Collaboration BigBatch #5: Oak Barrel Project: This Saturday

[TheMacheteMasher]

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The Big Batch Barrel Collaboration Project: Belgian Dark Strong
Primary Wort: 9/15/2012
Secondary Wort - Barrel Fill: 10/6/2012

Items needed:
Superheros and Brewmasters and Experienced Opinions
$35 Share Takers Eleven Needed (estimated real cost)
Grains/Hops/Propane/Ice/Yeast*
Primary Fermentation Space at 60F ambient
Secondary Brewday Host - Barrel Cellar Master
750ml Belgian Bottles/Corker/Corks and Cages (start saving)

This project has been in my head long enough. The idea is to run the big rig to fill a 59 gallon barrel**. However, I am needing your help for everything else.

Let me know how you would like to contribute. If you are reading this we are one day behind.

Primary Wort: Brewday September 15, 2012
This Saturday at the club brewday together we will produce ~45 gallons of wort using the Big Brewing Rig. The wort is purposed to be all grains with no sugar additions. The system average efficiency is 65%. We will prepare the grist as such. The yeast* will be pitched into the batch after cooling so that we ferment ~homogeneous wort.

Secondary Wort: Brewday Barrel Fill October 6th, 2012
Allowing three weeks for primary we will reconvene to produce the remaining ~15gallons of wort with a addition sugar. The idea is to let the batch secondary and age in the barrel.

Share Taking: 2-3 months or more
When the beer has finished we will gather again to empty the barrel. I've imagined a multi keg fill pushed with C02. All share takers will walk with ~5 Gallons of finished beer.

Lets work together to make it happen. [email protected]
Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, (this is more than the intersection of common goals seen in co-operative ventures, but a deep, collective, determination to reach an identical objective) by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus.

Brewing System by Wayne Yandell of bargainfittings.com.
Recipe by NTHBA Minister of Education. [email protected]
4th Generation Westmalle Harvested Yeast* & Sanitized Barrel** by theMacheteMasher.
Brewed by Us Collaborated by many.

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[MixnMatchBrew]

Barrett,

Can you detail how you plan to ferment? Do you have a temperature controlled environment for the primary?


Here is the Equipment List. Brewmaster provides Propane, water, water additions, Mill, scale and ingrediants.
It only takes me an hour to prep the equipment before hand. I will deliver the rig to Chucks house.

Propane – 2 tanks (rig will burn about a full tank total on standard batch)
Silicone hose – 3
Water hose – 1
Water filter - 1
Pump hoses (white /blue stripe) – 2
Chiller – 1
Malt Mill – 1
Drill – 1
Electric extension cord – 1
Electric power plug strip -1
Buckets – 2
Scale - 1
Table - 1
Tool box with parts – 1
Stainless paddle - 1

Brew rig with 3 kettles
False bottom and pickups
2 high press regulators

Ingrediants
Malt (Bulk purchase if you can - Check with Homebrewhq and Winemaker’s Toystore)
Hops (Bulk purchase if you can hopsdirect. CHECK with me. I have some bulk hops on hand.
Water additions if any
Camden (if not filtering water)
ICE - 100 # minimum (bulk ice vending place is best value)

BREW DAY SETUP

SETUP RIG... When facing front (burner hoses face the back)
HLT, MASH, BOIL
Fill HLT and Boil kettle heat both as you fill to speed brewday.
If using standard filtered tap water, run filter slow so filter will remove the chlorine. 1 gpm is good
Camden addition to water to knock out any chlorine residues
(1 Camden tablet per 20 gallons)

[Bill Lawrence]

Well, I can't participate as I don't have the fermentation space (just brewed a Double Bock Sunday so I'm sort of SOL for two or three weeks). I do have a couple of comments that may help you guys out though. First of all, if you are going the cut the batch up and let folks ferment the stuff at home, I would strongly advise you to sample each beer before you dump it in the barrel. The beer is going to be pretty expensive and it would be a shame if a batch was infected or in some other way flawed and you ended up screwing up 50 gallons of beer. If somebody ferments their share and lets the beer get too warm they are going to generate some serious fussels and guys, that doesn't age out (been there, done that, got the T shirt). Secondly, in regards to the barrel itself, is it new wood or is it a used wine barrell? If it's new pay very careful attention to the flavor of the beer since a new barrell will oak the beer up pretty quickly. If it's a used barrell it may well have some resident bugs, could get very interesting although a high gravity beer should keep major problems to a minimum. Finally, I have some experience with Belgian 750's and corks plus I have an industrial strenght corker if you guys want to borrow it when the time comes. When you bottle carbonate, make sure to over-yeast otherwise your beer may not carbonate (yup, had that problem also and it will really piss you off). Anyway, good luck and have fun, I'll try to come over an check this out after riding on Saturday.

[TheMacheteMasher]

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Yeast: I am not set on the yeast we can purchase lab yeast.

I have a nice Westmalle Dubbel culture going. 1st generation 4/7/2012 fermented 5 gallons of 1.074 of dubble. 2nd generation 4/25/2012 fermented 10 gallons of 1.062 dubble. 3rd generation fermented 7/4/2012 6.5 gallons of Barrel Project Test Batch 1.071 at 55@F. The yeast is currently resting with 4 gallons of this batch. Plan to rouse then rack 1.5 gallons from the bottom 1/3 into a corny keg with 1.5 gallons for hopped starter wort with yeast nutrient. All 3 gallons of starter will be pushed from the corny as our yeast pitch.

Primary Fermentation:
I purpose we fill 4 sanke kegs with ~12 gallons with blow off. Then primary at temperature controlled ambient of 60F. I have space for 2. I could ferment them all with some inventory control. However, I would rather trust someone else to ferment. I like the fermenting in stainless (boiling water sanitation).

Barrel History:
I contacted Raymond Vineyards and was able to get some history on the barrel. The barrel is a 2005 French Oak barrel. It was filled with a 2007 Petite Sirah then a 2009 Sonoma Cabernet before being taken out of service. The contents of the barrel was pumped out on August 23, 2010. The barrel was filled again in Texas. The last ozone treatment in March of 2012. There is no other history known.

Barrel Treatment:
I have purchased a pound of potassium metabisulfite for barrel sanitation. The barrel is still empty with a three piece airlock and stopper in the bung. I've soaked the exterior weekly since June 2012. I have researched how the wine industry handles barrels. The most advised sanitation is hot pressure washing followed by an ozone treatment. The best for our use is pressure washing followed by filling with potassium metabisulfite treated water. In order for the staves expand I will fill with treated water during primary fermentation.

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[RyanD]

So when the barrel is emptied we would walk with a 5 gallon keg of the Belgian. Would we then go home and everyone adds sugar to bottle condition and fills their own bottles, or are we all going to bottle together and everyone walks away with bottles? If we are all filling together does our $50 buy in include bottles, or do we need to find 25 of the 750ml belgian bottles before that time? I am considering this just wondering if it will be worth the money for me. Either way I'll be there Saturday and I'm excited to see the big rig fired up and being used. I am a little confused also about brewing 45 gallons saturday and fermenting, then brewing 15 the day of adding to barrel. So will the 15 go through primary in the barrel while the other 45 go through secondary?

[MixnMatchBrew]

Barrett,

Do you have enough kegs to ferment? I can ferment one of the 4 batches and could supply a sankey keg.

I believe the plan is you will walk away with 5 gallons of beer in your supplied keg or carboy and dispense or bottle as you desire. I'm sure that a bottling session could work if we get enough interest.

[TheMacheteMasher]

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So when the barrel is emptied we would walk with a 5 gallon keg of the Belgian.

Yes at this time you could also decided to bottle from your keg. I am thinking we keg prime and bottle fill the residual remaining after the kegs are filled. ~3 gallons

If we are all filling together does our $50 buy in include bottles, or do we need to find 25 of the 750ml belgian bottles before that time?

The $50 by in gets you ~5 gallons of the share. We can work on bulk bottles at a later date.

I am a little confused also about brewing 45 gallons Saturday and fermenting, then brewing 15 the day of adding to barrel.

This is a great question. The primary brewday we will produce high gravity wort ~1.076 with no sugar. The primary batch will not be fully fermented in three weeks. Adding the sugar in secondary is an attempt at preserving its character while also promoting yeast longevity. I've calculated we need ~3420 gravity points from the 45 gallon batch. The secondary brewday we are producing ~15 gallons of inverted caramelized sugar ~1.056. The sugar will be added to "dilute" the batch with unfermented wort ~840 gravity points. We are adding 11.6% of sugar to the batch. The Original Gravity will be by calculation 3420+840/~57 ~1.075.

By splitting the brewdays we can fill the 59gal barrel without running the big rig twice to produce wort.

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[MixnMatchBrew]

Can you post the recipe / ingredient list?

[TheMacheteMasher]

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45 Gallons: Primary Brewday
55 lbs Hugh Bairds Maris Otter
55 lbs Dingeman's Belgian Pilsner
11.5 lbs Dingemans Munich 11L
7.75 lbs Weyermann Caramunich II
6.75 lbs Great Western White Wheat

Hops:
8 oz Norther Brewer 9.5AA @ 60mins 24 IBUs
8 oz German Select 4.7AA @ 30mins 9 IBUs

15 Gallons: Secondary Brewday
9.5 lbs Dingeman's Belgian Pilsner
1.0 lbs Dingemans Munich 11L
0.75 lbs Weyermann Caramunich II
0.75 lbs Great Western White Wheat
20 lbs Inverted Sugar 80L

Hops:
2.5 oz Norther Brewer 9.5AA @ 60mins 22 IBUs
2.5 oz German Select 4.7AA @ 30mins 8 IBUs

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[TheMacheteMasher]

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I have ~8oz of Northern Brewer Hops and ~10oz of German Select.

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[RyanD]

How many people are committed at this point? I want to do it but have been spending a lot on beer/homebrewing lately, so need to think on it for a bit.

[EvilFrog]

Bill makes a good point about the possibility that one of the individual fermentations may produce an off beer. If we could sample the batches prior to the second brew day we could change the volume of the second brew day to account for beer lost to a bad batch that will not be added to the barrel.

My only other suggestion would be to do the second brew day a day or two prior to filling the barrel. This would allow us to pitch the second batch and get through lag phase before adding the 15 plus gallons to top up the barrel. My thinking is that it might be asking a little much of whatever yeast stuck around (after the transfer) of the initial high gravity fermentation to finish out the new wort additions without a little help from some fresh and active yeast.

[TheMacheteMasher]

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Reviewing the numbers we are looking at $35 per 5 gallon share.

Shares Allocations:
The shares will be available in 2-3 months when we empty the barrel. Noone will take shares home on Saturday to ferment. The wort will be fermented in a temperature controlled environment then aged in the barrel. When the batch has finished we will empty the barrel and bottle the beer.

Fancy Bottles:
I would like to see our efforts in a nice Belgian styled bottle. I will reach out to fellow members to make this happen. We need some experience like Bill has suggested. Share takers may decided to keep their share in kegs. I feel it would be best served and presented in a bottle. The $35 does not account for bottles and cages. We can make plans and work this out in the coming month. Lets keep this in play. The share day will also be Bottle filling day.

Pay Me Saturday:
I have 11 shares only. If you want in post on this forum then email me. There are 6 shares remaining.

[email protected]

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[RyanD]

I am in at $35. I'll be there and pay on Saturday.

[JGraham]

I'm in for $35 also. I'll be there and brewing on Saturday. Also, I can help however necessary on the Big Rig.

Graham