Getting a barrel soon, welcoming any advice!

[CthulhuBrew33]

Hello there! I am going to be acquiring a recently emptied French Oak Wine Barrel from one of the local-ish breweries in a week or so and just wondering what kind of advice anyone can give or like some do’s and don’t they’ve picked up using full sized barrels in a homebrew scale?

I’ve done an absolutely thorough amount of research and am pretty ready to take on the project, just figured I’d reach out and see what anyone thinks!

I will be doing a mixed culture “lambic” style beer though it’s grain bill looks a lot more like a saison and will be using saison yeast as the base yeast.

Going to do it “Solera” style as well and keep her going as long as possible!

 

[Josh Hughes]

Interested to follow this project

 

[Brew Cat]

Hello there! I am going to be acquiring a recently emptied French Oak Wine Barrel from one of the local-ish breweries in a week or so and just wondering what kind of advice anyone can give or like some do’s and don’t they’ve picked up using full sized barrels in a homebrew scale?

I’ve done an absolutely thorough amount of research and am pretty ready to take on the project, just figured I’d reach out and see what anyone thinks!

I will be doing a mixed culture “lambic” style beer though it’s grain bill looks a lot more like a saison and will be using saison yeast as the base yeast.

Going to do it “Solera” style as well and keep her going as long as possible!

I've done all that with a 5 gallon oak Bourbon barrel

I would dump a handle of bourbon in between and before doing bourbon barrel porters
I did have a type of Solera going but in a sanke keg for awhile
But not in the wood only because once it gets to funky to your liking your stuck
I ended up giving it to a wine making friend who soaked it with vodka then used it.
What I've heard people do is bret a beer or two in it and then cut it up and just put a stave in individual beer batches
Much easier to isolate and control the bretomycies from getting into the rest of your beers

 

[Brew Cat]

Hello there! I am going to be acquiring a recently emptied French Oak Wine Barrel from one of the local-ish breweries in a week or so and just wondering what kind of advice anyone can give or like some do’s and don’t they’ve picked up using full sized barrels in a homebrew scale?

I’ve done an absolutely thorough amount of research and am pretty ready to take on the project, just figured I’d reach out and see what anyone thinks!

I will be doing a mixed culture “lambic” style beer though it’s grain bill looks a lot more like a saison and will be using saison yeast as the base yeast.

Going to do it “Solera” style as well and keep her going as long as possible!

I just reread your post
Mine was from a distillery and still had a bit of bourbon in it
If you're getting it from a brewery find out the history of it
A, what where they aging in it
B, did they clean it
C, why are they selling it. It's usually because all the oak tannins have been leached out

 

[J A]

You'll need to keep it full to do much good. A small amount of beer in a full size barrel will probably go sour quickly and be pretty overpowered, I think. If you're in contact with other brewers in the area, get some help filling it.
IMO, you'll be better off with a smaller barrel.

 

[Brew Cat]

You'll need to keep it full to do much good. A small amount of beer in a full size barrel will probably go sour quickly and be pretty overpowered, I think. If you're in contact with other brewers in the area, get some help filling it.
IMO, you'll be better off with a smaller barrel.

Well I think the Solera method may work
Never pull more than what you make for the replacement batch and keep topping it off

 

[J A]

Well I think the Solera method may work
Never pull more than what you make for the replacement batch and keep topping it off

Sure, if you start with it full and pull 5 gallons at a time. If it sits with just 10 or 15 gallons in it for a long time, it's going to dry out, get leaks and get moldy. You can turn it every day or two and that will help with leaks but beer doesn't have enough alcohol to prevent mold colonies from establishing in the damp wood.
Just need to brew like crazy for the first month or so to get it filled...and then plan to have a lot of friends who like sour beer.

 

[Bigbre04]

probably dont want to hear this, but you are likely better off making it into planters or cutting it up to smoke meat.

I managed a fairly robust barrel program(rotating ~120 whiskey and whine barrels).

When they are spent they are spent and will get very funky and gross.

A whine barrel is usually about 60 gallons, i dont know how much beer you brew and consume, but if you are not making atleast 20 gal batches i wouldnt really bother with it.

traditional fermentation is really a no go as it is full of nasty bugs. They are very messy.

If you decide to continue.
you need to fill the barrel with 180f water for a few hours to "clean it" but also to swell it back up. it will piss liquid out of it until you get it all sealed up.

the bands may need to be tightened. using a punch and a hammer if it is leaking badly. once you have gotten most of the leaking under control, you will need to go back over it and address the small leaks. dont buy fancy bs waxes and shit. use toothpicks and wooden shims, hammer them in and they will swell and seal the gaps.

you will need a pressure relief bung, stainless steel heavy gauge nail, barrel rack, barrel theif capable of holding pressure in order to pull the liquid out of it.

barrels dont really hold pressure well. everything that touches the beer in the barrel needs to be 304/316ss.

remember that the full barrel weighs north of 400lbs and will fuck you and yours up.

happy to help with further stuff, sorry if i am discouraging, i have handled alot of barrels, they are a pain.

I didnt see that you are looking to make it into a fermenter, i have never done this, but alot of the above still stands.

 

[Brew Cat]

probably dont want to hear this, but you are likely better off making it into planters or cutting it up to smoke meat.

I managed a fairly robust barrel program(rotating ~120 whiskey and whine barrels).

When they are spent they are spent and will get very funky and gross.

A whine barrel is usually about 60 gallons, i dont know how much beer you brew and consume, but if you are not making atleast 20 gal batches i wouldnt really bother with it.

traditional fermentation is really a no go as it is full of nasty bugs. They are very messy.

If you decide to continue.
you need to fill the barrel with 180f water for a few hours to "clean it" but also to swell it back up. it will piss liquid out of it until you get it all sealed up.

the bands may need to be tightened. using a punch and a hammer if it is leaking badly. once you have gotten most of the leaking under control, you will need to go back over it and address the small leaks. dont buy fancy bs waxes and shit. use toothpicks and wooden shims, hammer them in and they will swell and seal the gaps.

you will need a pressure relief bung, stainless steel heavy gauge nail, barrel rack, barrel theif capable of holding pressure in order to pull the liquid out of it.

barrels dont really hold pressure well. everything that touches the beer in the barrel needs to be 304/316ss.

remember that the full barrel weighs north of 400lbs and will fuck you and yours up.

happy to help with further stuff, sorry if i am discouraging, i have handled alot of barrels, they are a pain.

I didnt see that you are looking to make it into a fermenter, i have never done this, but alot of the above still stands.

Well I secondaried in mine
But like I said above it was 5 gallons and and
" New" bourbon barrel meaning it had only one batch of bourbon through
After I received it and of course drank the little bit of bourbon I think I filled it with boiling water to see if it leaked
Then I bought a handle of Jim Beam and poured that in it. For storage turning and sloshing around every couple of days
It did make a descent BBP but I agree it was a lot of work and that was a 5 gallon
Easier ways to do a BBP

 

[Bigbre04]

Well I secondaried in mine
But like I said above it was 5 gallons and and
" New" bourbon barrel meaning it had only one batch of bourbon through
After I received it and of course drank the little bit of bourbon I think I filled it with boiling water to see if it leaked
Then I bought a handle of Jim Beam and poured that in it. For storage turning and sloshing around every couple of days
It did make a descent BBP but I agree it was a lot of work and that was a 5 gallon
Easier ways to do a BBP

yes we always used finished beer. Active fermentation in wood is a bad idea(atleast with normal brewers yeast).

i have never used a solara.

 

[Sandy Feet]

It would be nice to have the storage to be able to play with a Lambic for a couple of years

 

[J A]

This is a great solution for homebrewers wanting to age beer - smaller quantity; similar wood-to-liquid ratio as large barrels; more closely approximates the wood/oxygen interaction than submerged wood chips; possible to replace or re-char the oak plug if contaminated.