5 gallons of beer + 2.5 gallon oak barrel = ???

[mrphillips]

My awesome girlfriend gave me a 10L oak barrel, and I'm planing on aging my 12% barleywine in it. The problem is that the barrel will only hold HALF of my brew. I've played with a few ideas on how to remedy this problem, and would like some feedback.


1) Only oak half the beer for a longer period of time, then add it back to the unoaked beer and keep in secondary for a little while longer. In doing so, the beer that was too oaky will blend with the non-oaked beer and level itself out.

2) Oak half the beer, put it back in the secondary, give the carboy a few days and then add 5L of the half-oaked/half-nonoaked back into the barrel. In doing so, all of the beer will have spent some time in the barrel (well, maybe not every drop, but close enough after it's all been mixed together).

 

[Blue_State]

Oak half and drink half while the other is aging?

 

[douglasbarbin]

#1 but rack it all to a keg, not secondary

 

[1977Brewer]

Option 1.

You could snag some oak chips or spirals, soak thm in bourbon, add to the non-barreled half, and then blend. If you wanted a third option. You probably didn't.

 

[ImNoExpert]

Yeah, I'd do option 1.

 

[mrphillips]

Has anyone attempted to, or knows anyone who has, done either these before?

 

[Brewenstein]

Any reason not to leave the other half as is? That way you have two barleywine two for the price of one. Otherwise I would go for a longer time for in the barrel and then blend.

 

[govner1]

I'd age it in a keg sealed w/ CO2. Leaving on a half filled carboy is just asking for oxidation.

 

[mrphillips]

I'd age it in a keg sealed w/ CO2. Leaving on a half filled carboy is just asking for oxidation.

I WISH I had that option, but I'm currently...shall we say...between kegs.

 

[beergolf]

Since it is a new barrel. Has it been used for anything else? Or is it a fresh barrel? If it is fresh it will not take long in there to give the brew a very oaky flavor. If that is the case, then you could just put half in there for a week or two and then bottle it. If you added a small amount of sugar to what was left in the carboy it would create a CO2 layer that would be good for a couple of weeks. The then you could do the second half.

If it is a barrel that has been used for something else then it will take a longer time in the barrel to get the flavor you want. Then I would bottle half and put half in the barrel to age. Or get a smaller carboy to put the second half in to store until it get's it's turn in the barrel.

 

[mrphillips]

Nice explanation beergolf. I have a 11L carboy that I put half my brew into while the other half is in the oak.

I like the idea of adding some sugar to the carboy. I was a little worried about oxidation.

How quickly does a half filled carboy oxidize?