Bottling following barrel aging

[Brewslikeaking]

I am making a porter and I have a 5 liter barrel ready to age some of my latest batch. What advice would you give in regards to bottling following the barrel aging.

 

[Revvy]

First thing I learned (after the fact) test to see if the diameter of the bung hole is wide enough to fit your autosiphon or else you're going to get a surprise like I did on bottling day. (And then have to drill it out for your next batch.)

If it's a higher grav beer, or it's been in there a few months or years, you may need bottling yeast.

This is a good one.

Outside of that, there's nothing else that was any different from any other bottling experience.

 

[EMH5]

+1

I plan on aging a 7% ABV brown ale 6 months

 

[poptarts]

a 5l barrel is going to wreck that beer fast, take samples like after the first week. I bet it takes no more than 2.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I have never barrel aged, but would it not be the case that older kegs will have less vanillan in the wood and hence take more time than(relatively) young wood to age?

 

[BlkWater_brewer]

Barrel aging in a 5 gallon barrel takes days not months. Depending on your barrel, a week could be a stretch. I used a freshly dumped Rye Whiskey barrel on my farmhouse rye and let it go 10 days. Damn near undrinkable. Left it in a corny and set it aside. Was going to dump it, but tasted it first, 8 months of conditioning turned it into one of my better beers.

 

[Brewslikeaking]

Barrel aging in a 5 gallon barrel takes days not months. Depending on your barrel, a week could be a stretch. I used a freshly dumped Rye Whiskey barrel on my farmhouse rye and let it go 10 days. Damn near undrinkable. Left it in a corny and set it aside. Was going to dump it, but tasted it first, 8 months of conditioning turned it into one of my better beers.

That's funny. Because I'm using a 5liter barrel so I'd say it will be even quicker than a week

 

[Revvy]

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[Brewslikeaking]

First thing I learned (after the fact) test to see if the diameter of the bung hole is wide enough to fit your autosiphon or else you're going to get a surprise like I did on bottling day. (And then have to drill it out for your next batch.)

If it's a higher grav beer, or it's been in there a few months or years, you may need bottling yeast.

This is a good one.

Outside of that, there's nothing else that was any different from any other bottling experience.

Regarding widening the bung hole to fit in your siphon: my mini barrel has a faucet. Can I not just use that?

 

[Revvy]

Regarding widening the bung hole to fit in your siphon: my mini barrel has a faucet. Can I not just use that?

Of course... I would use a hose hooked up to it.

Many decommissioned barrels from distilleries, especially smaller independent ones, just have a bung hole on top.