What would you make to fill a 51 gallon barrel?

We have four barrels from California that held red wine. American White Oak, medium char. Used 3-4 years or so. They have been empty for some time, so the cleaning and rinsing is going to take some time

We would be brewing on two 10 gallon systems, likely a full day of brewing to get a barrel filled.

Never fermented in a barrel, only secondary for flavor in the past.. obviously we are risking infection pretty big time adding a warm sugary wort to it, so we want the beer to be cheap (we are considering a smash recipe) and we also want it to be something that if there is a tartness or sourness that it would still work (not overly hopped)

Also, we have a big problem with temp control right now - there is nothing we have that will cool a barrel. We could store it indoors at around 70F, or it can go in the garage (much more convenient) but fluctuating temps of mid 50's to high mid 70's or even 80F.

What would you do?

Here's a barrel pic - we got four, but only one will be used for now.

Store it indoors if that's the most consistent place you have. Perhaps in a seldom-used room where you can close the heating ducts as needed to keep it as cool as you can.

As far as what to put in it...Barrel aged seems like a Porter to me, or a stout. I'm sure you could go a million ways with this though. Neither of the two aforementioned styles are "cheap" though. I'm sure someone has experience with barrel fermenting, though.

Saison. Not traditionally barrel aged, but may be tasty.

or a brown ale, then secondary on Cherrys and add some funk and try and do a supplication clone... But That's just what I would do...

I second porter...Baltic in fact if you have the temperature capabilities...eh in Austin I am guessing not.

Lambics and Flanders reds/browns

Anything SOUR!!!!!!!! Brew it for us who can't get wine barrels.

a lambic or a sour! that way they can't get infected! plus they're an awesome beer to brew

I would go the opposite. I would want high hops to help reduce infection, high gravity for the same reason, and some roasted malt to reduce oxygenation. I would go with british or earthy hops that would complement the oak. I would mash high to give a lot of body and then sneak in some sugar to raise the alcohol above 8%.

If they have been sitting empty for a while I don't know how much I would trust getting them sanitized enough to not produce 51 gallons of vinegar. Depending on how much mold growth is inside you may not be able to get it clean in a useful way without taking them apart.

You usually don't ferment in barrels because the headspace invites oxygen exposure or you're going to lose a lot of beer to blow off if you fill it full. You'll have an additional problem with the temperature swings. Most strains do not perform well at the upper or lower range of temperatures you're talking about. Those warmer temperatures will invite bacterial growth. Assuming you can get the barrels clean enough and sanitized enough to make drinkable beer the only thing that really makes sense is to either commit to long term projects, like a sour beer, or something cheap and quick to turn out where you aren't out a lot if the beer comes out unpleasant. Just because you go the sour route doesn't mean what's already in the barrel won't still be at work making unpleasant flavors. It seems silly to brew fifty gallons of beer in hopes that it will turn out drinkable and not be able to exert more control over the process or outcome. It seems like you got caught up in the, "OMG I HAVE TO GETS BARRELZ TO MAKE BEER" fad without thinking it through.

The tl;dr: does not sound like a great way to make beer.

I don't know about using one as a fermenter, but if you did a barleywine or imperial whatever you might be safe using one to age it. Instead of trying to sanitize with a commercial product, I'd think about going from medium char to "medium well" by building a fire inside right before you fill it. Coupled with a high ABV, the beer might end up being OK.

Porter or a wee heavy

I agree with the other in a lambic or sour. If it weren't that I'd be thinking barley wine.

Our Belgian quad that was soured in a cabernet barrel won its category -- the largest of the competition.

I agree with the idea(s) of a sour ale. If you wanted to keep it cheaper, just limit it to pale malt and some wheat in your mash, and about 5-10 IBU's worth of noble hops. You could pitch clean ale yeast, give the beer a couple moths, and see if any bugs are catching on to the wort. If not, you could either add some bugs with a homemade sour starter or purchased blends. Or you could just roll with the clean beer w/ oak accent. Keep in mind that if you discover/introduce bugs in the barrel, that will have to remain a sour ale barrel indefinitely.

weirdboy said:

Our Belgian quad that was soured in a cabernet barrel won its category -- the largest of the competition.

Click to expand...

That sounds awesome.

I'm partial to a sour in a barrel that large. If it was a 5-15 gallon barrel I'd say Barleywine, RIS, DIPA, or really whatever style you would like on oak. With 51 gallons you need something that can stand the test of time and doesn't need to be bottled/kegged all at once when you start taking any out. I have a bourbon barrel so by definition it is 53 gallons. I am doing a single barrel solera sour. I aim to keep the barrel full by adding unfermented wort back anytime I pull beer from the barrel.

I wouldn't ferment in the barrel, I'd age/sour your beer in it. If you choose to ferment in the barrel I'd go for a sour, as has been suggested. That makes the most sense, and you can keep using it in solera fashion too.

All - I completely agree that fermenting in barrel is likely a disaster.. the lack of headspace, the blow off, and the lack of alcohol to prevent bacteria are all really good reasons not to do primary in the barrel. However, I have at most 40 gallons of capacity in glass and plastic fermenters unless I borrow some for this project. Not impossible, just an added challenge. And I love the idea of a lambic or other sour.. but I've never done that before and 50 gallons is a lot to have for a so-so first time batch.. Most lambic are coolship fermented for primary (yea, I don't have one ) and then racked to oak for over a year.. being in texas, and if I go with indoor storage, there would still be a decent amount of temp fluctuation and storage of a barrel for a really long period might not go over so great with the wife, but I'll see what I can do there. We do have a room that we don't use that I could store it in, but I will need to make a rolling cart that can support a full barrel because we can't do racking in that room.

I don't know to what degree but aren't temp fluctuations a good thing when your using Brett?

Mine stays in the garage. It will get near freezing during the winter and above 100 in the summer. I don't know how far the barrel temp swings though. Brett is tough. They will do just fine.