A few friends and I have just acquired a 30 gallon apple brandy barrel with the intent of filling it with some sort of sour base beer. We bought the barrel from John at http://www.barrelbroker.com/
The barrel smells fantastic! Our collective experience with brewing sour beer is limited to the 2 batches I have going and a third one of my buddies has going. Mine are about 8 months in and taste pretty good so far. I have searched the forums and have read Old Socks account of his apple brandy barrel solera. All of this has been helpful. Of course, I still have a few questions
1. The barrel still smells very boozy. Do we need to do any further sanitizing?
2. Aside from testing whether it will hold water, do we need to add boiling water to remove some of the alcohol hotness? Will the size of the barrel negate some of that? I have used a 5 gallon rum barrel before and I could only age for a few days the first time around. We are looking to age long term here and definitely want some of the apple brandy character but not a ton of extra alcohol heat.
3. I have used WLP 655 and dregs from Jolly Pumpkin in the previous mentioned batches but have read so many flattering accounts of ECY20. I know its availability is extremely limited but is it something that I can pitch at any point down the road (in addition to 655 and dregs) if I am lucky enough to source some? Any other suggestions for microrgansims?
We are still trying to figure what our base beer will be. Preliminary thought is Oud Bruin. Can anyone suggest a tried and true recipe for that style? I would welcome any other ideas for styles as well.
I am very excited to get this project underway and also very grateful for any pointers you all can offer. Thank you.
The barrel smells fantastic! Our collective experience with brewing sour beer is limited to the 2 batches I have going and a third one of my buddies has going. Mine are about 8 months in and taste pretty good so far. I have searched the forums and have read Old Socks account of his apple brandy barrel solera. All of this has been helpful. Of course, I still have a few questions
1. The barrel still smells very boozy. Do we need to do any further sanitizing?
2. Aside from testing whether it will hold water, do we need to add boiling water to remove some of the alcohol hotness? Will the size of the barrel negate some of that? I have used a 5 gallon rum barrel before and I could only age for a few days the first time around. We are looking to age long term here and definitely want some of the apple brandy character but not a ton of extra alcohol heat.
3. I have used WLP 655 and dregs from Jolly Pumpkin in the previous mentioned batches but have read so many flattering accounts of ECY20. I know its availability is extremely limited but is it something that I can pitch at any point down the road (in addition to 655 and dregs) if I am lucky enough to source some? Any other suggestions for microrgansims?
We are still trying to figure what our base beer will be. Preliminary thought is Oud Bruin. Can anyone suggest a tried and true recipe for that style? I would welcome any other ideas for styles as well.
I am very excited to get this project underway and also very grateful for any pointers you all can offer. Thank you.