Questions about 55gal Buffalo Trace Oak Barrel

[BeerWomb]

Couple of us are thinking about putting either St. Arnold Lawnmower or Canebrake Envie pale ale in the barrel to age it. Any suggestions or should we we do it differently? First time working with the oak barrel.

 

[woknblues]

I am used to seeing more complex beers going into a barrel. Please check out themadfermentationist blog. He goes by oldsock around here, but there is so much information at his site, I bet you get what you need.

On a side note, I sure love Buffalo Trace Bourbon.

 

[BeerWomb]

Can you link me to his website?

 

[lakedawgs]

We bought a Jim Beam barrel in January. Just pulled out a big RIS we had in there for 3 months. Initially we filled the barrel with water for about 3 days to make sure it was watertight. After we dumped the RIS we filled the barrel with water and dumped it to rinse.

Best advice I can give is to not let the barrel sit empty. Fill it as soon as possible.

 

[BeerWomb]

Did you add anything to the beer? Did it need more yeast or certain supplements?

 

[woknblues]

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/

 

[lakedawgs]

Our beer was completely fermented out before we put it in the barrel. I, personally would not want any, or as little as possible, fermentation to occur in the barrel.
Remember, you really can clean this thing between fillings. A rinse is about all it can get.
Now if you plan to use this thing on only one batch, fermenting in the barrel might be interesting, I have no experience with that. We are on our second batch in the barrel.

 

[BeerWomb]

Lakedawgs

Did you flush your barrel with C02? And what type of beer was it and how long did you leave it in?

 

[lakedawgs]

No CO2
The first beer was a 10% Russian Imperial Stout. Sat in the barrel about 3 months.
Now, we have a 8+% Scottish Wee Heavy in the barrel.
In a few months we hope to put Denny Conn's Bourbon Imperial Vanilla Porter in.

We have an extra 5 gallon bucket of the base beer next to the keg. Every 3 wks or so I pull a sample and top the barrel to the bung. There is no room for CO2. No reason to mess with CO2, just keep the barrel FULL.

 

[BeerWomb]

How would you carbonate an oak barrel?

 

[BeerWomb]

Reason I am asking is because I don't know if we would be doing the FULL 55 gallon or half of that.

If we have to do half, then I would probably need to carbonate the barrel to displace the air.

 

[woknblues]

I think the problem here is that you should never allow the barrel to stay dry for any appreciable period of time.

 

[lakedawgs]

I agree with woknblues. A liquid tight barrel will eventually be a 'not liquid tight' barrel.