Operation Whiskey Barrel

Nowwww I know we said we would wait a little to sample, but maybe taking a wine thief full next month wouldn't be so bad either.

You know, for educational purposes of course

Ya I'm thinking we should also - on a side note my nephew brought me up a couple of beers called Kentucky bourbon barrel ale it is a brown aged in once used whiskey barrels for 6 weeks

Nose is big whiskey and vanilla - taste strong vanilla some bourbon I must say I was blown away how strong the smell and taste was after only 6 weeks.

We should start talking about what to fill it with next.

Btw it was great to see every one again and seeing this project come to completion has been very satisfying -

Our next meeting March 11, If the beer you tasted after 6 weeks 0n a barrel was strong I would hate to find out our beer needs to be transferred and we don't have anything to put in.I'm all for letting Bob B.taste it maybe next week and let us know how its going.I vote for A Scottish Wee Heavy.HB (ps.we might have to make phone calls on this if we have act fast.Not everyone is on this page)

I like that idea. I say either a wee heavy or an english barleywine. can't really go wrong with either one. If I had a third option i would say an imperial IPA. that might get pricey though...

I wonder how much bourbon will be left after the first batch? If I had to guess I would say not to much as the RIS should replace it....Thinking along those lines, I wonder what would happen if we re-toasted it and brewed say a Pils or another seesion style where would would get the oak and smoke flavor.....Or to go in the other direction, can we dump a gallon of jack in it an "marinate" the oak again?

i like the idea of throwing some more jack in there. but i'm game for whatever. not sure if i can brew a pils though...

Yea I was thinking about that too, I'm not sure if u can really barrel age lagers that warm? Cause a bourbon aged doppel bock sounded cool to me but I'm not sure everyone, even me and pops could handle brewing that much imperial lager, and even if we could I would hate to have it all go to waste if the warm conditioning ruined it.

I always like a good wee heavy, and we could put more whiskey in it and roll it around to get more bourbon flavor, I'm not sure about how to go about re-toasting it.

I'm fairly sure the RIS will be fine until march, the Kentucky beer brew dude was talking about was a much lighter beer in character, I'm sure our stouts will take a little longer for the flavor to soak in, then again I've never barrel aged a beer before so I could be completly wrong

It hasn't been a week and we are in a panic.Deep breaths everybody.Funkmasters right lets stay the course.anybody know if Kister put his stout into the barrel or will soon. We may have oxidation problems to worry about if we don't fill the barrel to the top.If the beer is to strong in march maybe we can add another batch to blend.Maybe we should think about making a batch now just in case. Just my panic 2 cents.HB

I'll make a batch and put it in, going to take me till saturday to brew though.

I just listened to a brew strong podcast on wood aging. Palmers club did a very similar project with a brown ale, and he said there's was about 2 months, but again it wasn't a very big beer. The more flavorful the beer, the longer it takes in the barrel. They were also saying the longer we would want to age after bottling/kegging, the longer we would want to leave it in the barrel, as some of the flavor will die off with time.

The guys also didn't recommend barrel aging an ipa, as most of the hop flavor/aroma would die off by the time the wood flavor would be noticeable.

I'd be up for doing a wee heavy, or maybe an old ale/English barley wine next, or maybe even a specialty kind of beer like an imperial brown/red. A strong dark Belgian would be cool, but I know most of the club really doesn't fancy that style. Either way I'm still impressed we got this project together, it's pretty sick!

ALL

I know we just did a stout BUT ... we could do a begian stout like Allagash Black which would be cool BUT-

Everyone would have to use liquid yeast and build a starter so maybe thats not feasible

BIG Wee heavy still would be better with correct yeast but doable with dry

At the next meeting lets ask who's not doing starters yet.maybe we need to do a class.HB.

ok so i am presently brewing the RIS and thought i would ferment just one week and pour it in the barrel?? Should i secondary before and do two weeks? Let me know what you all think?? Also not sure if someone wants to buy this barrel batch or will i get back 10 gallons or whatever this works out too?? either way is good for me ~ Bob

So in fact did brew the RIS and its fermenting like mad this week, any thoughts on my last post and when I should put it in the barrel? one week or two of fermenting?? Later, Bob

Bob I think you should let it ferment out a week when ever you it's think done and rack it to the berral.

you would get a 10 gallon share.You should bring it up at the next meeting to make sure it's clear to everyone.HB.

the barrel is full I repeat the barrel is full! So luckily I made 15 gallons cause it took seven gallons to top it off fully! It smelled so strong of whiskey when I first opened it , awesome! I filled it right up and into the hole no air now! Can not hrwait to try this one! Talk soon all!

Good Deal! Thanks BOB! I say you should have the choice of either keeping or selling your second share....We can discuss at the meeting though....

Man that was an awesome flavor on this beer. I cant wait to carb and drinkit....