Barrel question

[tbred]

I brew small 1 gallon batches because of my apartment living and wanted to start brewing sours. I really want to incorporate a barrel into the process. I do not have room for a 5 gallon barrel. I have found several 1 gallon barrels though. Would a barrel like this work for long term aging?

http://www.barrelsonline.com/ShowProduct.aspx?ID=18

I am mainly concerned about the spigot. Let me know what you think.

 

[Wahoo]

I am an advocate of small barrels but a 1 barrel is just too small for anything other than a novelty. The rate of evaporation is just too high. I have a 10L barrel (twice this size) and after a month or two in there, the beer is nearly all vinegar. I have succesfully used that beer to blend back in at a very low rate into flemish reds to add a subtle acetic character, but I wouldn't recommend going down this road if you value your time or your beer.

Keep in mind too that a 5 gallon barrel only takes up about twice as much room as a 1 gallon, as far as footprint is concerned.

 

[Xpertskir]

Sounds like oak cubes are your best bet.

 

[MileHighBrewer]

Those barrels really won't do any good for beer production. The staves are thin, you get a ton of O2, and you pick up oak character in days, not months or years like a regular barrel

 

[tbred]

So it would be a better investment to choose a 5 gallon barrel, or will that size have the same issue?

 

[Wahoo]

In my experience, you can make good beer in a "real" 5 gallon barrel-- look for a used one that had been used by a Micro-distillery. As a rule of thumb, the ones with a sipgot, like the ones you linked to, aren't made to produce beer.

People will tell you that even 5 gallon barrels have too much surface to volume to make good beer in. In my experience, this isn't entirely true. It's just that you can't treat it the same way as a 55 gallon barrel, which is what all of the literature describes. In other words, don't stick a beer in it and let it sit for 24 months. Timelines are much shorter and you may want to be ready for blending with a non-barreled beer to cut the oak and/or sourness.

 

[burninator]

Sounds like oak cubes are your best bet.

This gets my vote. Or an oak dowel in the mouth of your carboy.

 

[GTG]

I use 1 or 2 ounce pieces of oak barrel stave in my beers with great results.

 

[electrolight]

My advice is to get a 5 gallon barrel and wax the whole thing except for one band around the middle. This will get you much closer to the diffusion of a full size barrel.

 

[brewguyver]

This gets my vote. Or an oak dowel in the mouth of your carboy.

The problem with cubes is it's just flavor - the barrel gives you micro-oxidation and some concentration of the final product through evaporation, the dowel could do some if that, although if you use it in the neck it won't contact the beer in the same way.

 

[sweetcell]

I really want to incorporate a barrel into the process. I do not have room for a 5 gallon barrel.

you can make excellent sour beer without a barrel, so why do you want to use one?

the answer to this question will tell you what to do (or, alternately, one of us will take a stab at the answer )

 

[tbred]

you can make excellent sour beer without a barrel, so why do you want to use one?

the answer to this question will tell you what to do (or, alternately, one of us will take a stab at the answer )

The goal of the barrel was to inoculate it with bugs since it's harder to find a variety of commercial sours where I live.

 

[sweetcell]

The goal of the barrel was to inoculate it with bugs since it's harder to find a variety of commercial sours where I live.

barrels aren't the only thing that can be used to inoculate a batch of beer. wood chips, cubes, sticks, staves, etc. can also be used.

and to answer your original question:

Would a barrel like this work for long term aging?

given the amount of O2 that will permeate through such a small vessel, the only way i see this working would be to seal it completely with wax... at which point, why bother? it would be cheaper and afford you more flexibility to use 1-gallon jugs for aging and inoculate by moving chips/sticks/etc between jugs.

but it's your vision and your beer... if your heart is set on a one-gallon barrel, have fun with it. such are the joys of homebrewing!

 

[Wahoo]

I'll continue to be the dissenting opinion here. I brew sours in both glass (with cubes and spirals) and in barrels and the character of the beers simply cannot be compared. I love the sours I make in both programs-- but they are not alike.

 

[tbred]

barrels aren't the only thing that can be used to inoculate a batch of beer. wood chips, cubes, sticks, staves, etc. can also be used.

Question on inoculating chips/cubes. What would be the best way to store those if not being used?

@Wahoo I am not against brewing a sour in glass I was just wanted to try a barrel. I will most likely brew my first sour in glass.

 

[BGBC]

Question on inoculating chips/cubes. What would be the best way to store those if not being used?

In beer.

People do dry inoculated cubes and use them to transport cultures. I don't know how long you'd be able to keep them dry and get a reliable culture started from them though. Your best bet is to keep them in beer, even if it's just some extra wort/starter in a growler.

If you do get a barrel though, you'd want to keep it full anyway to avoid the risks that come with barrels running dry.