Barrel-Aging Homebrew

[TripleSixHoppia]

Not a bad photoshop, should have fuzzed the edges a bit.

I know people who have bought 30g barrels on Walmart.com

 

[harrymel1]

I know people who have bought 30g barrels on Walmart.com

Good bals?

 

[TripleSixHoppia]

Good bals?

Apparently they sealed well and seem fine. I'm sure it's cheap as **** 1 use american oak that will make your beer taste like chewing on a stave though.

 

[Snarf1]

ISO Pepsi 1893 Barrel aged beer

 

[More Betterness]

Anyone have a line on gin barrels between 5 and 15 gallons? Want to get weird with some mixed ferment saisons and fruit!

 

[More Betterness]

Anyone have a line on gin barrels between 5 and 15 gallons? Want to get weird with some mixed ferment saisons and fruit!

Nobody? My googling hasn't been very fruitful!

 

[anteater1]

I brewed a BCBS clone last June and split the batch to age some on American Oak and some on French Oak. For both I used 0.25 oz/gal medium toast oak cubes that were boiled for 3 minutes, then added them to the beer in secondary for 8 months. Took my first sample and here are my thoughts...

French: Aroma has a low intensity of oak, I smell some oaky vanilla and earthiness. The taste has a bit of vanilla, and some lingering nutmeg-like spice. This beer came off as slightly more acidic, not in a bad way, almost vinous.

American: Aroma has a medium intensity of oak, I smell vanilla, subtle spice and well.. wood. The nose on this one is more of a classic oaky strong ale, reminds me more of a HOTD beer than the French. Taste is way rounder, smoother, fuller. I'm getting more vanilla, caramel, and although I haven't added any bourbon yet, I might have been fooled into thinking there was bourbon in this beer.

Overall impressions: I was totally shocked at how different these beers smelled and tasted. I prefer American oak by a landslide (I was betting that would be the case when I added American to 3 gal and French to 1 gal), and will probably only use American in strong ales going forward. I'm also starting to feel pretty good about the quantity and duration of oak, while still far from actual barrel aging, this is as close as I've gotten.

 

[TripleSixHoppia]

Anyone have a line on gin barrels between 5 and 15 gallons? Want to get weird with some mixed ferment saisons and fruit!

Contact Corsair in Nashville.

Edit: Actually the BA gin might be made in KY. Anyway contact them.

 

[liquiddegenerate]

Whiskey barrel aged tropical stout in 4th use barrel. This came out way better than I expected. An absolute coconut bomb but no coconut was harmed in the making of this beer.

 

[More Betterness]

Have 60 gallons of saison ready for a long nap in a wine barrel and my buddy sends me this..

He apparently decided to empty it a few days ago of some boiled distilled water that we were swelling it with. He thinks it’s mold but his roommate thinks it’s some kind of minerals left after the water dried. Just from the picture it looks like mold to me and if it is, we’re properly ******. Can’t check it out myself until tomorrow but checking if anybody has run into this before/can make me hopeful that the barrel is usable?

 

[reverseapachemaster1]

Are you guys sure it didn't have that before attempting to swell the barrel? It might be tartrates from the wine.

I'd try to scrape a little out and check the texture. If it's gritty or powdery then it's likely a mineral/salt from the wine or water. If it's slimy or pasty I'd suspect mold. Aroma might also give you a good idea. If it smells vegetal then probably mold.

You could try posting on milk the funk...

 

[More Betterness]

Are you guys sure it didn't have that before attempting to swell the barrel? It might be tartrates from the wine.

I'd try to scrape a little out and check the texture. If it's gritty or powdery then it's likely a mineral/salt from the wine or water. If it's slimy or pasty I'd suspect mold. Aroma might also give you a good idea. If it smells vegetal then probably mold.

You could try posting on milk the funk...

Definitely wasn’t there pre-swelling and according to him it still just smells like wine.

That’s my plan currently, I’ll keep you guys updated!

 

[More Betterness]

Definitely mold.. Really bummed right now

 

[Ziggy]

Definitely mold.. Really bummed right now

Maybe the wine barrel wasn't as "fresh" as who sold it/gave it to you said?

 

[More Betterness]

Just topped up our wine barrel project and it’s tasting great at just under a year. Restrained acidity, overripe fruit, funk, and vinous. Pretty excited for this one.

 

[More Betterness]

In regards to the wine barrel above, has anyone added a Vinnie nail to a full barrel before and if so how did you go about it? Want to sample without pulling the bung but not sure if I should wait until prior to our second fill!

 

[cornboy]

In regards to the wine barrel above, has anyone added a Vinnie nail to a full barrel before and if so how did you go about it? Want to sample without pulling the bung but not sure if I should wait until prior to our second fill!

More or less the same way you would with an empty barrel. Use a drill bit slightly smaller than the nail (soak both in sani) and spray the spot on the barrel you want the nail to be with sani/iso. Be sure to drill into a single stave and not between staves. Just make sure you have the nail ready to go when drilling.