Sour in oak barrel

[Nate]

I'd like to try a sour and have two small new oak barrels with medium chars. I have several questions and was hoping one of you sour experts could provide some assistance.

1. Will the barrel char be ok for a sour? It's great for wine or liquors but I have reservations about the smokey component for a sour beer.

2. Is it necessary to sanitize the barrel? I'll probably pitch the Wyeast Lambic blend...

3. I was planning on leaving the barrel in the house during fermentation. Is it going to stink up the house or should I use a fridge in the garage?

4. Thoughts on serving directly from the barrel spigot?

TIA!

 

[ColoHox]

You should age a non-sour beer in the barrels before adding bugs and souring.

In my experience, fresh barrels rarely make good sours. The barrels impart a very strong oak and char flavor that doesn't (always) do well in sour beers. After a beer or two has been through the barrel, add bugs and start using it for souring. This is just my experience, YMMV.

Depending on how long it has been since the barrel has been used, you should consider sanitizing the barrel by soaking with metabisulfite solution, sloshing high-proof spirits, or using steam. If not in use, keep the barrel full of sanitizing solution to prevent the staves from shrinking. To that end, shrunken staves can leak, so garage might be a better place to store it, but it won't smell.

Sure, you can serve flat beer from the spigot.

 

[Nate]

You should age a non-sour beer in the barrels before adding bugs and souring.

In my experience, fresh barrels rarely make good sours. The barrels impart a very strong oak and char flavor that doesn't (always) do well in sour beers. After a beer or two has been through the barrel, add bugs and start using it for souring. This is just my experience, YMMV.

Depending on how long it has been since the barrel has been used, you should consider sanitizing the barrel by soaking with metabisulfite solution, sloshing high-proof spirits, or using steam. If not in use, keep the barrel full of sanitizing solution to prevent the staves from shrinking. To that end, shrunken staves can leak, so garage might be a better place to store it, but it won't smell.

Sure, you can serve flat beer from the spigot.

Thanks. I suspected the fresh barrel probably wouldn't be the best for a sour.

On the flat beer comment, couldn't you seal the barrel at some point and just let it carb up a little naturally? Isn't that how beer was handled in barrels for hundreds of years? I still see German Octoberfest videos of them tapping large wooden barrels and the beer is definitely not flat. I'm not sure the specifics of handling the carbonation and pressure limiting but I would think it would be possible...

 

[itsnotrequired]

check out the basic brewing podcast, they have had two episodes in the last month or so dedicated to barrel aging of sours (how to get started, tips/techniques, etc.)

http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=radio

september 17 episode was the first part, november 12 is the second part. very in-depth and informative.

 

[ColoHox]

Thanks. I suspected the fresh barrel probably wouldn't be the best for a sour.

On the flat beer comment, couldn't you seal the barrel at some point and just let it carb up a little naturally? Isn't that how beer was handled in barrels for hundreds of years? I still see German Octoberfest videos of them tapping large wooden barrels and the beer is definitely not flat. I'm not sure the specifics of handling the carbonation and pressure limiting but I would think it would be possible...

Cask ales are either served fairly flat or via beer engine. The barrels that most homebrewers would be using are not designed to hold pressure. There are other types of barrels that are designed to use a spigot and dispense beer. The interior of the barrel is often coated with a resin to prevent air leakage and some have additional hoops for added support. However, even those barrels usually only hold about 1psi. Definitely doable, but don't expect normal carbonation volumes.