Starting a single barrel solera - have some questions

[TravelingLight]

Barrel Info:
I got the barrel from a local farmhouse/mixed ferm brewery. Barrel is 15 gallons. It was originally a whiskey barrel for a local distillery. The brewery ran a brett/lacto beer through it, so it's already inoculated (at least to some degree). The barrel was just emptied last week. It smells lovely - brett funk and lactic acidity, no off smells. The barrel still has a little of the beer in it sloshing around. They already have a Vinnie nail, which is great, but it looks kinda gnarly so I'll probably go ahead and order some replacement nails (both sizes in case the hole gets bored out). I'll be brewing my ass off in the next few weeks for the initial fill.

Barrel Prep:
I'm torn on waxing this thing. Currently it is not waxed at all. The head brewer said he didn't have any trouble with oxidation. But, I spoke to some other homebrewer who's very experienced with barrels and mixed fermentations, and he suggested waxing the whole barrel, except the heads. I have no problem doing that, but I just wanted to know if it was necessary or not. I plan to keep it as full as possible. To do this, when I brew for the initial fill, I'll brew an extra 5 gallons and keep in a corny keg to top off as needed.
Question: Should I wax the barrel, if so, how much?

Base Beer:
I want the base beer to be something pale/golden. As much as I love bruins and flanders, with this being my first and only solera, I want something with a more blank canvas to have fun with when I pull off the barrel (fruiting, etc.). I haven't done many brett beers, so my knowledge of recipe composition for brett beers is limited.
Question 1: Can I do something as basic as the ever-popular 70/30 Pilsner/Wheat? Or do I need something more complex for the brett? I had always considered doing the Rare Barrel golden base, but would like it to be even simpler if possible. Thoughts?
Question 2: What about hopping rates? When I pitch Goodbelly lacto, I always do zero hops in the boil. But if I am pitching a fresh commercial lacto culture, could I get away with 5 IBUs? 10? I know that is strain dependent, just wanted to kick that around as well.

Aging/Fermentation:
The brewery fermented in the barrel. I have pretty much decided to not do primary fermentation in the barrel. My reasoning behind this is trub build up. With such a smaller barrel, my thinking is the more trub build up I can keep out the barrel, the better. Also, since I typically brew 5 gallon batches (but could do 10 if I pushed it), I will have to do consecutive batches to fill the barrel. My thoughts are to brew, ultimately, 20 gallons, primary ferment in carboys and/or sanke kegs, then fill the barrel completely at once.
Question 1: Do you see any problems with doing primary fermentation outside the barrel then transferring in?
Question 2: Even though the barrel previously held a brett/lacto beer, I'm assuming for the initial fill I should pitch fresh brett and lacto?
Question 3: I was thinking of using 3711 for my primary sacc strain because, well, I like it and it gets dry as hell. But, should I instead use something that doesn't dry it out as much as 3711 to leave more for the brett to chew on?

Temperature/Environment:
This is the final piece I am wrestling with. I'm in the south, where we have relatively mild winters, and pretty brutal summers. My ideal location for the barrel is the laundry room on the back of the house. But, this room is uninsulated and unheated. I need to stick a thermometer back there to monitor temps, but this time of year, it probably gets as cold as 50 and as warm as 70 back there. I don't mind temperature fluctuations, as I've read a lot of barrel agers prefer some variance. But I guess my main question is how cold is too cold for a barrel?

I know I will have more questions along the way. But these are my initial questions to get me started. I'm super excited about this journey. I'm definitely a little anxious. But once I get it filled I'll feel better about it. Thanks!

 

[twistedjosh]

Waxing:
I heard people go both ways, you may have to run a batch through to tell if yours needs it or not.
Base beer:
1. 70/30 would be fine, maybe add a little maltodextrine for a lil extra for the bugs to chew through
2. I use hopping rates to adjust the acidity as I make my first pull from the solera, if it’s too tart add more ibu to inhibit the lacto. Not tart enough brew a batch with no hops to go in next
Aging:
1. I usually do primary outside of the barrel then transfer in, gives you a little more control over what will happen during secondary
2. Up to you, you could just add some dregs from any spurs you like to add to the culture that is already in there.
3. I usually use a clean wlp001 or lighter belgian strain, the Brett character will continue to develop even after all of the sugar is consumed
Temp:
I usually try to keep mine in the low to mid 60s, I was fermenting in a closet upstairs that go up to the higher 70s and I picked up some bandaid/medicinal flavors.

Just my two cents so take it for what it’s worth. It’s always an ever changing adventure with a solera, good luck!

 

[Amadeo38]

Following as I’m literally amidst the same conundrum, almost to a T. Only difference is I’ve run two batches of non-sour beers through my barrel and then it sat with water for a good year. Now planning to start a sour beer in it and have the same questions as you.

Something I’m doing you might consider - I sent out an email to my homebrew club and got two other interested brewers to do a co-brew with me to help fill it. This way I don’t have to brew all 15 gallons myself, which is especially important given that I only have space for one fermentation at a time in my chamber.

 

[TravelingLight]

Waxing:
I heard people go both ways, you may have to run a batch through to tell if yours needs it or not.
Base beer:
1. 70/30 would be fine, maybe add a little maltodextrine for a lil extra for the bugs to chew through
2. I use hopping rates to adjust the acidity as I make my first pull from the solera, if it’s too tart add more ibu to inhibit the lacto. Not tart enough brew a batch with no hops to go in next
Aging:
1. I usually do primary outside of the barrel then transfer in, gives you a little more control over what will happen during secondary
2. Up to you, you could just add some dregs from any spurs you like to add to the culture that is already in there.
3. I usually use a clean wlp001 or lighter belgian strain, the Brett character will continue to develop even after all of the sugar is consumed
Temp:
I usually try to keep mine in the low to mid 60s, I was fermenting in a closet upstairs that go up to the higher 70s and I picked up some bandaid/medicinal flavors.

Just my two cents so take it for what it’s worth. It’s always an ever changing adventure with a solera, good luck!

Good point. I'll keep an eye (tongue?) out for that.

I think I've decided to go ahead and wax the top 25-30% or so. I figure it can't hurt. And if I ever wanted to get rid of it, I could just melt it off with a heat gun.

 

[TravelingLight]

Following as I’m literally amidst the same conundrum, almost to a T. Only difference is I’ve run two batches of non-sour beers through my barrel and then it sat with water for a good year. Now planning to start a sour beer in it and have the same questions as you.

Something I’m doing you might consider - I sent out an email to my homebrew club and got two other interested brewers to do a co-brew with me to help fill it. This way I don’t have to brew all 15 gallons myself, which is especially important given that I only have space for one fermentation at a time in my chamber.

Thanks dude. When you let it sit for a year with water, was it just straight water or did you do campden/citric acid? I was considering that if I couldn't get it filled relatively quickly. But then I had heard from someone (maybe Jay, Rare Barrel) that their barrels with the solution started throwing some heavy sulfur, so I was wary of that. But I think I can get it filled within the next month, two months tops, so I'll probably just leave it be until I'm ready to fill it. Then do some hot water changes to swell/rinse it out.

As far as filling, I also considered asking some fellow club members to help out, but I've decided to go another way. I want to brew ~20 gallons at the start. This was I can fill the barrel (after primary) and keep an extra five gallons or so in a corny to use as top up beer when necessary. And 20 gallons is very ambitious for me since I typically brew 5 gal batches, but can do 10 if I pushed it. I've decided to go extract for the initial fill. I've done maybe two extract beers my entire life. But I got some great advice on reddit suggesting the Piatz method. I was unfamiliar with it until yesterday. But it's basically 3# Light DME, 3# Wheat DME, and 4 oz Maltodextrin (per 5 gal batch). Thoughts on this are it'll produce less fermentable wort and with this being a sour solera, I'm really more all about the yeast/bugs. Moreover, when I re-brew in the future as I pull 5 gallons or so, those will be AG batches, so eventually the initial base extract beer will be "aged out" anyway. So, it definitely won't be cheap brewing up 20 gallons of extract beer! But it'll make things much easier as I can brew it all in one day and I have enough fermenters to ferment all of it at the same time. And I'll probably go with zero hops for the initial fill and see how high the pucker factor is. Then I can dial it back with hops if need be in the future.

 

[505-Brewer]

If you go to homebrewing.org to look at Balcones whiskey barrels there is a pdf on barrel care that should be useful. I would get to work and fill it w beer no other solutions

 

[radwizard]

I have a 15 gallon solera going in a keg. When I brewed the first batches, I selected yeast that would be tolerant to warmer temps to get around issues of tying up my temp controlled fermenters. I used Kviek, and Saison strains that I was confident I would not have to worry about.

I would wax that barrel. It still is a smaller barrel, and you are talking about leaving beer in there for a very long time. I would guess that you would be ok on your first pull but over time you could have a problem. If it was me, I would do the 30% waxing for a long term sour beer- but I would consider waxing the whole thing (minus the heads) if I was going to do a single vessel solera.

On my first fill I fermented 2 beers with sacc, and racked those finished beers into the solera. I then added 5 gallons of fresh wort with commercial blends, and dregs. That was my strategy for limiting trub in the solera.

Good luck on the project! Should be a lot of fun

 

[Amadeo38]

Unfortunately when the second batch got racked out of my barrel, I was living on the other side of the country and my wife did it for me. I forgot to ask her to fill the barrel with water for a few weeks when it hit me in the dead of night. I woke with a start. I didn’t have the heart to ask her to go procure the mix of citric acid and k-meta, so I stupidly just had her fill it with water.

Now that I’m back, the barrel surely needs some help. I’ve rinsed with fresh water, then 7 gallons of boiling water. Let that steam for an hour, then added the holding solution and another 8 gallons until full. I also used my propane torch to toast the parts inside the bung that the torch head could reach. Hoping I don’t have a mold issue. Fingers crossed.

 

[505-Brewer]

How long was it sitting w just water?

Also use water 140-180F. Boiling water can destroy the wood structure causing it to weaken (so I’ve read).

 

[Amadeo38]

It sat with water in it for nearly a year

 

[505-Brewer]

Oh wow. Yes thats a long time! Hope your barrel rescue is successful.