and was pretty fresh. Before that, we had a Beam barrel that is on its 4th batch now. Our friends let it dry out between batch 3 and 4...don't ever let a barrel dry out or you'll be in the same boat with a near ruined charred oak barrel. But you can even rescue a barrel from the brink fairly easily with the right techniques.