Untoasted oak barrels

I've been given a couple of 2 gallon barrels as a birthday present, but don't really have much of a clue what to do with them.

From what I've googled it would seem untoasted barrels impart a lot more oak to their contents than toasted barrels so sour beer is out of the question.

I've got a porter on the go which would seem a good candidate, what's the best way forward? I was thinking leave it for a few days then see how it tastes, and dilute it back into the keg if it's overwhelmingly strong?

I thought of putting a bottle of cheap whiskey or red wine in there to add flavour but I'm not sure how it would ballance with the untoasted oak.

My own plan would be:

1. Start a 23 litre batch of the cheapest kit beer I could find.

2. When the beer is three days off completing fermentation I would check that the barrels weren't leaking by filling them overnight with warm water. (I have a small whisky barrel that donates about a dram every month to the fairies. This is no big deal as whisky evaporates and the barrel improves even the cheapest whisky in the same month!)

3. If the barrels aren't leaking then I would wash them out thoroughly with clean cold water, catch the drained water to make sure that there's nothing nasty being washed out (e.g. dead mice, beetles etc) and leave them full of water for two more days.

4. After two days I would taste the water to ensure that there were no bad off-tastes and drain them completely; again checking that nothing nasty comes out.

5. I would then sanitise the barrels overnight with a non-rinse sanitiser (StartSan, Milton or ChemiPro Oxi). There should be no need to completely fill the barrel as long as all the interior surfaces are wetted regularly by the solution and the solution is at recommended strength.

6. Here comes the tricky part.

"How much carbonation sugar do you put in the beer?" and the answer is "I don't know!" ...

... but I do know that when they served beer from wooden barrels the beer was not very lively after the first few pints and nowhere near as "gassy" as that which can be achieved from a modern King Keg.

Personally, I love non-gassy un-chilled beer because it lets me taste the beer itself; but that's not to everyones taste.

I put 100 grams of sugar into my King Keg for 23 litres of beer but I would recommend no more than half of that amount if the beer is to be conditioned in a wooden barrel; and even then that may be too high.

I wouldn't bother wasting a bottle of wine or whisky until I had tried out the barrel with straight beer to find out if they affect the taste. (With a full 23 litre brew there should be enough left over after filling the barrels to also fill a few bottles to use for comparison.)

Hope this helps. :thumb:

go on have a DIY charring session
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqopSMvCXv0[/ame]

Brilliant!:thumb:

Haha, yes I did consider knocking the tops out and seeing if I could diy toast them, but they're new barrels so I don't want to destroy them quite yet!

I read up on sanitising, the correct method is to use citric acid solution and sulphur candles which seems straightforward enough. Once the barrel is sanitary then it seems that as long as it's kept in use them it's unlikely to become infected.

I think if the porter doesn't work, then I'll probably split them up and use one for serving cask (almost flat) ale at BBQ's so it doesn't get chance to take on too much oak, and put a cheap pale ale (so less flavour to transfer) or a bottle of supermarket bourbon/whisky diluted into the full barrel in the other for a few months to take off the bulk of the oak flavour before using it to secondary some darker ales then at a later date once the barrels aged a bit start on ageing some sours.

I know they were a present but they look the dog's doodads so may I ask were they were bought?

I'll ask next time I see my brother.

Just been googling how to toast barrels, doesn't actually look that hard (famous last words). And another site reckons they're only good for 4 fills before the tannins and vanillin are leached out, but that was for spirits, not sure if the higher alcohol content is working in their favour or not. Maybe some more research is required.

I think the taps might be for spirits, but drilling a bigger hole and fitting a proper cask tap should be no bother.

They look like beer taps to me. i.e. Large volume! :thumb:

My whisky barrel has a tiny brass tap which is just right for a dram.

The only problem with a wooden barrel is that you can't see what's left; or what's missing!

Murder when coupled with good company and a thirst! :lol: :lol:

BTW I'd get them soaking as soon as possible because the last thing you need is to let them dry out and leak!

an alternative method to toasting the barrels themselves would be to drop in toasted oak lozenges made from the staves of ex whiskey barrels. its a lot less intimidating toasting a few square inches of oak with a blowtorch than it is setting fire to a barrel

ebay for ex whiskey barrel staves, its the done thing for diy spirit maturing in glass or so i understand..

Hi.

I was a brewery cooper. Beer casks were never charred, only whiskey and spirit casks. If its for beer and cider I wouldnt worry or bother trying to charr them. Trust me knocking the hoops off an taking the heads out is relatively easy. Getting them back in will be hard unless you have specialist tools and know what you are doing.

We used to buy ex whiskey casks to knock down an remake or use staves to repair beer casks. We always shaved the charred wood off and took them back to bare wood. Most of the tanin in oak casks is leeched out of the wood when the barrels are being made, filled and tested. I don't think you will get an overpowering oak taste bit if you want to minimise it. Fill with hot water before you sterilise and use.