Used bourbon barrel question

[Kaz]

Just got a 5 gallon used Bourbon barrel. It was dumped beginning of November and still smells strongly of bourbon. I'll probably get to brew something to age in it in the week or 2. Should I worry about it drying out in that time frame? I'd like to just brew a strong dark beer and dump right in without rinsing if feasible? TIA

 

[UCChemE05]

I would rinse.... With more Bourbon actually. Dump a fifth in and shake around a time or two between now and then. Dump the Bourbon just before filling for aging. This will ensure the barrel doesn't dry out and nothing grows inside. Once filling, take samples every 4 or 5 days. You'll get a lot of oak and the Bourbon with a barrel of that size.

 

[madscientist451]

Its easy to over-oak using a 5 gallon barrel. You may want to brew a 10 gallon batch and then you can blend the oaked and un-oaked versions to reach the taste profile you are looking for.

 

[Kaz]

Thanks for the help...followed UCChem's advice and re-filled it with some bourbon and rolled it around every few days and dumped before filling with a Robust Porter, after about 2 weeks it was a delicious, vanilla, chocolate bourbon bomb. Next question, now that I've emptied my barrel, what is keeping me from rinsing with some hot water and re-filling it with bourbon until my next batch is ready? Can I do that indefinitely to preserve the bourbon character or will that backfire at some point? Its kind of a moot point, because I've already re-filled it with bourbon, but just curioius if anyone else has done this? I'm hoping to age a Tripel or IPA in it next and eventually switch to sours. TIA

 

[Domminigan]

I have kept this up for the past few years, even through my non brewing time, but I used Rum.
Every now and then I added distilled water instead of Rum, but probably less than a 1:4 ratio over time.