Barrel-Aging Roll Call

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My RIS is now in the barrel. I'll be doing a taste every week to see how it's progressing. It already smells delicious.
 
The Sonoma Beerocrats are doing two 60 gallon, sour beers aged in wine barrels. The Flanders is being aged in a Cab barrel finished with Brett. The Second is being aged in a Chardonnay barrel finished with the house culture from Russian River Brewery. Both Barrels are being aged at Russian River’s production brewery's barrel room. They should be ready in about a year according to Vinnie.
 
Never tried barrels before but I just recieved two small 5 L barrels as a gift. One is going to be designated for Cider, the other for a Belgian tripel that has been in secondary for 4 weeks. Small barrels, so I probably won't leave either batch for longer than a month before bottling... Will I be able to bottle with priming sugar? I'm worried the yeast wont be active enough to carbonate...
 
I'll probably bottle mine this weekend. It was pretty nice on the whiskey side last week, but didn't have much oak to it. I'll need to store something in it until I can get brewing again. Damn snow and busy weekend.
 
Last night I taster my dark strong Belgian that sat in a barrel for a few weeks, and the whiskey taste is there, but the alcohol taste needs to meld back in, so I'll give it another month before I taste test again.

I have a persimmon mead that I'll be tasting in about a month as well, its been on oak for 2 weeks now.

Cheers

Lucas
 
RIS in mine, have not sampled yet, only been in the barrel a week or so. I added bourbon every so often and shook it around to keep the barrel wet/sealed.
 
Racked the Porter out of the barrel yesterday. I could def taste/smell the whiskey and I think I detected the wood but it was hard to tell (the whiskey was stronger for sure). Tasted good though.
 
Tried the Oaked AB clone after 2 weeks primary, 2 weeks barrel, and 2 weeks in the bottle, and it is still too young to drink. The bourbon is still there, and the wood is very strong. Hoping things will mellow and blend better over time...
 
Just stole my first pour of the Robust Porter I made late November and barrelled for 21 days in a 5 gal corn whiskey barrel (my first ever barrel-aged beer). The whiskey note has mellowed since I kegged it and there is a nice vanilla note. TBH I almost never brew/drink Porters and don't really know what they're supposed to be like but this is friggin' delicious.
 
My 2010 Barley Wine has been in since the 9th and I will taste it this saturday. I am interested to see just how much of the whiskey it has taken on.
 
Brewed a wee heavy 1.5 weeks ago, that will be the first to go in. Will probably do a barleywine next, then some sort of RIS. After that, the barrel is gonna get funky, if you know what I mean :)
 
SpanishCastleAle said:
Just stole my first pour of the Robust Porter I made late November and barrelled for 21 days in a 5 gal corn whiskey barrel (my first ever barrel-aged beer). The whiskey note has mellowed since I kegged it and there is a nice vanilla note. TBH I almost never brew/drink Porters and don't really know what they're supposed to be like but this is friggin' delicious.
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How did you decide on the age? We just brewed 60 gallons of robust porter to put in a barrel. We each separately did 10 gallon batches. We are going to combine after fermentation is done.

We are tossing around numbers like 3-6 months for the aging, based on the volume of the barrel. This is a first for all of us.
 
Brewmoor said:
How did you decide on the age? We just brewed 60 gallons of robust porter to put in a barrel. We each separately did 10 gallon batches. We are going to combine after fermentation is done.

We are tossing around numbers like 3-6 months for the aging, based on the volume of the barrel. This is a first for all of us.
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Depends on the barrel, barrels used for 12 years like Jack Daniels' barrels yea 3 months is probably about right. Really taking samples and deciding when it's done is the only way to know for sure.
 
Their site says they age their liquor for a minimum of two years. So minimum of 2 years of fluid in the barrel we got from them. I guess we will just need to take samples every month until it tastes right.

Edit: "We age our whiskey a minimum of two years before it reaches bottled perfection for your drinking pleasure." Does that mean they age in the bottle? If so who knows how long it stays in the barrel


http://www.stranahans.com/index.php?q=process
 
Is there any reason why so many people are turning their barrels into funky containers in the end? Just asking.
 
Brewmoor said:
Their site says they age their liquor for a minimum of two years. So minimum of 2 years of fluid in the barrel we got from them. I guess we will just need to take samples every month until it tastes right.
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Yeah. You could ask how many times the barrel was re-used. Usually the barrels are used more than once. So if they age for two years in the barrel, the barrel is probably four years old. Or maybe six. The end product is usually blended from multiple barrels.
 
I have a barleywine in mine. Tasted it yesterday, after 3.5 weeks. I love the aroma and taste, although I'll let it mellow in a carboy a while to knock off the edges of the bourbon taste a little. Has anybody bottled their beers from the barrel, and if so, did you have to add any additional yeast?
 
I haven't bottled, but I am for sure going to be adding more yeast seeing as I have close to 12%abv.
 
Saccharomyces said:
Never hurts to add add'l yeast at bottling. I have had great success with Montrachet as a bottling yeast since it isn't hyper-attenuative and it's a whopping $0.99 a pack.
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Thanks Sacc. I happen to have some in the fridge as I type.
Just incase I decide to make an impromptu batch of Ed Wort's Apfelwein! Again, at $0.99, it's worth keeping a few packs around!
 
Brewmoor said:
How did you decide on the age? We just brewed 60 gallons of robust porter to put in a barrel. We each separately did 10 gallon batches. We are going to combine after fermentation is done.

We are tossing around numbers like 3-6 months for the aging, based on the volume of the barrel. This is a first for all of us.
Click to expand...
I just picked one.:) It's my first barrel (and first brew in that barrel) and I wasn't confident I'd be able to taste green, flat beer and tell when it was 'ripe'. Especially since the whisky flavor/aroma are in the beer pretty quickly. So my plan was to age the first brew 3 weeks, second brew 5 weeks, and after I get the third brew in there to taste the first brew. I'll prob let the third brew go for a while. Hopefully having all these different variations of the same beer will help me to 'learn' what these flavors in beer are all about. Blending is always a possibility.

I'm assumimg the whiskey flavor/aroma will diminish more than the wood flavor with subsequent batches...is that true?
 
whiskey will be the first to go. The wood should hang around for a good 2 years from the first drop of liquid. The little guys will go a little faster though. If you plan on getting about 12 months worth of aging out of it, that is a good number. I hope to get at least six brews out of each of my barrels.
 
Apfelwine was the first liquid in and out of my barrel. I had it in there for 2 weeks then bottled (no tasting yet, but I will tonight). The second batch in was a 8%ABV old ale. It's been in there almost 4 weeks and the sample I theifed last night tells me it's ready to be bottled. Then the barrel will get the big Christmas ale (10% ABV) for at least 4 weeks (probably longer).

Question:
My understanding is that temperature fluctuations are what make barrels work and after the spring is over here, it's going to just be hot. I don't plan on using the barrel for beer during the summer and plan on putting some storebought bourbon in there (a fifth or a qt, not the full 5 gallons $$$!). Will the evaporation of volatiles and occasionally changing the barrel poistion be enough or do I need to do somethig else? :confused:

I have a single sulfur strip, but don't know what to do with it.
TIA
 
I just bottled my smoked barleywine and next is going to be an old ale which I want to age for about 3-4 months in the barrel.

If that comes out good, I am going to keep making old ales as they sour nicely and either blend them or just see how far I can take the sourness.
 
I realize this may be a niave question, but what the heck. I am receiving my barrel tomorrow. SWMBO is out of town so what a great time for it to show up :rockin:.

That being said I will not be ready to put anything into it for a few weeks. I have read several posts suggesting/stating people are putting bourbon/whisley in the barrel to keep it moist.

May I ask how much should I add? I assume 5 gallons is overkill but would 750 ml be enough? Any thoughts? Thanks
 
Fill it with hot water and that will keep it fresh and ready to go when you need it. Personally I think it's a bad idea to use whiskey as it already strongly tastes like whiskey so unless you really want to impart a strong whiskey taste, you are just compounding the problem. I'm looking to mellow mine out. Also, you will have to constant keep swishing it around to keep the inside moist unless you fill the whole thing with whiskey. Not the case with water.
 
@ eljefe-
I filled mine with a handle of Jim Beam, and just rotated it a 1/4 turn every day. Irrenarzt is correct in saying that you will get a strong whiskey taste too the following beer. I've been letting my barleywine (the first beer I ran through the barrel) mellow out for almost 3 weeks due to the STRONG bourbon taste. My only problem with filling the barrel with hot water is I'm afraid it may strip the bourbon from the wood, maybe the oakiness too? I don't know if either one will happen, but I'd rather let the beer sit to mellow out (since it'll have to age anyway) than potentially stripping out all bourbon/oak.
Good luck!
 
Just bottled my Barleywine and thinking of adding in a light pale into it next. Not sure really
 
I_B_Mongo said:
@ eljefe-
I filled mine with a handle of Jim Beam, and just rotated it a 1/4 turn every day. Irrenarzt is correct in saying that you will get a strong whiskey taste too the following beer. I've been letting my barleywine (the first beer I ran through the barrel) mellow out for almost 3 weeks due to the STRONG bourbon taste. My only problem with filling the barrel with hot water is I'm afraid it may strip the bourbon from the wood, maybe the oakiness too? I don't know if either one will happen, but I'd rather let the beer sit to mellow out (since it'll have to age anyway) than potentially stripping out all bourbon/oak.
Good luck!
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Is there a middle ground? A mixture of water and bourbon? I can talk myself into this is a genius idea as well as a really dumb one. I was thinking 1 liter bourbon (cheap) and the rest water. It could prevent the flavor being leeched out.
 
I would use a bourbon you like the taste of...cause it is gonna end up in your beer. You can always drain it back into the bottle, and re-use it to re-season your barrel between beers. You dropped a lot of money on the barrel, and a lot of time in the batch of beer. A $40 handle of Jack/Jim/etc. isn't really too bad in comparison, esp. if you re-use it several times.
 
I_B_Mongo said:
I would use a bourbon you like the taste of...cause it is gonna end up in your beer. You can always drain it back into the bottle, and re-use it to re-season your barrel between beers. You dropped a lot of money on the barrel, and a lot of time in the batch of beer. A $40 handle of Jack/Jim/etc. isn't really too bad in comparison, esp. if you re-use it several times.
Click to expand...

Great point, but a handle isn't filling the barrell up, so do I do mixture of a JD or JD/other brand and water, or to your point do I invest in 5 gallons of bourbon or whiskey and just re-use it over and over.

Thanks
 

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