lazarus0530
Well-Known Member
Has anyone brewed in a oak barrel before? Is it possible?
jphebbie2 said:Are you asking about FERMENTING in a barrel or brewing (producing wort) in a barrel? People used to almost strictly ferment in barrels back in the day. This practice is still used widely in winemaking and a bit in brewing. Firestone walker being the most widely known as stated above.
mrrshotshot said:That's how brewing was done before stainless steel tanks were used. Firestone walker ferments in barrels.
Well how is it done? How do you Sanitize them?
mrrshotshot said:Fill the barrel with water and add an appropriate amount if sodium metabisulfite.
Any beer would work I imagine.
jphebbie2 said:It depends on the barrels previous usage. Generally new oak isn't used on beer because of the cost and because it's too intense. Barley wines and stouts lend well to whiskey barrels dark sours, clean reds and browns to red wine barrels saisons and light Belgians to white wine barrels ect.. Big beers normally age better in barrels as well. Generally these beers are clean fermented then racked to barrels and aged. Potassium metabisulfate is added if you don't want sour beer. The sky's the limit though, I've had a juniper beer aged in gin barrels that was pretty tasty for example
jphebbie2 said:@ brewkid
Did u add sulfites to keep it from souring?? I had a 10% abv barley wine go sour that I thought would be self sanitizing. Since them ive added them to every beer in my new whiskey barrel to protect the beer and the barrel from the nasties
Watch the hot water usage with barrels! There's likely bacteria and "stuff" in your hot water heater that you may not want in your barrel since some things proliferate in the hot environment. I've had 2 barrels and had 2 unintentional barrel infections. They were great for sour beers, but even my non-sour strong beers (10%+) caught a bug and ended up souring. It's touchy with barrels but rewarding if done correctly. Don't expect to get more than a few batches - the first batch will be very oaky but each batch will take more and more time to achieve the level of oakiness you get initially. Using barrels is a whole new world so enjoyI just washed it out a couple times with warm water
jessup said:Watch the hot water usage with barrels! There's likely bacteria and "stuff" in your hot water heater that you may not want in your barrel since some things proliferate in the hot environment. I've had 2 barrels and had 2 unintentional barrel infections. They were great for sour beers, but even my non-sour strong beers (10%+) caught a bug and ended up souring. It's touchy with barrels but rewarding if done correctly. Don't expect to get more than a few batches - the first batch will be very oaky but each batch will take more and more time to achieve the level of oakiness you get initially. Using barrels is a whole new world so enjoy
lazarus0530 said:Looking into finding barrels ...thank you
Enter your email address to join: