Whiskey barrel aging in a 52 gallon barrel?

[Miata's Mike]

My son has a friend that has what I have to assume at this point a freshly emptied whiskey barrel, A 52 gallon behemoth! I'm thinking an Imperial stout would be appropriate. I'm thinking a total batch between the 2 of us could only be maybe a 15 gallon batch max.

How would this be done using only the bottom part of the Barre!?

 

[Beerstein]

The problem with big barrels is the staves dry out. if you rotate the barrel every 4-7 days you might get lucky and it won’t be a problem. I’ve only used 5 gallon barrels.good luck!

 

[madscientist451]

If you must, go ahead and try it, but with that much barrel and so little beer, your barrel character is going to come on very fast.
You may have to do some blending (with non-oaked beer) after your barrel aging is done.
The other issue is that you will have lots of oxygen exposure.
My 2 cents: cut up the barrel and place staves or chips in a mason jar of bourbon, then add the wood to the keg and some of the bourbon to taste.

 

[hottpeper13]

I suppose you wouldn't be asking this if you belonged to a club,but my 2c is brew in batches to fill then share a lot.

 

[Miata's Mike]

If you must, go ahead and try it, but with that much barrel and so little beer, your barrel character is going to come on very fast.
You may have to do some blending (with non-oaked beer) after your barrel aging is done.
The other issue is that you will have lots of oxygen exposure.
My 2 cents: cut up the barrel and place staves or chips in a mason jar of bourbon, then add the wood to the keg and some of the bourbon to taste.

The oxygen exposure alone would be a deal breaker. I like the idea of soaking charred pieces of barrel and adding to a keg. Thank you all for your insight!