barrel aging stout

[itry]

Greetings fellow drunks.

Im looking at getting a 50 liter barrel to age some stout in. Im after some advise. Do you need to have the barrel charred? i guess once youve got it to where you want flavour wise you draw it out , bottle and carbonate.

 

[Clint]

It'll go off...

 

[An Ankoù]

Greetings fellow drunks.

Im looking at getting a 50 liter barrel to age some stout in. Im after some advise. Do you need to have the barrel charred? i guess once yo've got it to where you want flavour wise you draw it out , bottle and carbonate.

Just been reading the intro to Gordon Strong's book "Brewing Better Beer" where he relates how he blew himself and his mate up by trying to sterilise a bourbon barrel with a sulphur candle. Both were hospitalised. So when @Clint says, "it'll go off", I'm not sure what he means.
(Gordon Strong is principle author of the BJCP style guidelines). His other book, "Modern Homebrew Recipes" is great, but I'm struggling with "Brewing Better Beer".
I can feel a review coming on.

 

[Clint]

...go rancid maybe. Wouldn't the keg need sterilising and purging of any oxygen?

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

I don't know because I have never tried it - but why would you need to char it?

Has the barrel held liquid before?

If you look on the likes of Amazon, you can buy 2, 5 & 10L new oak barrels to store liquid e.g. wine, spirits

At one point in the listing it says it's suitable for beer and at another it says it's not. I have messaged them but did not receive a coherent answer

I fancy trying one on the basis that un-carbonated beer should work (there is a small vent hole) - has anyone else tried one?

Our attitude to beer going off has changed over the last few hundred years. There was a custom that when the Lord of the Manor had a son, several barrels of beer would be laid down to be consumed at the child's coming of age i.e. 21 years later

 

[Ben034]

I've never put beer in a wooden cask but recently bottled a strong stout that I had soaked wood oak chips in for a couple of weeks (2g a litre). Oak profile was quite strong when I tasted at bottling. I'm sure it would be ok to secondary in an oak cask, but for me the ease of oak chips outweigh the extra storage needed for a cask. I'm sure the results would be different though so could be interesting. I think you would want quite a strong beer to prevent spoilage. I'm sure someone on here has tried it though and may have more insight.

 

[Ben034]

I think the charring will alter the taste. So for oak chips or cubes you can buy, the lightly charred wood will impart a different flavour to medium for example. Think the best varieties are French, American or Hungarian oak as I understand.

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

I've never put beer in a wooden cask but recently bottled a strong stout that I had soaked wood oak chips in for a couple of weeks (2g a litre). Oak profile was quite strong when I tasted at bottling. I'm sure it would be ok to secondary in an oak cask, but for me the ease of oak chips outweigh the extra storage needed for a cask. I'm sure the results would be different though so could be interesting. I think you would want quite a strong beer to prevent spoilage. I'm sure someone on here has tried it though and may have more insight.

Good idea - thanks

 

[Ben034]

I came across this when I was looking into how to add oak flavours to my last stout which I thought was interesting.

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/blog/exboariment-oak-ageing-products-part-1/
https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/blog/exboariment-oak-ageing-pt-2/
Think I draw the line at the wood flavouring though!

 

[marshbrewer]

There was a custom that when the Lord of the Manor had a son, several barrels of beer would be laid down to be consumed at the child's coming of age i.e. 21 years later

Indeed there was, but back when beer was put in wooden barrels, they were lined with pitch to make sure that the beer never came into contact with the wood. So whilst I don't doubt that putting beer in oak or using oak chips gives an interesting flavour, I don't believe it is replicating how beer used to be aged.

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

Indeed there was, but back when beer was put in wooden barrels, they were lined with pitch to make sure that the beer never came into contact with the wood. So whilst I don't doubt that putting beer in oak or using oak chips gives an interesting flavour, I don't believe it is replicating how beer used to be aged.

Cheers - never knew that - thanks