Barrel Conditioning

[cluckk]

I have Russian Imperial Stout that I am considering using barrel conditioning to add a little more complexity. My questions:

Has anyone out there used actual barrels (such as those carried by Northern Brewer)? How do they compare to using oak chips or strips?

I assume the barrel would impart more than the other products, but I am wondering about the extra care that the barrel needs for storage and whether it's worth it.

[eyepah]

I calculated the surface area of the interior of a hypothetical 6 gallon barrel and ripped down thin strips of wood having the equivilant surface area. These were instered into a fermentor with the beer. I won an award for this "Barrel Aged" beer.

[cluckk]

how much surface area did you come to? I may try this!

[jjpm74]

Originally posted by eyepah
I calculated the surface area of the interior of a hypothetical 6 gallon barrel and ripped down thin strips of wood having the equivilant surface area. These were instered into a fermentor with the beer. I won an award for this "Barrel Aged" beer.

That's a great idea. The only intangible that cannot be recreated I can think of by doing this is that barrels breathe to a certain degree allowing for some oxidation to occur. I'll have to try your idea on my next batch of beer that's getting ready for secondary which is a Baltic porter.

I've used wood chips and wood strips in the past and had great results. Wood strips seem to work better than chips.

[eyepah]

OK we lost the calcs but I remember it being something like 15 1/2 square strips.

My brewing partner at the time is a mathematician magician I have the email going through as we speak.

Will post.