I plan on using my single malt whiskey barrel to put my Barleywine in to pull out some flavors. I know to ferment out and then transfer to the barrel.
1. Do I cold crash in my carboy first, then transfer to the barrel?
2. If I cold crash before transfer, do I keep the barrel cold or at room temp while aging?
3. Will the barrel flavors die off with time in the bottle? Should I plan ahead and over oak this so you can still taste the flavors in three years?
Any help would be appreciated.
Barrel aging questions
Moderator: Jimmy Orkin
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Bill Lawrence
- Posts: 374
- Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:18 am
Re: Barrel aging questions
Well take all this for what it's worth since I have never screwed around with barrels however:
If you cool the beer down more of the junk will drop out which is probably a good thing because you will then keep it out of the barrel. If you plan to keep the barrel at room temperature, I would warm the beer up before running it into the barrel because if you don't any disolved CO2 will come out of solution in the barrel which could cause you some problems potentially. Since you will likely pull more flavors from the barrel if it is a little warmer, I would likely keep the barrel at room temperature once it's filled plus you won't tie up any valuable cold storage space. By the way, bear in mind that if you have a smaller than 55 gallon barrel, you are exposing a much larger surface area to the wood than you would with a larger barrel so you'll pull the flavors out quicker. Not only that but wood is semiporus and you will get oxidation to some extent but again much faster than you would with a larger vessel. Finally, the so called "angels share" will be relatively higher with a smaller barrel since evaporation is a function of exposed surface area.
You might consider running your barrel like a solera. I'm doing that with a couple of cornie kegs, one has Oud Bruin (some of that beer is about 4 years old if I remember correctly) and the other one is an Olde Ale. That way, you get the benefit of blending and also you have some beer to drink quicker than 3 years from now. I don't believe I would let the stuff sit that long without bottling it and no, I don't believe you will loose the benefit of the wood as time goes on, only the hops (plus of course you will pick up some oxidation which can be a good thing).
If you cool the beer down more of the junk will drop out which is probably a good thing because you will then keep it out of the barrel. If you plan to keep the barrel at room temperature, I would warm the beer up before running it into the barrel because if you don't any disolved CO2 will come out of solution in the barrel which could cause you some problems potentially. Since you will likely pull more flavors from the barrel if it is a little warmer, I would likely keep the barrel at room temperature once it's filled plus you won't tie up any valuable cold storage space. By the way, bear in mind that if you have a smaller than 55 gallon barrel, you are exposing a much larger surface area to the wood than you would with a larger barrel so you'll pull the flavors out quicker. Not only that but wood is semiporus and you will get oxidation to some extent but again much faster than you would with a larger vessel. Finally, the so called "angels share" will be relatively higher with a smaller barrel since evaporation is a function of exposed surface area.
You might consider running your barrel like a solera. I'm doing that with a couple of cornie kegs, one has Oud Bruin (some of that beer is about 4 years old if I remember correctly) and the other one is an Olde Ale. That way, you get the benefit of blending and also you have some beer to drink quicker than 3 years from now. I don't believe I would let the stuff sit that long without bottling it and no, I don't believe you will loose the benefit of the wood as time goes on, only the hops (plus of course you will pick up some oxidation which can be a good thing).
Remember, brewers make wort, only yeast make beer