Fermenting in Oak Barrels

So I really want to try this soon. Not sure how the best way to go about it. Would I use the barrel as a secondary? First I need to get my hands on a oak cask (anybody know where or how to get one?) Witch is the best to use? I assume that I would use a primary glass carboy and age in the barrel. What would be the best brew to do this with? Maybe a belgian Triple or Dark Ale. Love to hear what anybody has to say about this topic. Has anyone done this? what is the best way to go about it ? what was the outcomes and or success stories

The local Bourbon maker in town (Stranahan's) sells their used barrels for about $350 each. One of the breweries in town (Great Divide) uses them for their oak-aged stout. They keep theirs in the barrels for a year. Their product does evaporate through the barrels. They report starting with 75bbl and ending up with about 55bbl.

I've never used a barrel myself. I've added bourbon-soaked oak cubes in secondary for a couple months and gotten good results.

There are places online to buy smaller barrels made of white oak and toasted. I have one from http://www.oakbarrelsltd.com/ and I use it as a secondary, works great!

http://www.thebarrelsource.com/ is another place i looked before I purchased

Jesse77 said:

So I really want to try this soon. Not sure how the best way to go about it. Would I use the barrel as a secondary?

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It depends on what you want to get from the barrel. Fermentation drives off much of the aromatics and flavors from the wood, and leaves a lot of structural compounds and some flavor behind. These compounds add to mouthfeel mainly. If you want flavor and some of these structural compounds, use the barrel for aging and ferment in a carboy (or conical, bucket, etc.).

Thanks for all this info. The more I look into this it seems very complex and lots of work. I need to wait till I am much more advanced. The barrels are very pricey also. This requires a lot of planing and a lot of research before I can even think of attempting with out making a big mess or spoiling a good batch.

If you're only looking for flavor (versus the experience), you can use oak chips, spirals or rods to acheive the desired affect. That way you won't have to account for the evapration, conditioning of the cask, storage space, etc.

Oak in various forms can be purchased at your LHBS, and you can even buy regular dowels and toast it to your liking for varied affects/flavors, as well. I've gone this route, as the cons completely outweigh the pros of using an actual barrel in MY brewery.