CHAOS Homebrew Club has a barrel aged beer program and I've agreed to help tend to it for the next year or so. At the CHAOS brewhouse, we have a barrel rack with three shelves - currently, we're using two of the shelves for barrels, so we have plenty of room to expand the program if there is interest.
Barrel-aging beers is great fun and a bit of an adventure - you never quite know what you're going to get out of it. Also, because of the size of barrels, it also involves brewing with other people, a group project, which can be a blast, also. And of course, the end result can often be eye-opening!
The barrel program is available to any brewing member of CHAOS. If you're a non-brewing 'friend' member, you can also participate by partnering with a brewing member. If you're interested in the program but not a CHAOS member, you can email our volunteer Membership Director, Kevin Wilhelm, and he'll set you up.
You can participate in the CHAOS barrel program in two ways:
Barrel Manager - You either have or acquire a barrel (I can help you with that), work with me to get space for it on the barrel rack, recruit and organize brewers to fill it. You are responsible for all aspects of managing your barrel project - recipes, schedule, herding brewers, etc.
Barrel Brewer - You participate in a barrel project organized by another club member. You commit to brewing the recipe provided by the Barrel Manager by the deadline s/he sets, and to showing up for filling and emptying the barrel.
CHAOS currently has seven barrel projects running. As of today (5.21.19), three of them are looking for more barrel brewers. You can contact the manager of those projects via PM on the CHAOS forum or Slack channel if you'd like to be a part of their barrel projects:
Bourbon Barrel, 53 gallons, first batch will be an Imperial Stout - contact James Faircloth
Soured Bourbon Barrel, 30 gallons - contact Matt Omura
Gin Barrel, 30 gallons, next batch in the barrel will be a Saison - contact me (Jim Vondracek)
Do you want to manage a barrel project? Do you need help acquiring a barrel? Or do you want to participate in a barrel project but couldn't get into the projects listed above? Email me and let me know what you'd like to do. If you've never done a barrel aged beer before, its great fun. Your experience level isn't important - everyone is welcome to participate in the CHAOS Barrel Program. [\QUOTE]
