Barrel Aging

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

Anyone here wood barrel aging beer? I'm thinking of giving it a try (very small scale). What are the pros and cons of barrel aging?

 

[Sunfire96]

I see various wood chips for sale at the LHBS. I would imagine that's easier to get into than acquiring a barrel? Unless you already have one

 

[Minbari]

Only down side I can see is the devils cut and cost. 5-15 gal barrels are like $100

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

I do not have one

I see various wood chips for sale at the LHBS. I would imagine that's easier to get into than acquiring a barrel? Unless you already have one

I don't have one. Don't the chips disintegrate over time leaving slivers in the beer?

 

[Sunfire96]

I've also seen spirals and larger chunks like this. For some reason I'm not able to post a link but here's a picture

 

[Donoroto]

Don't the chips disintegrate over time leaving slivers in the beer?

Not in the timeframes we use. The wood gets soft and almost squishy, not brittle and splintery. To disintegrate it might take a year.

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

I was thinking of brewing something and aging it for my retirement celebration next year.

 

[J A]

I do not have one

I don't have one. Don't the chips disintegrate over time leaving slivers in the beer?

No...They're cubes or sticks, not splinters. Nothing about the beer is going to break down the wood. Just get some oak cubes of whatever sort you think might give you the flavor you want, soak them in whisky or whatever, drop them in the carboy and leave for a few weeks. Check the progress because depending on how many you use, you can impart a lot of flavor pretty quickly.

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

I just read where Biere de Garde ages nicely in white wine barrels. Can you find chips from white wine barrels?

 

[Sunfire96]

I just read where Biere de Garde ages nicely in white wine barrels. Can you find chips from white wine barrels?

I think you could soak the chips in white wine before transferring them to the fermenter

 

[Sunfire96]

@Over The Cliff Brewing do you subscribe to zymurgy? Seems they knew you had questions when they included a barrel aging article in this issue

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

@Over The Cliff Brewing do you subscribe to zymurgy? Seems they knew you had questions when they included a barrel aging article in this issue

I do and I saw that. I almost posted it in this thread when I got the mag.

 

[Mark Farrall]

I do not have one

I don't have one. Don't the chips disintegrate over time leaving slivers in the beer?

I've got a four year old red sour keg and a two year old blonde sour keg. I just added the chips to the end of the boil and put everything in the fermenter into the keg. Haven't had any problems with blockages from the chips plugging up the dip tube, though I did cut 5-10 cm off the dip tube to avoid trub.

Each year I bottle half the keg, then do a primary fermentation outside the keg on the replacement beer. Then add that beer and any extra microbes to the keg. I haven't found the need to add extra wood chips yet, but I'd add them at that time.

 

[NorthWest Small Batch Brewing]

Just be sure to taste it regularly. I would do small taste every month. It can over oak pretty fast. I think they recommend 1 spiral per gallon? I guess you have to force carb it when you want to serve it?

 

[Dogwood]

I think you could soak the chips in white wine before transferring them to the fermenter

Why not just add the wine to the beer?

 

[Dogwood]

Is any oak good to use? I use red oak in my shop often and could use scrap ripped in thin strips. Years ago I soaked red oak in makers mark for a week and put them in the fermenter. Patience isn't my strong suit so drank it way too soon! Was delish though!

 

[Sunfire96]

Why not just add the wine to the beer?

I think for the same reason that adding Bourbon results in a different flavor than adding/using a Bourbon barrel

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

Is any oak good to use? I use red oak in my shop often and could use scrap ripped in thin strips. Years ago I soaked red oak in makers mark for a week and put them in the fermenter. Patience isn't my strong suit so drank it way too soon! Was delish though!

Different types of oak will give you slightly different flavors; How much? I have no idea. But it will be safe to use since you'll most likely be toasting it and soaking it in bourbon or similar spirits.

 

[Mark Farrall]

I don't get it much in beer, but as a part time wine wanker I can definitely tell the difference between French and American oak. French is spicy with very little to no vanilla taste, American is much more vanilla, with only a little bit of spice character. The spice is more noticeable in whisky though. Hungarian is supposed to be different again. The Hungarian wine I've had was so full of flavour that I couldn't work it out (and I wasn't really paying attention at the time, it was summer, the wine and beer was cheap and it was lots of fun, who cares about barrel flavours then).

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

After all of this discussion, I realized, my basement gets pretty warm in the summer so aging probably wouldn't work out anyway.