Barrel Aging Question

[DevilsCups]

Hey all! First post here. This site has been a great resource for me.

Going to be aging an imperial stout that we brewed up in a used 5 gallon whiskey barrel. The base beer is Northern Brewers Imperial Stout kit which is currently fermenting away happily. Nailed the OG happily (1.086)!

Should this beer be racked into a secondary to condition for a few months, then rack into the barrel for the desired amount of time? Or should this beer go into the barrel once primary is completed to pick up the right amount of flavor then be placed in a secondary to condition before bottling?

Also, what would be the best method to remove the beer from the small barrel? Might there be some kind of spigot/bung hybrid out there? Our auto-siphon will probably work, but we want to get the maximum yield from that barrel. Expecting some loss to barrel absorption and angels share.

Thanks!

 

[meschaefer]

I use my barrel a little differently, but if I was you I would move it to a secondary and condition the beer in a carboy before moving it to the barrel. Because of the high surface area of the barrel, your are going to pick up a lot of flavor from it very quickly. I would take a sample once a week and then pull the beer as soon as it gets the level of barrel flavor that you want.

The bung hole on my barrel is to small to accommodate a full size auto siphon. I purchased the mini - auto siphon and that works well.