oak barrel beer

[tobbias]

I just got a 10 gallon whiskey barrel. It smells great with oak and whiskey.

Eventually it will be turned into sours barrel but for now i wanted to make a few barrel aged beers. Was thinking a strong scotch ale and imperial stout. Not sure which one to brew first. The Strong Scotch Ale recipe I'm looking at the following:
28# 2-row
1# carapils
1# caramunich
1# special B
.5# chocolate malt
.25# peat malt

Haven't working on Imperial Stout yet.

My question how fast will a beer get oaked in a fresh whiskey barrel. I don't want to over oak and need enough time to brew another beer to keep the barrel filled?

Also any advise on a good barrel aged beer recipe would be helpful?

 

[CadillacAndy]

Depending on the beer, I would probably start checking it after about 2 weeks. I've only ever used the smaller 5 gallon barrels for bourbon barrel stuff, and they really imparted oak and booze flavor quickly. It always easier to let it sit longer than to try to age the oak and booze flavors out or blend it with something else.

 

[tobbias]

Depending on the beer, I would probably start checking it after about 2 weeks. I've only ever used the smaller 5 gallon barrels for bourbon barrel stuff, and they really imparted oak and booze flavor quickly. It always easier to let it sit longer than to try to age the oak and booze flavors out or blend it with something else.

How many batches have you ran thru your barrel before the oak and bourbon settled down?
What was your barrel filling schedule time between the first several batches?

It sounds like I will need to be ready to bottle and refill barrel after 1-2 weeks. Lots of high gravity brewing

 

[CadillacAndy]

How many batches have you ran thru your barrel before the oak and bourbon settled down?

What was your barrel filling schedule time between the first several batches?



It sounds like I will need to be ready to bottle and refill barrel after 1-2 weeks. Lots of high gravity brewing

I really only got two decent (and clean) beers from mine. The first beer was an imperial stout and was in the barrel for about 3 weeks. The second was a higher gravity oatmeal stout and was in the barrel for 6 weeks. After that I tried to age an old ale in it and it was oxidized horribly and got dumped. I then tried to sanitize the barrel with citric acid and potassium metabisulfite and put a lighter colored barley wine in it and it is horribly oxidized and an acetaldehyde bomb. Booze and oak were slightly noticeable in the old ale after 6 weeks and the barley wine is missing the booze but has mild oak after 6 months. It makes up for the lack of booze with fake apple flavor.

 

[tobbias]

The first beer - bourbon barrel strong scotch came out fantastic. Then did a bourbon barrel imperial Russian stout which is really smooth. They are both around 9% ABV. The barrel has a slow leak from the crose where the head and staves join. After the stout rinsed barrel and hydrated outside for 24 hours and added cup of bourbon in barrel and soaked bourbon and rotated for another 24 hours and filled it with a maple porter.