Wooden Kegs

[Home_alone1]

Has anyone bought a wooden barrel and lined it with pine pitch to use as a serving keg at parties?

I’m thinking of starting with a small one to test it out. My plan is to lager my beer out like usual , krausen in the barrel and then seal it up for a few weeks to carb and get clear again before serving directly from the barrel.

Also does anyone know where to get a quality brass barrel tap ?

 

[Witherby]

I’ve definitely thought about it and had beer from pitch-lined kegs in Germany and at Notch here in Massachusetts and a few English styles here (those historically were not pitch lined). I would get a beer barrel though. They are built stouter than other barrels.

You can order them from Germany:
http://www.buettnerei-weis.de/Holzfass.html

 

[Home_alone1]

I also saw barrels made by sascha rudnik. I don’t know if I want to know how much shipping would be . Has anyone here ordered from either of these company’s before ?

 

[bracconiere]

Has anyone bought a wooden barrel and lined it with pine pitch to use as a serving keg at parties?

pine pitch? am i mistaken thinking that's pine charcoal or something? i've never considered smoking meat with it either? is this a cheaper bittering agent similar to hops? just asking for my intimidated back of the mind....

 

[Home_alone1]

pine pitch? am i mistaken thinking that's pine charcoal or something? i've never considered smoking meat with it either? is this a cheaper bittering agent similar to hops? just asking for my intimidated back of the mind....

Brewers pitch is made of pine pitch and resin. Pitch is a by product of making turpentine. It’s more or less a solid at room temp but you can heat it up and coat the inside of the barrel to keep away the oak flavor and to help seal the barrel.

 

[bracconiere]

so instead of making the beer taste like pine needles, it acts like a easily spread glass coating? i have seen mesquite tree get some pretty hard sap bulbs from where wood pecker and stuff bug them....

 

[Home_alone1]

I think it still imparts some kind of flavor , I’m not sure. Just in the research phase of this plan. My back yard bonfires in the winter with my neighbors need a barrel of beer.

 

[bracconiere]

My back yard bonfires in the winter with my neighbors need a barrel of beer.

+1, bonfire or not, everyone needs a barrel of beer!

 

[Slim M]

+1, bonfire or not, everyone needs a barrel of beer!

Yeah just ask Homer he will 2nd that

 

[hotbeer]

It was my understanding that most preferred their beer from barrels that were well used so the pitch flavor had gone away. Maybe you should plan for next year, but start using that cask or barrel now so it can be well used by this time next year.

 

[Witherby]

It was my understanding that most preferred their beer from barrels that were well used so the pitch flavor had gone away. Maybe you should plan for next year, but start using that cask or barrel now so it can be well used by this time next year.

The English preferred well used neutral barrels. Theirs didn’t use pitch. The Germans repitched annually and you could taste the pitch when it was fresh.

 

[bracconiere]

The Germans repitched annually and you could taste the pitch when it was fresh.

gives me new meaning to the phrase 'green beer'....

 

[bwible]

Would a wooden barrel act like a cask where you have a bung hole on top along with the place on the barrel head where the tap goes in and the barrel has to draw air with each dispense?

Asking because if so this is a big consideration. Its the big problem why more homebrewers don’t have casks. Because once tapped, you have a limited amount of time to drink all the beer before it goes off. Definitely needs to be a consideration in the purchase of such a barrel - size. Say you get a 15 gallon barrel, which is actually a small size as far as barrels go. Are you going to drink 15 gallons of beer at one sitting around a backyard bonfire? Roughly 150 12oz beers. If you have enough people you might.

I know it sounds cool and all, and not to be a downer, but why go through the expense and hassle to buy, treat, and handle a wooden barrel when corny kegs are already more available, cheaper, and better suited to the purpose? Especially since you’re not after barrel character or brett.

 

[Home_alone1]

I already have kegs , my shift at work has 26 guys and 2 gals , a lot with wife’s and kids. Several times a year we will get together. They all know I brew. We could finish off a barrel in a night. It would only be used for when we all got together.

 

[bwible]

I already have kegs , my shift at work has 26 guys and 2 gals , a lot with wife’s and kids. Several times a year we will get together. They all know I brew. We could finish off a barrel in a night. It would only be used for when we all got together.

Yeah i looked at those posted above. They make a 20L size. I had no idea. That does look like fun but probably still more of a pita than its worth

 

[vandalay]

Would a wooden barrel act like a cask where you have a bung hole on top along with the place on the barrel head where the tap goes in and the barrel has to draw air with each dispense?

Asking because if so this is a big consideration. Its the big problem why more homebrewers don’t have casks. Because once tapped, you have a limited amount of time to drink all the beer before it goes off. Definitely needs to be a consideration in the purchase of such a barrel - size. Say you get a 15 gallon barrel, which is actually a small size as far as barrels go. Are you going to drink 15 gallons of beer at one sitting around a backyard bonfire? Roughly 150 12oz beers. If you have enough people you might.

I know it sounds cool and all, and not to be a downer, but why go through the expense and hassle to buy, treat, and handle a wooden barrel when corny kegs are already more available, cheaper, and better suited to the purpose? Especially since you’re not after barrel character or brett.

Unless you get a "ploungeur" that allows you to work with co2.-
They are antiques but can still be found here in the south of the continent.-
I have used them very little (with my beer engine), they are showy but nothing compared to modern equipment.-

 

[Dyke Busters]

If you want a hint of wood to add to your drinks you can add wood chips into the fermentation bin. It would save the expense of a wooden keg but still add the flavour that a wooden keg would give.

 

[mashpaddled]

Not as classy but I believe there are plastic versions of the upright wood casks commonly used for pouring German beers by gravity. If material is not an issue, might be easier and cheaper to source an English pin and just pour from the cask without a beer engine. Essentially the same thing.

I've seen a few upright wood casks at German-focused breweries in the US. Just from the look of them, I'd imagine they are not cheap. The staves are thicker than most 5-10 gallon barrels made for small distilleries or home use.

 

[Home_alone1]

I contacted both companies when I started this thread and have not received a reply yet. They might not want to deal with selling just 1 barrel to some lowly home brewer lol