Am I insane???

Show me a sane person and I show you someone with a complex.

Wow, AWESOME!

Don't mean this to be a a-hole or anything, but you are not married are you???

The only reason i say this, good luck pulling this type of stuff off with a women in your ear about it...........and she will be, trust me!

I am already religated to the garage....

heertsy said:

Wow, AWESOME!

Don't mean this to be a a-hole or anything, but you are not married are you???

The only reason i say this, good luck pulling this type of stuff off with a women in your ear about it...........and she will be, trust me!

I am already religated to the garage....

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you just happen to have a not-so-understanding SWMBO. the rest of us know that bt has a swmbo who understands that he does this and knows it's (mostly) harmless and that it's better than him spending time in the bar or another womens arms

DeathBrewer said:

so...has this thread determined whether or not you are insane yet?

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It has been my experience that insane people don't know that they are insane! In other words; "crazy people don't know they are crazy".

By the way I'm a little jealous too! Nice barrel! Your info in proper barrel condition will help me out. I have (3) 1.25 gal oak barrels that have been medium toasted. I'm saving them to make a bourbon and will age them for about 6-8 years or maybe longer.

Cheers!

Just drew the first sample from the barrel. WOW, This is going to be great! This beer started at 1.125 and is currently at 1.024, that's 13.6% abv. It doesn't drink that big.

Appearance: Crystal clear, deep amber/red color.

Nose: Touch of brett up front with rich cherry, toffee and vanilla notes

Flavor: Subtle toffee sweetness from the Piloncillo sugar with stone fruit, raisin, plum and sour cherry. Woodiness beginning to come through in the form of vanilla and leather.

I can't wait for this beer to be ready to bottle. I'm going to keg 5 gallons and bottle 10 in 750ml corked Belgian bottles.

I'll update each week on the beers progress in the barrel.

Brewtopia said:

Just drew the first sample from the barrel. WOW, This is going to be great! This beer started at 1.125 and is currently at 1.024, that's 13.6% abv. It doesn't drink that big.

Appearance: Crystal clear, deep amber/red color.

Nose: Touch of brett up front with rich cherry, toffee and vanilla notes

Flavor: Subtle toffee sweetness from the Piloncillo sugar with stone fruit, raisin, plum and sour cherry. Woodiness beginning to come through in the form of vanilla and leather.

I can't wait for this beer to be ready to bottle. I'm going to keg 5 gallons and bottle 10 in 750ml corked Belgian bottles.

I'll update each week on the beers progress in the barrel.

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Man, that sounds SO great. I am so jealous.

Yes, you're insane...but no more than anyone else with such a passion for brewing.

That brew sounds so good...I'm not even sure I understand the words describing how good it is...

just drew another sample. Man, this beer is coming along nicely. More of the characteristics of the wine are beginning to come through along wih some more woodiness from the barrel. It's got this amazing aroma of alcohol, toffe and raisins. Tartness from the Brett is still very subtle. The spiciness of the hops are coming through jus in the finish. The gravity has dropped a couple more points to 1.022. I've included a fewpics this time.

that's looking good! It's starting to blend in with your walls

To answer your original question. Yes. Yes you are!

DeathBrewer said:

so...has this thread determined whether or not you are insane yet?

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I don't think that is the proper question. I believe it is clear that he is insane, the question is if that is a problem or not. I say the world could use a bit more Brewtopia-ish insanity.

wow that looks delicious!!!

Took another sample from the barrel today. Dropped 2 more points to 1.020. With an OG of 1.125 that puts the abv at 14.13%. I'm running out of words as to how to describe this beer. I'm now getting subtle chocolate notes that are nicely balanced with flavors of caramel, raisins and stone fruit with hints of oak. Tartness of the yeast is exhibiting itself along with a very subdued hop presence. Aroma is of alcohol, cherries and oak.

I'm not sure when I should pull this from the barrel and bottle. I don't think it's going to drop much more in gravity and I don't want it to overstay it's welcome in the barrel. Please advise.

Brewtopia said:

I'm not sure when I should pull this from the barrel and bottle. I don't think it's going to drop much more in gravity and I don't want it to overstay it's welcome in the barrel. Please advise.

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My advice is to bottle it immediately and promptly ship it all to me!!

Definately not an expert opinion here, but it sounds damn good the way you describe it BT. Bottle it.

Brewtopia said:

Took another sample from the barrel today. Dropped 2 more points to 1.020. With an OG of 1.125 that puts the abv at 14.13%. I'm running out of words as to how to describe this beer. I'm now getting subtle chocolate notes that are nicely balanced with flavors of caramel, raisins and stone fruit with hints of oak. Tartness of the yeast is exhibiting itself along with a very subdued hop presence. Aroma is of alcohol, cherries and oak.

I'm not sure when I should pull this from the barrel and bottle. I don't think it's going to drop much more in gravity and I don't want it to overstay it's welcome in the barrel. Please advise.

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I'd e-mail (or call) Vinnie Cilurzo--I guarantee you he would give good advice.

BTW, my mouth is watering. That sounds absolutely amazing.

I think flavours will mellow with bottle ageing so I'd make sure it has more than enough character from the barrel before moving on.

Dude said:

BTW, my mouth is watering. That sounds absolutely amazing.

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X2. You really have to quit doing this. I am starting to get crazy thoughts in my head.

I'm putting you at 13.78% with 84% apparent attenuation

using: (OG-FG)*1.3125

i'd say she's about ready to bottle

that sounds mighty, MIGHTY tasty. i want some

If its only been in barrel a month and a half, if I'm getting the dates right, that's a pretty short time for barrel aging. I'm not sure what you mean by overstay its welcome, but I think most barrel aged beers are aged much longer. RR's Suplication and Temptation are both barrel aged 1 year(according to website); Carey from New Glarus said his age a minmum 6 months.
The reason to use a barrel is not just for the oak flavor, but for evaporation and oxidation that occur over time and contribute to the flavor. I don't want you to ruin the beer, but I think its not about the beer reaching its FG but rather how the beer is maturing in barrel finished or otherwise. At 1 1/2 months I don't think you're seeing much concentration and oxidation, but you may have with a pretty good surface area to liquid ratio with that smaller barrel.
If you bottle it soon, or whenever you bottle it, you're going to have to fill it with something. So maybe bottle this one soon, and let the next one go a little longer when you feel more comfortable. To me, there's no harm waiting and continuing to sample regularly, once you notice the slightest change towards something not improving, then bottle it. Or play it safe(comfort zone) this time and next time push yourself a little longer. If the beers great now and you're worried about it going south bottle it, no use worrying. But I'm sure you want to use the barrel to its full potential, and get the full effect/flavor of barrel aging - so at some point I think you really need let a batch go at least 6 months. Whether its this batch, or batch number 10 that goes in for the long haul, is up to you. Good luck, my .02 cents.

I understand what you're saying landhoney. The only reason I ask the question is that it's my understanding that you can over do it using these smaller barrels. As you say, it's because the surface to liquid ratio is much greater than in say, a 60 gallon barrel that Russian River and New Glarus are probably using. I'm going to leave it in the barrel for now.

I would bottle it almost anytime from here, depending on what you are after. Part of the question and I believe the reason RR leaves it aging so long is because of all the bugs in the barrel and giving them time to work and make those tasty sour brews. Vinnie talks about the beer "getting sick" and then "getting well", where the beer gets slimmy and then clears back up. If you are not going for that then the barrel has probably done its work.

What I want to do is get my barrel infected with all those tasty souring bugs and see what happens. I have a friend who works at a local winery who is working to set me up with a full size oak barrel. It is a lot of beer to test batch, but it sure would be fun!

If its the oak flavor becoming overpowering that you're concerned with, that shouldn't be a problem. Its not going to change overnight, so you can leave it till its ready and the level you want it. My concern with my barrels is that wild yeast( which will get in there - Jolly Pumkin told me it just happens evetually and they don't do anything to encourage them to get in there) will take over and change the flavor of the beer before I realize its happening. This happened to a sour beer I had going, checked it after a couple weeks and it had changed for the worse. They can be beneficial though, but you really ever know ahead as I understand it. It looks like I'm getting a new(to me) used barrel from work soon - may have to try your recipe/s.

that is total brewmania some day ill be as crazy as that, and enjoy the rewards of patients, I had made a post about a dry yeast starter, If a person is new and a junior member, can I get replys, thanks have a great day Dave

How's it coming? Bottled? Could you elaborate more on the taste, maybe compare flavors,etc. to commercial beers/styles?

Still sitting in the barrel. I haven't had any time to do any more with it. I have a day off tomorrow and will probably pull a sample.

This is a unique experiment, and I enjoyed the sample. I would like to get a chance to experience the final product.

sorry to chime in so late but I don't think you can trust the hydro reading for calculating alcohol content. Your bugs certainly converted some of the alcohol to other compounds such as acetic acid etc.

Did you get in touch with Vinny about how long you should age? He's the man and supposedly very nice and helpful to homebrewers.

Brewpastor; you might be interested in one of Vinny's new projects. I understand that he bought a bunch of brand new 5 gallon barrels that he is going to use for his beers just so he can sell them all nice and "infected" to homebrewers. I heard this on one of the Sunday Session podcasts from The Brewing Network.

I know this is old but... How did this turn out?

hayabusa said:

I know this is old but... How did this turn out?

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It was pretty damned good. I can tell you that from personal experience.

Holy Necro Post Batman!