I recently purchased a 30 gallon whiskey barrel from a local brewery that was used once for whiskey and once for aging this brewery's porter. I believe that this barrel has been sitting dry for about 2-3 months. I've read a number of posts about how to clean the barrel & make sure that the seal is okay or restored, but what I'm most curious about is aging less than 30 gallons of beer in this barrel.
If the barrel is properly cleaned & sealed before use, is it possible to age maybe only 15 gallons of beer in the 30 gallon barrel, or will there be problems with this approach? I have a very small homebrew setup, and since I'm not doing all-grain brewing, can't convince myself to brew 6x 5-gallon batches of beer to put in this barrel & keep it in the corner of my apartment for months as a test.
Thanks!
Matt
If the barrel is properly cleaned & sealed before use, is it possible to age maybe only 15 gallons of beer in the 30 gallon barrel, or will there be problems with this approach? I have a very small homebrew setup, and since I'm not doing all-grain brewing, can't convince myself to brew 6x 5-gallon batches of beer to put in this barrel & keep it in the corner of my apartment for months as a test.
Thanks!
Matt