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Barrel aging homebrew


The Captain!!

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19 minutes ago, Smashed Crabs said:

Seen those but also thought of aging in cubes with oakchips dunno how it would work in beer .. but heard it works .. over seas in country's where it's legal to make spirits. 

I thought about that but the big picture was to age a stout, for a while 12-18 months then blend a fresh one through. That’s why I want the barrel 

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Hiya Capt.

Have you tried oak chips in a beer yet? They work very fast & impart flavours quite quickly through the beer I found. I've seen two varieties available through good homebrew stores. American oak, & French oak.

If you haven't tried them as yet I'd give them a go first before you outlay for a barrel & the time to age your beer sufficiently in one.

Cheers,

Lusty.

 

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25 minutes ago, Hairy said:

My brew club has 200 litres of Flanders Red in a barrel at the moment. Will let you know how it goes.

That’s awesome. 

I can get 200l wine barrels very easily, but don’t want to brew 18 odd batches at once to do it properly ha ha ha. 

Eventually want to Sour a batch down the track. 

37 minutes ago, Beerlust said:

Hiya Capt.

Have you tried oak chips in a beer yet? 

 

I haven’t tried yet, I was going to get some staves or spirals and soak them in some kick ass Shiraz or Cab Sav in a few weeks to soak for a winter stout. 

 

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2 hours ago, The Captain1525230099 said:

That’s awesome. 

I can get 200l wine barrels very easily, but don’t want to brew 18 odd batches at once to do it properly ha ha ha. 

Eventually want to Sour a batch down the track. 

I haven’t tried yet, I was going to get some staves or spirals and soak them in some kick ass Shiraz or Cab Sav in a few weeks to soak for a winter stout. 

 

Okay if you get a barrel I'll make half the beer required to fill it!

Anyone else in.

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Would not recommend oak chips if aging in a cube for a year. Use bigger pieces of oak like cubes or spirals. Oak chips work quickly and are used up quickly. Shea Comfort (the Yeast Whisperer) says chips provide very one dimensional flavour compared to bigger pieces. 

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On 1/12/2019 at 9:45 PM, The Captain1525230099 said:

Yep probably a full batch size. 

Difficult to do this with small barrels, as oxidation becomes a problem, due to the headspace and internal surface to volume ratios that you will end up with. But 200L is a lot to work with as mentioned above! My homebrew club has a barrel program going as well, the inner sydney homebrewers. You need kegs to take part in that one, to bring your beer in a keg to the filling session so that rules me out... 

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6 hours ago, headmaster said:

Difficult to do this with small barrels, as oxidation becomes a problem, due to the headspace and internal surface to volume ratios that you will end up with. 

And that’s one of the answers to what I’ve been thinking about. I didn’t think the oxidation issues would be much different but the surface to volume I’m well aware of. 

I was thinking about if a 200l barrel was aged for a year to 18 months, maybe 6 would do. 

A far as the oxidation issue, was thinking of blending a fresh beer through at bottling time. Would doing so reduce the cardboard flavours?

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My friend has a small 5l oak barrel. I've brought him back bulk fortified from Rutherglen a few times to fill it. He has of course double-fortified it with various things. I'm waiting for the day he gets bored of it and lets me put something imperial in it.

His was a virgin oak barrels, and it imparted its flavour very, very quickly at first. Not sure about the recycled red wine barrel staves as per some of the links. It would depend on how many times they have been used by the winery. The key would be to taste early and often to catch fast development, then if it is clearly going slow, hold off for a while.

One more thing, not all oxidation is bad flavour-wise ... just need the right beer to take advantage of it. I've had many 20 year old wines under cork from my Mum's cellar that by rights should be gone and done by now, and yet they are fascinating. Yes, clearly past their best, but fascinating all the same.

Cheers,

John

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On 1/13/2019 at 12:50 PM, The Captain1525230099 said:

I haven’t tried yet, I was going to get some staves or spirals and soak them in some kick ass Shiraz or Cab Sav in a few weeks to soak for a winter stout. 

The oak chips have often come from wine, bourbon, or scotch based whiskey barrel sources. Some are pure chippings (I think? 🤔)

If you plan to use oak chips, ask your supplier where they are sourced from/how they are produced. In most LHBS's the guy may not immediately know 'off the cuff', but can usually find out for you.

I've brewed an IPA recipe designed by a former member of this forum that uses oak chips & it seriously blew my mind the first time I brewed it & drank it. It is a terrific beer recipe to brew from a kit base or otherwise. Incredible depth of flavour. 😎

Cheers,

Lusty.

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3 hours ago, Beerlust said:

I've brewed an IPA recipe designed by a former member of this forum that uses oak chips & it seriously blew my mind the first time I brewed it & drank it. It is a terrific beer recipe to brew from a kit base or otherwise. Incredible depth of flavour. 😎

Was this the one from the Canadian, Chad? Canadian Eh?

I have one dark ipa recipe that could do with some oak chips soaked in whisky of some description, that I want to try. I’ll get round to that come winter too. 

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12 hours ago, The Captain1525230099 said:

Was this the one from the Canadian, Chad? Canadian Eh?

I have one dark ipa recipe that could do with some oak chips soaked in whisky of some description, that I want to try. I’ll get round to that come winter too. 

Yep it is Chad's recipe I am talking about. The oak chips used were American oak chips & they already had plenty of flavour without the need for soaking them in whiskies etc. But you could certainly do that if you wanted. I liked the flavour so much I used it in an oaked vanilla Porter beer I did a couple of times a few years ago.

Cheers,

Lusty.

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