Wooden cask.

[sam.k]

If I where to get my hands on a wooden cask (I've been offered one but it may fall through)
Would it be possible to reuse it to use as a, well, cask.
The only thing it would of had in it would of been ale and I will be getting it fresh.

 

[phettebs]

Be careful with that. Wood is notorious for being home to lots of beer changing organisms. While not the same as a cask, I took part in filling a 50 US gallon Jack Daniels barrel with and old ale that 8 of us brewed. It sat in there from January until August. At that point, we all transferred into corny kegs. I purged mine and hit it with CO2 to keep it safe. I just finally got around to bottling it last weekend. When I opened the keg, I found a Brettanomyces infection smiling back at me. The other brewers have reported the same thing.

I've toyed with getting a wooden cask for my Belgian ales so I can purposely introduce the "funk" from the wood. It probably depends on how many times you plan to reuse it. What state it's in when you get it, and how clean you can keep it. I think it's a very cool idea. I'm just throwing that caveat out there.

Baz

 

[graysalchemy]

Wooden casks for storing beer were always pitched to help avoid the above. The modern trend for maturing in oak barrels usually used freshly breached whisky barrels which after 12 yrs with whisky in them should be fairly sterile, but they do need to be fresh.

 

[sam.k]

Now these casks are frequently reused by the brewery that fills them so maybe they have a lining or something.

 

[graysalchemy]

They will have, but then there will not be much benefit to using wood. I would give them a miss, personally. :thumb:

 

[sam.k]

Bah, 9g is a bit big anyway I guess.

 

[KeiranM]

I had thought about this as well. A friend and I saw a 225L barrel on ebay and thought it would be cool to fill it, this has given me second thoughts.