Re-filling the barrel

[Shane Phelan]

Thanks Shiny would be happy to take you up on that offer. If and when we empty the existing barrel we might have a good chat about the next one.

Beginning to look like a barley wine will win out by majority. I wonder what effect the residue of the oak, existing beer and whisky will have on the next beer?

Shanna

If we go down the barley wine route we are definitely going to have to utilise DME/LME as part of the recipe. Say, using grain to get to 8 or 9% and the extract to get the rest of the way?

[Shanna]

Thanks Shiny would be happy to take you up on that offer. If and when we empty the existing barrel we might have a good chat about the next one.

Beginning to look like a barley wine will win out by majority. I wonder what effect the residue of the oak, existing beer and whisky will have on the next beer?

Shanna

If we go down the barley wine route we are definitely going to have to utilise DME/LME as part of the recipe. Say, using grain to get to 8 or 9% and the extract to get the rest of the way?

is that because people won't have a big enough mash tun to get over 9%?

Shanna

[Shane Phelan]

Yeah pretty much.

[Shanna]

Yeah pretty much.

About now I am thinking I hope my 50 ltr mash tun is big enough. If remember the RIM recipe had 11.25kg of grains. I would hope any recipe would not be much bigger than this.

Could I ask others who have not done so to please express a definite style preference please.

Thanks

Shanna

Shanna

[Shanna]

1. Bubbles (1. Very roasty imperial Stout; 2. Belgian dubbel; 3. English barleywine)
2. Shanna - English barleywine
3. JohnC
4. Tube, if you'll have me - English barleywine
5. Shiny (Something dark)
6. Beerfly (something dark or malty)
7. McGrath I'm in. Let me think about what..
8. Cathal (English Barley Wine)
9. Rossa English barley wine.
10. Brewtus (Prefer English Old Ale or barleywine but anything considered)

Updated the list to show Tubes and my preference for EBW.

Shanna
I think a group buy of the ingredients makes a lot of sense too. Would definitely be the best way to go in terms of cost efficiency and consistancy.

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[Shane Phelan]

Barley wine looks to have clinched it!

[John_C]

1. Bubbles (1. Very roasty imperial Stout; 2. Belgian dubbel; 3. English barleywine)
2. Shanna - English barleywine
3. JohnC - English barleywine
4. Tube, if you'll have me - English barleywine
5. Shiny (Something dark)
6. Beerfly (something dark or malty)
7. McGrath I'm in. Let me think about what..
8. Cathal (English Barley Wine)
9. Rossa English barley wine.
10. Brewtus (Prefer English Old Ale or barleywine but anything considered)

[Shanna]

Hi there

Any of our medal winning brewers (Tube, Bubbles,  Brewtus,  Rossa) want to put up a barley wine for consideration? Also it might be worthwhile people indicating what size batch they can/will contribute?

Shanna

[Bubbles]

I'm well up for a barleywine that's on the darker/maltier side of things. Would love to get a bit of amber malt in there to accentuate the maltiness and maybe a touch of roasted barley for nice colour. Maris otter and plenty of crystal and bob's your uncle. Would be a great idea to load it with plenty of hops, as we won't have the antiseptic properties of the cask-strength whiskey this time around. Lots of Fuggles and EKG,  including mid-boil addition. 90 min boil for a bit of melanoidin formation.

Been looking at the "old ale" style myself recently so was delighted to see Brewtus suggest it. A lot of recipes for old ale seem to have treacle involved. Sounds really nice, and nothing to stop us adding a dab of treacle to our barleywine.

Or how about an "imperial irish red"??

Just random thoughts lads, to get a bit of discussion going. Would be great to make this a real collaborative beer, with everyone contributing a feature to the recipe.


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[Shanna]

Hi Conor et al,

All sound like good suggestions. Was not attempting to be proscriptive about the style or the recipe just wanted to try and avoid open ended discussion where nothing definite gets agreed. Was thinking about when we take out the existing beer will there be sufficient left behind to allow the barrel to be kept wet. Would be interested to hear from Capital, Liffey, Garden County Brewers etc what their experience on this aspect of the barrel was. Now that I know this time around that I need to rotate the barrel every so often I want to be sure that the barrel does not dry out.

Shanna

[Shanna]

You can fill the barrel to the top with water, and then add citric acid and sodium metabisulphite. This is what we did. That mixture releases sulphur.

Hi Tube,

Is the Sodium Metabisulphite available in a pharmacist? Out of curiosity how much of each would you need to add for a 220lit barrel?

Shanna

[Ciderhead]

You are adding another process and introducing ingredients not normally present in beer with the potential for absorption into the barrel, we are going to brew and empty/refill on the same day after a gentle washout.

[Bubbles]

All sound like good suggestions. Was not attempting to be proscriptive about the style or the recipe just wanted to try and avoid open ended discussion where nothing definite gets agreed.

You're right of course dude. Best to start nailing things down as early as possible. But at this early stag, let's get everyone's ideas on our approach before we start formulating recipes; hoppy/non-hoppy, dark/light etc.
  Was thinking about when we take out the existing beer will there be sufficient left behind to allow the barrel to be kept wept. Would be interested to hear from Capital, Liffey, Garden County Brewers etc what their experience on this aspect of the barrel was. Now that I know this time around that I need to rotate the barrel every so often I want to be sure that the barrel does not dry out.
[/quote]

We'll make sure we fill the barrel very shortly after we drain it. But would be great to leave a few litres in there alright. I'm sure everyone who's contributed to the current brew will not object to leaving a tiny percentage in there. (We also need to discuss that... I put 26l in, but I'm happy enough to get just a corny back out of it..)

After draining, I'd like to scald the barrel with boiling water from your HLT and take all the remaining trub and RIP (that's Russian Imperial Porter, for the uninitiated...  ). That way we can start off with a fresher barrel and not adulterate our new beer with an intense whiskey-flavoured porter. I think it makes sense that way.

Exciting times!!

[Shanna]

You are adding another process and introducing ingredients not normally present in beer with the potential for absorption into the barrel, we are going to brew and empty/refill on the same day after a gentle washout.

CH dont think we will have this luxury of emptying and filling on the same day  due to the different personalities being involved. Not being an expert in how to manage barrels I think its interesting to hear the different approaches from every one. Whether it be the use of some chemical assistance or using a more traditional hot water approach.

Shanna

[Bubbles]

Just me 2c.......

Would be an advocate of the old boiling water method, rather than introducing extraneous chemicals into the process. Remember lads, we're ARTISAN......!