Used liquor barrels

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John...you have me wanting to try this! After this thing is neutral is there any benefit to putting an IPA in it? I know absolutely nothing about oak aged beer.....
 
2BeerSpeer said:
John...you have me wanting to try this! After this thing is neutral is there any benefit to putting an IPA in it? I know absolutely nothing about oak aged beer.....
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Aging an IPA in a neutral barrel seems pointless to me. But IMO, it's still better than an oaky IPA! (*bleccchhh*)

Neutral barrels are typically used for aging sours, and there is not one but (at least) two distinct benefits, including:

a) microoxygenation which allows small and (relatively) controlled amounts of acetic acid production (plastic buckets let way too much oxygen in, glass let's in nothing), and

b) maintains - and in some cases even SUPPORTS - the various bacterial and yeast cultures. Flanders Reds in particular (which are quite acetic and thus also benefit greatly from the first point) are traditionally inoculated simply by placing them in already-infected barrels (with appropriate bugs, of course), and can be used like this for batch after batch. In fact, as soon as I determined my own barrel was suitably neutral, I made it a dedicated Flanders Red barrel. I started it off with a commercial blend - Wyeast's Roselare, which contains Rodenbach strains - and since then have been (carefully) adding the dregs from various Flanders Reds I happen to buy, encouraging my barrel's "ecosystem" (and thus all subsequent batches) to evolve, and presumably increase in complexity.
 
crazyirishman34 said:
Can you guys get neutral barrels? I have been wanting to try out some sour type beers.
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A few "rinses" of metabisulfite + citric acid solution should be able to strip any remaining oakiness.
 
Steelers77 said:
You gonna waste all the liquor love. :(
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True. And while I'm not really into oaked beers or rum/whiskey beers, I still recommend brewing at least one batch of rum- or whiskey-barrel ale , as it's not an opportunity that comes along every day - not to mention there's perfectly good liquor in the barrel that'd be silly to waste! And my Coconut Rum-Barrel Tropical Stout turned out to be a damn fun recipe to design, and a damn tasty beer to drink!

But I also bought my barrel with the intention of using it for sours, so I can definitely understand the desire to just get it over with quickly. But I'd still urge everyone to take advantage of the uncommon opportunity they have.
 
emjay said:
True. And while I'm not really into oaked beers or rum/whiskey beers, I still recommend brewing at least one batch of rum- or whiskey-barrel ale , as it's not an opportunity that comes along every day - not to mention there's perfectly good liquor in the barrel that'd be silly to waste! And my Coconut Rum-Barrel Tropical Stout turned out to be a damn fun recipe to design, and a damn tasty beer to drink!

But I also bought my barrel with the intention of using it for sours, so I can definitely understand the desire to just get it over with quickly. But I'd still urge everyone to take advantage of the uncommon opportunity they have.
Click to expand...

Feel like sharing that recipe?
 
Very interested in a whiskey barrel, sent pm yesterday for shipping quote; zip 95240.
 

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