Barrel Aging

[Mattyc88]

Hey, I know head-space is typically a bad thing when talking about secondaries. Is this still the case with barrels?

Ex: If I was to buy a used 8 gallon bourbon barrel to age 5 gallon batches, would that be okay?

Also - anyone who has done this... how long do you find you need to leave the beer in the barrel to really pick up some in the taste?

 

[helibrewer]

You want to fill the barrel completely so you might consider scaling your recipe to 4 gallons and making a double batch. You could do (2) 5 gallon batches which would leave you plenty for transfer loses but you would probably end up losing about a gallon of beer...which you could airlock in a 1 gallon jug and blend back in during bottling.

 

[Xpertskir]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/barrel-brew-457037/


Not only do you not want headspace in a barrel at the onset, but you want to have top off beer laying in wait.

the search function is your friend.

Small barrels come with their own set of challenges that I would make sure to research before taking the plunge

 

[Mattyc88]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/barrel-brew-457037/


Not only do you not want headspace in a barrel at the onset, but you want to have top off beer laying in wait.

the search function is your friend.

Small barrels come with their own set of challenges that I would make sure to research before taking the plunge

Thanks guys.