A friend acquired several 10 gallon bourbon barrels about a year ago. At the time they were freshly emptied and had about a gallon of reverse osmosis water dumped inside. He used all but one and offered it to me. I'd like to use it. I know it's better when they are fresh for sanitary reasons. I haven't opened it but I have been rotating it and it still holds water. Any ideas on how best to proceed? I've heard everything from a solution of water, sodium percarbonate and citric acid to dump the water, add a bottle of cheap whiskey, purge with co2 and roll the barrel for a few weeks. Anyone have experience?
Bourbon Barrel Question
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Be ready to "do something" when you open the barrel.
If you are not prepared to fill it, what are you going to do?
Open the barrel and dump the contents into a pitcher.
Sample said contents, does it taste fine, or stale or funky?
If it tastes fine, fill up the barrel with your freshly fermented beer, using a racking cane or something so that you are filling it from the bottom, with minimal splashing, you will need more than 10 gallons, likely 11.5-12, so be prepared.
If not, you have a decision to make, is it that bad? Can it be fixed? If so, how? And what criteria you will use to decide if the problem is resolved.
If it needs to be "fixed", you could try to dump in some liquor, my suggestion is vodka since it is a neutral spirit, and it will change colors and you can get a feel for how much, "oakiness" might come out of the barrel. The alcohol, will help to minimize any funkiness, but no guarantees. Keep in mind, it's wood, and wood is porous, so you can never really kill any "bugs" if they are in there, but there shouldn't be.
If there are bugs, do you like sour beers? If so, you'll need to brew a suitable beer for your barrel, buy several packs of Roselare to add to the barrel, when you are moving the beer into the barrel. Consider buying several beers with "bugs" and adding the dregs in as well for some "bio-diversity" or hold off on the dregs until the first beer is pulled and you are adding the next beer.
If the barrel is good, my advice would be to put in the biggest beer that you can brew, such as a RIS, or an Old Ale, and most important, a beer that will be complemented by the barrel and not be distracted by the contribution from the barrel. Now the first beer will be ready to come out in less than six months and a beer that sits too long can get "over oaked", and the only real solution is to brew another beer of the same recipe and try to blend it out. When you pull the first beer, you need to be prepared to fill it with the next beer that day, preferably immediately. The second beer can be in there a couple of months longer, and you will need to be ready with the third.
Now with a barrel you are going to end up with a lot of barrel beers, so keep that in mind. If you have a brew buddy, you can split the work and proceeds, but your chance for infection gets doubled as well.
I have three ten gallon barrels. I usually want to start with a RIS, follow that with an Old Ale, followed by a Belgian Dark Strong/Quad. And evaluate each beer as it goes. The first two barrels eventually went sour, and I have no idea as to how it happened on both, although I got lucky that they went sour in a good way. I ended up with what turned out to be a couple of awesome Flanders Brown beers. I have since added various bugs to each of those two barrels and now use them in a Solara fashion. I'll brew another beer of the style in the barrel, pull five gallons into a keg and add five gallons of fresh beer.
The last barrel that I bought, I added several hop shots to the barrel and rolled the barrel around to distribute the hop oil around the inside of the barrel as much as I could. I boiled some water and let the syringes sit in the hot water for 5-10 minutes to soften up and liquefy the hop oil. I felt that this would help to "dry hop" the beer, adding additional hop flavor and since hops are a preservative, keep bugs at bay. I added a syringe to the barrel, when I added the Old Ale as well. Currently in the third barrel there is a BDS that was brewed before Christmas, and I plan to put another beer in in June/July when I am home. I plan to put in a Belgian Golden Strong for the fourth beer, and I'll let it ride for 9-12 months.
Hope this helps.
If you are not prepared to fill it, what are you going to do?
Open the barrel and dump the contents into a pitcher.
Sample said contents, does it taste fine, or stale or funky?
If it tastes fine, fill up the barrel with your freshly fermented beer, using a racking cane or something so that you are filling it from the bottom, with minimal splashing, you will need more than 10 gallons, likely 11.5-12, so be prepared.
If not, you have a decision to make, is it that bad? Can it be fixed? If so, how? And what criteria you will use to decide if the problem is resolved.
If it needs to be "fixed", you could try to dump in some liquor, my suggestion is vodka since it is a neutral spirit, and it will change colors and you can get a feel for how much, "oakiness" might come out of the barrel. The alcohol, will help to minimize any funkiness, but no guarantees. Keep in mind, it's wood, and wood is porous, so you can never really kill any "bugs" if they are in there, but there shouldn't be.
If there are bugs, do you like sour beers? If so, you'll need to brew a suitable beer for your barrel, buy several packs of Roselare to add to the barrel, when you are moving the beer into the barrel. Consider buying several beers with "bugs" and adding the dregs in as well for some "bio-diversity" or hold off on the dregs until the first beer is pulled and you are adding the next beer.
If the barrel is good, my advice would be to put in the biggest beer that you can brew, such as a RIS, or an Old Ale, and most important, a beer that will be complemented by the barrel and not be distracted by the contribution from the barrel. Now the first beer will be ready to come out in less than six months and a beer that sits too long can get "over oaked", and the only real solution is to brew another beer of the same recipe and try to blend it out. When you pull the first beer, you need to be prepared to fill it with the next beer that day, preferably immediately. The second beer can be in there a couple of months longer, and you will need to be ready with the third.
Now with a barrel you are going to end up with a lot of barrel beers, so keep that in mind. If you have a brew buddy, you can split the work and proceeds, but your chance for infection gets doubled as well.
I have three ten gallon barrels. I usually want to start with a RIS, follow that with an Old Ale, followed by a Belgian Dark Strong/Quad. And evaluate each beer as it goes. The first two barrels eventually went sour, and I have no idea as to how it happened on both, although I got lucky that they went sour in a good way. I ended up with what turned out to be a couple of awesome Flanders Brown beers. I have since added various bugs to each of those two barrels and now use them in a Solara fashion. I'll brew another beer of the style in the barrel, pull five gallons into a keg and add five gallons of fresh beer.
The last barrel that I bought, I added several hop shots to the barrel and rolled the barrel around to distribute the hop oil around the inside of the barrel as much as I could. I boiled some water and let the syringes sit in the hot water for 5-10 minutes to soften up and liquefy the hop oil. I felt that this would help to "dry hop" the beer, adding additional hop flavor and since hops are a preservative, keep bugs at bay. I added a syringe to the barrel, when I added the Old Ale as well. Currently in the third barrel there is a BDS that was brewed before Christmas, and I plan to put another beer in in June/July when I am home. I plan to put in a Belgian Golden Strong for the fourth beer, and I'll let it ride for 9-12 months.
Hope this helps.
PsychoBiter
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Put cheap whiskey in it and shake it up a couple times a day for a week and add beer!
We have done it three times with 2 , 5 gallon BBLS. First beer was amazing. Second beer in same BBL wasn't as good. Very Oaky. We even stored whiskey in it. The whiskey we stored in it improved greatly though....
Second BBL we let dry out on acccident ..had to use water to rehydrate so it wouldn't leak....added whiskey and shook for a week. The beer didn't have the same bourbon flavor as the first. The water rehydrate took too much bourbon flavor out. It was really oaky as well.
We have done it three times with 2 , 5 gallon BBLS. First beer was amazing. Second beer in same BBL wasn't as good. Very Oaky. We even stored whiskey in it. The whiskey we stored in it improved greatly though....
Second BBL we let dry out on acccident ..had to use water to rehydrate so it wouldn't leak....added whiskey and shook for a week. The beer didn't have the same bourbon flavor as the first. The water rehydrate took too much bourbon flavor out. It was really oaky as well.
Jeff provided great info. Here are some of my random thoughts:
Determining the direction you want to take it earlier will help. As in, do you want clean beers from it, then sours? Do you not want sours at all? Take this plan and have a few beers planned out for when you expect to empty the barrel.
The first beer you get out of it will set the stage for the subsequent beers. If you get a very strong oak/bourbon flavor from the first batch, you can expect that to continue into the next batches, diminishing with each fill. Therefore, bolder beers are typical for the first fills. However, if the oak is subtle, you could plan to go lighter with subsequent batches without fear of making oak bombs.
If you're going to store your beer for longer than 6 months (-ish), consider brewing a gallon extra to set aside in a couple growlers. The longer the beer sits in the barrel, the more will evaporate, and topping the barrel off every few months will serve to keep all the staves hydrated and oxygen exposure at a minimum.
It's not as important if/when you are doing clean beers, since they're stored for shorter durations, but if you are going to do sours, consider waxing a portion, if not all, of the barrel to help mitigate oxygen ingress.
I would suggest a step between here, even if what comes out of it appears decent: fill with a couple gallons of hot (180°F) water and rotate for at least 10min to ensure it's not going to promote growth of anything unwanted once you get your beer in there. Yeah i know it's not likely, due to the pH and alcohol content of the beer, but I am not a gambling man, so I like to have peace of mind. Then, after you empty, you can either just fill it back up or do another rinse/pasteurization before adding the next beer. There are merits to both approaches.
Determining the direction you want to take it earlier will help. As in, do you want clean beers from it, then sours? Do you not want sours at all? Take this plan and have a few beers planned out for when you expect to empty the barrel.
The first beer you get out of it will set the stage for the subsequent beers. If you get a very strong oak/bourbon flavor from the first batch, you can expect that to continue into the next batches, diminishing with each fill. Therefore, bolder beers are typical for the first fills. However, if the oak is subtle, you could plan to go lighter with subsequent batches without fear of making oak bombs.
If you're going to store your beer for longer than 6 months (-ish), consider brewing a gallon extra to set aside in a couple growlers. The longer the beer sits in the barrel, the more will evaporate, and topping the barrel off every few months will serve to keep all the staves hydrated and oxygen exposure at a minimum.
It's not as important if/when you are doing clean beers, since they're stored for shorter durations, but if you are going to do sours, consider waxing a portion, if not all, of the barrel to help mitigate oxygen ingress.
Good advice on waxing the barrel, I meant to mention that.
I used gulf wax and waxed the entire barrel.
I used the bar on the entire barrel, then took a propane torch or a heat gun, and melted the wax into the pores of the wood, it also helps to see if you missed and area that needs to be covered. It also makes the barrel look nicer too.
Consider building a stand (Now would be the time to decide if it is going to be on wheels, like a moving dolly. A Harbor Freight moving dolly can easily be modified and serve the purpose.) for it and decide where it's going to be as it is heavy empty and will be much heavier full. It also should be in a temperature controlled area, not the garage, unless its a sub-level garage. You will be filling it and emptying it in place, there will be spills, so plan for that as well.
I also made a jig out of a rubber stopper and a dip tube from a keg along with a barbed connector with a gas connection so that I can push the beer out of the barrel with co2, leaving a co2 purged keg for the next beer in.
Also consider getting a drilled stopper, and put an airlock on it for the first month or so, just in case there is any additional fermentation.
You will end up with a lot of barrel beer and for a while it will seem like a curse. You brew a beer or two, then have to brew for the barrel. Then, it happens again, it will seem like you are always having to brew for the barrel for most of the first year, as often times it takes longer for the big beers to finish all the way, so your fermenter and fermentation chamber is tied up with the beer for the barrel. Also, big beers cost more to brew, needing more ingredients. For the really big beers, I would brew a "starter beer", a small beer to have a sufficient yeast cake to pitch the big beer on, then the big beer. It takes a lot of planning and an understanding wife for all of the beers that you will need to brew to "stay on schedule".
As cactusgarrett mentioned, the barrel is going to absorb a lot of beer and will need to be topped off several times for at least the first beer, and likely with the second. So be prepared and have to beer on hand to keep it full.
Don't sample too often, as each time you open it up, you are taking a chance of infecting it.
Lots of things to think about, and plan for.
I used gulf wax and waxed the entire barrel.
I used the bar on the entire barrel, then took a propane torch or a heat gun, and melted the wax into the pores of the wood, it also helps to see if you missed and area that needs to be covered. It also makes the barrel look nicer too.
Consider building a stand (Now would be the time to decide if it is going to be on wheels, like a moving dolly. A Harbor Freight moving dolly can easily be modified and serve the purpose.) for it and decide where it's going to be as it is heavy empty and will be much heavier full. It also should be in a temperature controlled area, not the garage, unless its a sub-level garage. You will be filling it and emptying it in place, there will be spills, so plan for that as well.
I also made a jig out of a rubber stopper and a dip tube from a keg along with a barbed connector with a gas connection so that I can push the beer out of the barrel with co2, leaving a co2 purged keg for the next beer in.
Also consider getting a drilled stopper, and put an airlock on it for the first month or so, just in case there is any additional fermentation.
You will end up with a lot of barrel beer and for a while it will seem like a curse. You brew a beer or two, then have to brew for the barrel. Then, it happens again, it will seem like you are always having to brew for the barrel for most of the first year, as often times it takes longer for the big beers to finish all the way, so your fermenter and fermentation chamber is tied up with the beer for the barrel. Also, big beers cost more to brew, needing more ingredients. For the really big beers, I would brew a "starter beer", a small beer to have a sufficient yeast cake to pitch the big beer on, then the big beer. It takes a lot of planning and an understanding wife for all of the beers that you will need to brew to "stay on schedule".
As cactusgarrett mentioned, the barrel is going to absorb a lot of beer and will need to be topped off several times for at least the first beer, and likely with the second. So be prepared and have to beer on hand to keep it full.
Don't sample too often, as each time you open it up, you are taking a chance of infecting it.
Lots of things to think about, and plan for.
