Barrel head space - should I worry?

[Crispyvelo]

Hi All,

I'm making a Sante Adarius West Ashley clone (3724 + 3711 + bottle dregs from two bottles). I have a used 10g barrel, but can only brew 5g at a time with my equipment. I've now had two successful brew days and have transferred both batches to the barrel.

Here's the problem - I seem to have about a GALLON of headspace in the barrel (yikes!). I'm also a home winemaker and take headspace elimination pretty seriously (at least for wine).

A) How concerned should I be about this much headspace for many months of aging?

B) Should I brew a damn 3rd batch and make sure the barrel is topped up?

Thanks!
Chris

 

[quijiba]

Hi All,

I'm making a Sante Adarius West Ashley clone (3724 + 3711 + bottle dregs from two bottles). I have a used 10g barrel, but can only brew 5g at a time with my equipment. I've now had two successful brew days and have transferred both batches to the barrel.

Here's the problem - I seem to have about a GALLON of headspace in the barrel (yikes!). I'm also a home winemaker and take headspace elimination pretty seriously (at least for wine).

A) How concerned should I be about this much headspace for many months of aging?

B) Should I brew a damn 3rd batch and make sure the barrel is topped up?

Thanks!
Chris

You should be relatively concerned if you don't want acetic acid taste in your beer. The more headspace, the more oxygen. The more oxygen the more acetic acid production (i.e. that vinegary flavor). So it's really up to you but I would highly recommend topping it off. I personally do not enjoy acetic acid in anything but the smallest amounts.

It would actually be worth brewing another batch and keeping some extra beer off to the side. Not sure how long you plan on aging but you may have to top off some more along the way potentially if its a long aging time. Just something to think about!

 

[IslandLizard]

B)

Then ferment the rest in a regular fermentor and when done, store in a pre-purged keg for top up periodically after taking samples and counteract on the angels' share.

 

[Crispyvelo]

Thank you both! I will brew another batch this weekend!