Aging in small barrels

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MountaineerBrewer

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My brother got me a 2L oak barrel for Christmas. I have never aged in a barrel before and all the information I could find was for larger size barrels. Has anyone used one of these smaller barrels? My question is, can I prime my beer before aging in this barrel? I was hoping to prime my beer so that it is ready to drink right out of the tap. My second question is, what is a good duration to age in this size of barrel?

Cheers,

Brandon
 
I've never oaked beer in a barrel before but I've done plenty of oak beers using chips and spirals. I always bottle my oaked beers since they're usually 8+% abv and they really benefit from the extra aging. I've aged on wood for anywhere from a week to 5 months. It just depends what your tastes are and what you're going for in the style of beer you're making. What style of beer are you barrel aging and what was the gravity?
Does the barrel have a tap/faucet like a cask or something? Is is mostly sealed so that it could withstand the pressure of carbonation?
I'd probably look into cask ales and follow what they do for them. There's a good brewing tv episode about carbonating a casked stout. Maybe you could apply some of those methods to what you're trying to do.

BTW... where'd your bro snag the 2L barrel from? Is it a bourbon barrel? I'm just next door to you in NoVa and I"d love to get my hands on a barrel :ban:
 
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