Barrel'O'Rebel II - Herd'O'Rebels

[Cambrinus]

Enjoyable afternoon at Jason's. Thanks for having us.
Barrel nearly full. I believe John will brew again (!) a batch to account for missing volume.
As for now the barrel is purged with CO2, all looking good.


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[Dr Horrible]

It was great having a few of ye over, wouldn't have been able to do it without your help.  That barrel is difficult to fill! Hopefully another batch will do it, otherwise we might have to resort to addiing water or something.

[johnrm]

Best not add water IMO

[Dr Horrible]

It was very interesting to sample each batch of beer before we filled.  Although obviously they were all broadly similar (and all really nice), there were a lot of small differences between all of them - bitterness, body and various flavours, even from the batches which used the same yeast.  Makes you wonder is it the differences in everyone's equipment and setup that gives the different characteristics or more to do with the malt suppliers being used?

I used MCI Ale malt myself but couldn't tell you the suppliers for the wheat and the chocolate malt as they generally come in from HBC or HBW in plastic bags.

[tommy]

Water profiles with differing sulphate to chloride ratio's can have a big impact on perceived bitterness, there could be some substituting going on with malts, different seasons selection of hops and suppliers can influence it too.

[LordEoin]

and different fermentation temperatures etc

[mr hoppy]

I could do another batch if it helps.

I could even syphon off the hops. 

[Dr Horrible]

It would be great if you could - we could definitely get another batch in there.

[johnrm]

I had threatened another batch but this got away from me for a number of reasons.

[Dr Horrible]

I was thinking of doing something quick next weekend, maybe an extract/partial mash but for Mayo reasons will be busy next weekend gettingmy blood pressure good and high.

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[Dr Horrible]

Finally filled the barrel today. Took about 12-13l so have about 5-6l left for topping up that I'd better transfer to a smaller container if I want to keep it. As suggested by John I took a sample from the barrel before transferring to taste and the oak character is pretty strong already.

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[johnrm]

Seeing as the oak may creep up over time do we remove 20, add 20 a couple of times to balance it over time and get the most out of it?

[Dr Horrible]

Interesting idea, might work better than group brews. I'll bottle a sample and bring to the next meeting and we can taste it and talk about it.

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[Dr Horrible]

Enjoyable meeting last night. So, after tasting the sample I take it we're all good with leaving the beer in the barrel for the full six months?
I might pull another sample around Christmas but give it four or five weeks to carbonate this time (If it carbonates at all) and see what it's like then.

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[johnrm]

I think that sounds good.
Interestingly, the barrel character is prominent at this point.
Maybe see how this changes by next sampling and make a call on whether we leave it full term.
After all it's not a sour.