Hefe in Whiskey Barrels

Hi there gents:

I just picked up a bourbon barrel from an amazing distillery near me (Garrison Brothers). I'm thinking I'd like to brew this:

http://www.beertools.com/html/recipe.php?view=6563&fvu=gallons&u=us&fv=10&scaleBttn=Scale+Recipe

What do you think? My question is, what is a good/reasonable mash temp/schedule for this brew? Looking forward to your feedback.

--Cheers, Chris

A fresh barrel will BLAST whatever you age in it with whiskey and oak flavor. the first few beers will have VERY apparent whiskey flavor. You probably don't want to put a lighter beer in there first. Personally, I wouldn't want whiskey flavor in a hehe at all, but you might like that. Just realize, it will be VERY strong if it's the first beer going into the barrel.

The recipe doesn't look bad, but a whiskey/oak aged hefe sounds vile to me. If I had a barrel, I'd brew an imperial IPA with rye, robust porter, or imperial stout.

To better answer your question, I'd skip the protein rest and do a 60 minute single infusion mash around 154ºF, then sparge with 170-180ºF water (to achieve a mash out temp in the high 160s).

Thanks for the response gents. I should have mentioned that I plan to blend the aged beer with fresh beer. So 10 gallons in the barrel; I'll pull half out and blend it with 5 gallon of fresh beer. The remaining 5 gallons will go into the barrel that still has 5 gallons of the original stuff in it. And so on and so on. The point being is it won't have the full barrel taste.

The IPA with a little rye sounds interesting as well. I really wanted to do a lighter beer that can pull some color and profile from the barrel--at least that's the thought.

I've had a wheaty Belgian ale cuvee-ed with barrel-aged, and it was amazing.

--Cheers, Chris

My immediate reaction is that the barrel flavors will slaughter a beer like a hef but I suppose there's only one way to find out. I'm dry hopping a Live Oak Hef clone right now so wtf do I know.

You don't have to worry about any beer not getting flavor from the barrel. If that barrel is fresh and wasn't allowed to dry out, even a barley wine will get a noticeable pickup.

My barrel was emptied of whiskey in November of 2009, and has had at least 6 beers run through it. It still smells VERY strongly of whiskey and isn't ready for my planned sour cherry stout or porter yet

Go for it! Its not the consensus, but experimenting is half the fun. Let us know his it turns out (for better or worse)...