225L wine barrel Lambic fill

[smashed4]

Just thought I'd share some barrel porn.

Photo album

I acquired a used barrel from a local winery 2 months ago. It was used for red wine and still in good condition. Interior smelled of sweet port wine.

I started brewing base lambic beers on my 10 gallons system every week-end or so.. some I fermented with bugs, some with clean yeast.

I had all my carboys and almost all my kegs tied in this project.. Yesterday was finally the fill day and it was quite an epic racking session..

On the pictures you can see the barrel full of water, that I am emptying by pushing CO2.. this had the effect of fully purging the barrel from air... I then racked everything and put an airlock. Its bubbling now and I hope a pellicle will form.

I tasted all the batches as I was filling the barrel. Two carboys of young lambics were pretty estery (bubblegum). It was beyond acceptable level.. I mixed them in the barrel anyway, but I hope it was not a huge mistake... I've read brett can process esters, so we'll see what happen...

 

[TravisT]

this is what i'm planning on doing next year. I give you big props for going for it. My plan is to brew 2 days in a row for 40gl then let that beer do a primary ferment then brew the remaining 20 and pitch that the following week or so. I'm also going to inoculate my barrel with 5g of mature sour.

What would you do differently if you had to do it again? are you going to use the CO2 to force the beer out when your ready to keg/bottle? kkep us updated on how it turns out.

 

[smashed4]

There are few people doing that kind of things so I had trouble finding guidance.. But like you, I felt like innoculating with a few gallons of mature sour beer would give it a boost. Plus I already had some old sour and that meant a couple gallons less beer to brew..

To be honest I did not really think things thoroughly.. The occasion to buy a barrel at a good price came up on our local homebrew club list and I jumped on... Then I realized it would be a LOT of work but it was too late

Yes, my plan is to use CO2 to rack off. I doubt I will empty the barrel all at once, that is WAY too much beer to handle. My plan is to rack off 10 gallons or so at a time and replace it. I will do various blends and fruit beers with the racked off beer.. I.e., rack off 4 gallons in a carboy and add a bunch of fruits..

As you can see in the pics, I just took a rubber stopper and drilled 2 holes. Stuffed a racking cane in one and rigged a CO2 line in the other.. A bit over kill just to initially purge the barrel with C02 but I will reuse this when I want to push some of the sour beer out without introducing any O2.

One thing that might be wrong is I am not quite sure how alive my old sours were.. One is 1 year old (3 gallons) and one was 4 years old (4 gallons). To ensure there is enough brett in there, I will do a 5 gallons batch of 100% brett and top-off the barrel with it.. There is enough space remaining I think, which I need to top-off anyway.

 

[SavoryChef]

Definitely keep this thread up to date even though there will be months of waiting. I will be doing something like this in a year or so.

 

[bionara]

Fascinating! How did this turn out?
(I was browsing out of curiosity and unearthed this thread!)

 

[Coff]

This looks awesome, lots of work but I am sure it will pay off in the end. I just started a Solera in a Sanke keg, I wish I could have filled a big wine barrel like this.

Definitely keep us updated.

 

[ChugachBrewing]

Welcome to the barrel club. Just sampled all of my barrels two days ago. 8 months in and delicious. Time and topping off are your friends.

 

[Xpertskir]

This looks awesome, lots of work but I am sure it will pay off in the end. I just started a Solera in a Sanke keg, I wish I could have filled a big wine barrel like this.

Definitely keep us updated.

A sanke keg is a good idea. I'm definitely stealing it for my geuze program once we move. Ive been trying to think about what to do with 10,15, 20 gallons of 3-4 year old lambic once I have blended most of the barrel. My other option was paraffin waxed small barrels but that seems like a PITA and I hate paying the same price for the small barrels as I would for full size.


Me and a friend have 2 full size solera projects going right now and we just brewed ~40 or so on brew day and added 5 gallons of sour starter wort to each, then brewed enough to top off and have 5 gallons around to replace the angels share.


We are going to likely try and ferment outside of the barrel next time with a clean yeast, and then transfer to the barrel with bugs(ala Russian river) next go around, and get a couple of these http://labelpeelers.com/20-gallon-fermenter-wlid-p-2647.html

Using all those different fermenters seems like alot of work.

Also, OP brett is an excellent antioxidant, and the reason you are using a barrel is for a specific oxygen transfer rate to feed the bugs. IMO next time that level of care in transferring the wort is not necessary.