Barleywine Barrel Aging ?

Yesterday I brewed 'old monster' from JZ's Brewing Classic styles. Ended up with an OG of 1.125 and plan to barrel age in rum barrel I got from farmhouse brewing. Question is do I need to do a couple weeks in a secondary carboy before going into the barrel? I pitched 2 vials of WLP001 from a stir plate and then got nervous and added a pack of Muntons gold cause the stir bar kicked off over night, so there is plenty of yeast in there. Thoughts???

Depends on a lot of things.

If you are wanting to store this for a year or two in the barrel before bottling than you wouldn't want a massive yeast cake chilling at the bottom of the beer unless you are also pitching (or know there to already be) brett which can break down the sacc.

If it is a small barrel then you want to think about how long you want beer in it in regards to oxygen.

It's a 5g barrel. I was thinking 3-6 months bulk aging range, then another couple months bottled after force carbonating and beer gun . No know Brett and wasn't planning on it.

IIRC that sounds like a reasonable range for that small a barrel when considering the oxygen permeation issue.

tele_powder said:

It's a 5g barrel. I was thinking 3-6 months bulk aging range, then another couple months bottled after force carbonating and beer gun . No know Brett and wasn't planning on it.

Click to expand...

I just received my barrel from Farmhouse today. Previously filled with rum. It smelled awesome when I opened the box. I have a brown in primary and plan on putting it in the barrel for a week or so. The barrel was purchased to make a Barleywine for my father in law. I am new to using a barrel and don't know how long to keep it in the barrel. I will have to search the forum for info on use of the barrels. Also, before I brew up said Barleywine what style would your brew in order to use the yeast cake for the BW?

How long did you age the barleywine in the barrel? I heard someone once say that you can age it for 20+ years? I reason I ask is because my son is 10 months old and I wanted to make him some barleywine for when he comes of drinking age.

Thanks for your help