Bourbon Barrel Aging....

[CiderScot]

I just ordered a 5 gallon bourbon barrel and was going to use it to age my cider after fermentation is complete. Usually I add some pure cane sugar and a wee bit of yeast to carb it and bottle after it ferments.

I'm wondering if I let it age for a bit and then carb and bottle or if I can carb it as I put it in the barrel and just drink straight from the barrel. Would this be like kegging it? I'm thinking I still need to do the bottling separately so I can refrigerate.

Any thoughts?

 

[Brewkowski]

Essentially you're talking about cask conditioning and serving cider right? I don't see why that wouldn't work. I'm thinking about doing something with oak, but to have a barrel to serve it from, that's just top knotch. I'm not sure about modifying the barrel for a dispensing tap. Either old school wooden tap or something like this http://www.draughtquality.org/w/page/18182216/Notes on Serving Cask Ale

 

[CiderScot]

Essentially you're talking about cask conditioning and serving cider right? I don't see why that wouldn't work. I'm thinking about doing something with oak, but to have a barrel to serve it from, that's just top knotch. I'm not sure about modifying the barrel for a dispensing tap. Either old school wooden tap or something like this http://www.draughtquality.org/w/page/18182216/Notes%20on%20Serving%20Cask%20Ale

No, it's fully ready to go! As I said though, if I add the mix to carb it in the barrel, it wouldn't be refrigerated when serving so I guess I'll have to bottle.

Here's the link to where I'm getting the barrel. Look under hobby barrels:

www.kentuckybarrels.com

 

[Brewkowski]

Easy, turn one of your closets into a walk in cooler/meat locker, or dig deep for a cellar to at least serve it at 50 degrees or so.

 

[CiderScot]

Easy, turn one of your closets into a walk in cooler/meat locker, or dig deep for a cellar to at least serve it at 50 degrees or so.

Ha! If I had closets I might be able to do that! Only have two small ones in my condo as it is!