oak cask conditioned homebrew

[barleyburps]

first truly cask conditioned beer:

a few months ago, i broke down and bought a 20L (~5gallon) medium charred new oak keg for aging my homebrew in. I made an imperial stout at 16% brix (~1.062-1.064 S.G. for the majority of you). I aged it for ~5 weeks in oak.

Today I bottled it, and of course I drank a pint from the keg prior;
actually it was so good, I drank 2 pints. This was secondary fermented in the oak, so of course it was basically flat. The aroma was very oaky. The taste was less oaky, but still had a distinctly oak character, which lingered long after the aftertaste was gone. I am very pleased with this beer. It should be awesome in a few months to a couple of years. I will post an update in ~1 month when I open a bottle for the first time.

For those interested, during bottling I added ~28 oz of fresh wort, and ~1 tablespoon of irish ale yeast to carbonate.

To any homebrewers that are flirting with the idea of aging their brew in an oak cask, or adding oak chips to their batch, I say don't hesitate - - go for it. This being my first venture into such realm, I was really worried about bactierial contamination and such (which is why I brewed a higher alcohol beer than usual).

Upon soaking the keg originally and dumping the water (I let it soak for about a month as I was between brews), I noticed a lot of micrbiological growth(slime) which came out of it. After that I did the recommended conditioning of 1# of Barokleen(soda ash--sodium carbonate) for 3 days followed by rinsing with tap water, then 2 oz metabisulfite and 1/2 oz citric acid/2gallons cold water.
Beware, the combination of sulfite and citric acid is very hard on the lungs. Try not to breath in the area while you are mixing these. Followed by numerous water rinses.

After bottling, upon cleaning out the keg, I also had some microbiological slime come out, therefore I rinsed a few times and then refilled with 1# barokleen and tap water until needed again.

Since I detected no contamination upon tasting, I'm not going to concern myself with the slime at this point.

[M.K. Jeeves]

Ive looked at new barrels from a wine supplier and old whiskey barrels from another source, the new barrels seemed a little pricey and the whiskey barrels were too large. Bravo for taking the plunge. This has always been something that has interested me not only for the flavor it would produce but also the historical aspect of wooden casks. I need to get off my butt and do likewise.

[dparsons]

To use the Whiskey barrels just make larger batches.

The Oak sounds a whole lot better than glass or Plastic. I'm curious as to how they are leak-proofed. Do they use a sealer in the cracks? Just band it tight?

[HogieWan]

I've seen those small ones - is it from thousand oaks or something like that?

dparsons, the ones I've seen are just banded tight. You have to fill them with water to make the wood expand to seal itself before putting your beer in.

[barleyburps]

I purchased my oak barrel from Old World Barrel Company.

www.oldworldbarrel.com

Yes they are a bit pricey, I paid about $120 for it.

[barleyburps]

They seal just like Hogie said, They are banded tightly, then upon filling with water, the staves expand enough give a tight seal.

When I first got it and filled it, there was just a little seepage for like the first day, then nothing. You want to keep them filled with liquid even when not in use to prevent drying out and contraction occuring.

[M.K. Jeeves]

Thanks for the link, this site is a much better resource than the ones I looked at.

[dparsons]

How is the quality barleyburps? I think one of those would be nice to have for some batches. An Oaked IPA could be quite tasty.

[barleyburps]

The quality seems to be very sturdily built, although I really have nothing to compare it too. I got the model with the black hoops as it was the cheapest and the bands are already showing signs of slight oxidation (rust). The valve works perfectly and seals fine as does the bun. No complaints. I expect it to give me years of service.

[generalzonzo]

How many times can the barrel be re-used?

[barleyburps]

I'll let you know when it no longer adds any character to my beer.

I think it will be useful a lot longer than in the whiskey industry as beer is much lower alcohol, it probably won't extract nearly as much character from the barrel.

[barleyburps]

I could not wait for a good 4 weeks aging. . . .@3/26/07 I bottled the beer from my oak keg. This is an awesome beer. .unlike any I have bought. I spent a solid 2 minutes just smelling the oakiness. This is undoudtly one of the best beers I've ever inhaled. Upon tasting it, I got a very smooth lager character, no wildness or oakiness,.

The aftertaste was once again oak. But nothing astringent.

I do not understand why commercial breweries are not capitalizing on this.

[dparsons]

Originally posted by barleyburps


I do not understand why commercial breweries are not capitalizing on this.

$

[markaberrant]

I've had great success using french toasted oak chips for 2 weeks in the secondary at a ratio of 2oz/ 5 gal. I've done a bourbon oak stout and an english oak ipa, and I just ordered the supplies to make an oaked double IPA (with all sorts of hops). It takes a little bit longer for an oaked beer to smooth out, but when it does... WOW!

[barleyburps]

Just out of curiosity, have you tried reusing the oak chips for multiple batches, or are they more or less a one time thing?

[darylM]

Ok, I am done lurking.

A few questions about chips:
How do you make a choice about which wood to use? I have apple and mesquite smoking chips both would add an interesting flavor.

Is there special way that I need to know to sanitize the chips?

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by darylM
Ok, I am done lurking.

A few questions about chips:
How do you make a choice about which wood to use? I have apple and mesquite smoking chips both would add an interesting flavor.

Is there special way that I need to know to sanitize the chips?

apple and mesquite are great for meat, but I'd leave them out of the beer. The most common wood used is oak and it is the toasted surface of the oak that imparts the pleasant flavors that include vanilla, smoke and the oak itself.

BTW - welcome

[markaberrant]

Originally posted by barleyburps
Just out of curiosity, have you tried reusing the oak chips for multiple batches, or are they more or less a one time thing?

I've never done 2 consecutive "oakings," but I suppose you could. Although 2 oz of chips costs me $3, so I really don't care.

I forgot that I also added some leftover oak chips to an english barleywine, but it was only .5 oz/ 5 gal. I brewed it in Dec, but I won't be tasting it until sometime in May.

[HarkJohnny]

very cool indeed.

our club does this a couple times a year. We group brew 60 gallons and everyone who brews and 'puts in' also 'gets out' when it's ready.

We are having a seminar on bourbon barrel aging at AHA in 08. Hope to see some of you there!

[dparsons]

Originally posted by markaberrant
I've had great success using french toasted oak chips for 2 weeks in the secondary at a ratio of 2oz/ 5 gal. I've done a bourbon oak stout and an english oak ipa, and I just ordered the supplies to make an oaked double IPA (with all sorts of hops). It takes a little bit longer for an oaked beer to smooth out, but when it does... WOW!

Probably more economical. I can imagine an Oaked IPA would be very good.

[Saint-Thomas]

My last IPA was oaked and it is the house favorite. I quickly realized that it wasn't going to last very long so I whipped up another batch of it. I used 4 oz of chips and sanitized them by steaming, as you would vegetables, for 15 minutes. The water in the bottom of the pan looked and smelled like bourbon.

Now I want to try cedar in a similar recipe ala Hitachino Nest Pale Ale. Anyone have any cautionary words about cedar? I was going to use some planings I have from several years ago, but they've been out in the rain, so I thought maybe the cedar chips you can get for small pets?

[barleyburps]

For anyone who is interested, I now have my 4th batch in my oak barrel. This one is a cherry stout, where I racked the beer on top of 1 lb of black cherries sanitized in vodka. This was on 8/15/07, so it has a while to age. Immediately to doing this, I bottled my third batch from the oak keg, so all I did was rinse the keg out with tap water just prior to refilling.

Batch 1 - sweet oak stout - thus far the oakiest of the three batches, carbonation ultimately a bit heavier than what I prefer, but a very good beer. was in the oak about 5 weeks.

Batch 2 - sweet stout with orange peel soaked in ouzo. This batch is less carbonated than first, but still more than I prefer. was in the oak for 3-4 weeks.
less oaky than first batch, with an initial taste of anise/licorice. very smooth to drink.

Batch 3 - rye ale. was in the oak for about 9 weeks. much oakier than second batch, probably slightly less than 1st batch. it has only been in the bottle for 11 days, the carbonation is still a bit weak at this point. not a bad beer, needs to age a bit more. it has something of a white wine character, which my non oaked rye did not have.

[Mad Scientist]

Maybe I missed it, but what is the toast level of your cask?

[barleyburps]

medium charred american oak