Getting a free 55 gallon barrel

[Goblin22]

So a local winery gives my stepdad barrels to turn into patio chairs, and the winery silent auctions them off to rich people. They're really nice chairs (see pic). So since I'm picking them up tomorrow, I asked if they could kick in an extra one... SCORE!

Now to the point- I'm still new to brewing, but very excitable. I've got a russian imperial stout recipe I like, and I understand its common to use bourbon barrels. But what about in a ruby chardonnay barrel?

I've got a 30 gallon kettle that I'll have to run through twice (and maybe a 10 gallon depending), and I'm probably gonna spend about $300-400 on grain.

I'm looking for advice on pairing flavors with the stout and red wine

 

[day_trippr]

I'm not sure a wine flavor is going to enhance an ris...

 

[cactusgarrett]

I'm not sure a wine flavor is going to enhance an ris...

Agreed. If you're looking for something to pair with a red wine profile, i'd stay away from something roasty. (Assuming you don't want to go the sour route) I'd lean towards a malt-forward style - barleywine, brown ale, dubbel, or quad, for example.

 

[SanPancho]

The beers that generally pair well with red are lighter ales, blonde to golden. But these don’t necessarily age well like the dark stuff.

Time to go sour.

 

[ong]

I disagree. I have an RIS that I fermented on spent Merlot grapes and oak. It’s really lovely.

 

[SanPancho]

interesting. I guess I should have prefaced my response by saying if you want to really profile the grape, use lighter styles.

 

[S-Met]

I was thinking golden strong, maybe trappist yeast.

 

[Goblin22]

Thanks for the response guys. It turns out these were 80 gallon barrels and are in no way usable other than furniture or garden ornaments. They used in '08 and were bought used before then too. Spider filled and stored in a warehouse.

I was hoping to use wine barrels because the bourbon aged stouts don't do it for me, other than getting me plastered. I was thinking a heavy wine flavor could bleed nicely into a RIS

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

^^^ bummer, casks are best newly empty and 80 gallons would be a f**kton of Homebrew. But you have a cool spider home to decorate your yard or cellar. Nice furniture by the way.

 

[Kickass]

British Old Ale aged in/on red wine oak barrel is a really tasty combo.