National Homebrew Club Ireland

Hi there

To help start the process of getting the English Barley wine brewed and into the barrel I am creating this thread to track the details.

Plan is to fill the barrel on the same evening as the emptying of the barrel. This will either be the Saturday or Sunday night of the bank holiday weekend. The decision to drain/fill on the same night is to simplify the logistics and also to minimise the time the barrel is empty.

To aid the process I would expect people to be fermenting in early April and transferring to Secondary for at least a week. Depending on whether people chose to transfer the beer to my place (keg or plastic fermenter). I think the beer needs at least three days to sit and settle out

Hope this won't put people out. If people have a problem with the schedule please let me know. I will start a list to allow me know who can attend or not. This is to allow me keep track of the numbers and also to double check we gave enough beer to fill the barrel.

Please label any fernenters/kegs with name & beer type to avoid confusion.

Shanna

Please update the total when updating the list and confirm whether you can attend

1.  Shanna - hosting - 21 litres

Total 21 litres

1. Shanna - hosting - 21 litres
2. Bubbles - attending - 19 litres

Total - 40 litres

I should be able to squeeze a brew day in during the second week of April, though it's probably short notice for most people. I'll go along with what everyone else is doing.

I understand that the schedule is tight but I hope that one evening to do it all would be better for all concerned. I did think about doing it in June but my experience is that the June weekend is likely that less people will be available as the weather is better etc. We will need a certain number of able bodied people to do the draining of the existing beer and also the cleaning out of the barrel. We should use the opportunity to give the barrel a good scrub on the outside.

I talked this over with people on Thursday and it was what I thought was for the best. I am trying to accommodate everybody while still keeping the two groups aligned.  I have to balance the needs of fellow Brewers against domestic considerations. If May weekend is too soon and nobody can attend on the May weekend then we can maybe look to push it out by a few weeks and do it in a Saturday night mid May.

Shanna

1. Shanna - hosting - 21 litres
2. Bubbles - attending - 19 litres
3. David - attending - 12 liters (24 if needed)

Total - 52

Just need the date and a little notice

Quote from: David link=topic=6234.msg79386#msg79386
Just need the date and a little notice

Assume May weekend until further notice.

Shanna

1. Shanna - hosting - 21 litres
2. Bubbles - attending - 19 litres
3. David - attending - 12 liters (24 if needed)
4. JohnC - probably attending - 30 liters

Total - 82

1. Shanna - hosting - 21 litres
2. Bubbles - attending - 19 litres
3. David - attending - 12 liters (24 if needed)
4. JohnC - probably attending - 30 liters
5. McGrath - probably not available -19 litres

Quote from: mcgrath on March 30, 2014, 08:43:27 PM
1. Shanna - hosting - 21 litres
2. Bubbles - attending - 19 litres
3. David - attending - 12 liters (24 if needed)
4. JohnC - probably attending - 30 liters
5. McGrath - probably not available -19 litres

Total 99 litres

1. Shanna - hosting - 21 litres
2. Bubbles - attending - 19 litres
3. David - attending - 12 liters (24 if needed)
4. JohnC - probably attending - 30 liters
5. McGrath - probably not available -19 litres
6. Rossa - probably attending - 19l
Total 118

1. Shanna - hosting - 21 litres
2. Bubbles - attending - 19 litres
3. David - attending - 12 liters (24 if needed)
4. JohnC - probably attending - 30 liters
5. McGrath - probably not available -19 litres
6. Rossa - probably attending - 19l
7. Cno1 - attending - 20l
Total 138

1. Shanna - hosting - 21 litres
2. Bubbles - attending - 19 litres
3. David - attending - 12 liters (24 if needed)
4. JohnC - probably attending - 30 liters
5. McGrath - probably not available -19 litres
6. Rossa - probably attending - 19l
7. Cno1 - attending - 20l
8. Beerfly - attending - 19l
Total 157

1. Shanna - hosting - 21 litres
2. Bubbles - attending - 19 litres
3. David - attending - 12 liters (24 if needed)
4. JohnC - probably attending - 30 liters
5. McGrath - probably not available -19 litres
6. Rossa - probably attending - 19l
7. Cno1 - attending - 20l
8. Beerfly - attending - 19l
9. Brewtus - probably attending - 23L
Total 180

01. Shanna - hosting - 21 litres
02. Bubbles - attending - 19 litres
03. David - attending - 12 liters (24 if needed)
04. JohnC - probably attending - 30 liters
05. McGrath - probably not available -19 litres
06. Rossa - probably attending - 19l
07. Cno1 - attending - 20l
08. Beerfly - attending - 19l
09. Brewtus - probably attending - 23L
10. Tube - probably not available - 20L
11. Shiny - attending 19L

Total 219

Hi guys

Anybody else who can double up please do so. Also if I could ask people to make a definite commitment on attendance or not please.

Thanks


Shanna

Hoping to brew this weekend I'll try to get a double batch so that will hopefully give an extra 12 if that helps. If I don't get a double I'll get a second done next week

Got a double batch done 26L into the the fermenter so should get at least 22-23 into secondary.

Hit 1.100 with the og

Add extra 11L to my Total and updated over all to 230

01. Shanna - hosting - 21 litres
02. Bubbles - attending - 19 litres
03. David - attending - 23
04. JohnC - probably attending - 30 liters
05. McGrath - probably not available -19 litres
06. Rossa - probably attending - 19l
07. Cno1 - attending - 20l
08. Beerfly - attending - 19l
09. Brewtus - probably attending - 23L
10. Tube - probably not available - 20L
11. Shiny - attending 19L

Total 230

What's the volume of the barrel?
I'll probably have about 25 liters of brew, a bit under my target of 30. Will that cause a problem? I can brew up a small (maybe 10l) batch if needed.

Hi John
If you don't mind doing another 10 litres that would be great. We can use this for top ups as the barrel will absorb a certain amount and also its good to put back in what we take out for tasting. I would say we don't need it for a while yet.

Shanna

Quote from: Shanna on April 13, 2014, 03:26:34 PM
Hi John
If you don't mind doing another 10 litres that would be great. We can use this for top ups as the barrel will absorb a certain amount and also its good to put back in what we take out for tasting. I would say we don't need it for a while yet.

Shanna

No problem,
I'll put it on during the next week or two. Just to be clear, the extra 10 liters won't be needed for the start of May?

Hi John

Should have enough for May.

Shanna

I got 26 liters of this into secondary today. FG was bang on target at 1.022.

It's light amber coloured and still a bit cloudy. I'm very happy with the taste; a kind of fruity sweetness with a definite alcohol bit at the end.

Can we pick a date for this? I'm going down to Dun Laoghaire on Sunday evening (27th) so I could drop off my drum that night if it suited.

Hi guys

Suggestion is for 3rd May. Can take delivery of beers from next Sunday night Shiny.

Shanna

Cool thanks Declan.

Quote from: Tube on April 22, 2014, 01:41:34 PM
I have left mine with mcgrath -- could whoever hang on to the jerry can for me, very handy things, don't want to lose it. Thanks.

Tube will do thanks for the confirmation. Guys please remember to label any fermenters and or kegs to avoid confusion.

Shanna

Yeast dropped out in my barleywine at least 6 days ago, but still plenty of bubbling going on in the airlock.

Should be fine with 3rd May. Can talk about it tomorrow evening though.

Hi guys,

Just to confirm that the filling will occur on the night of Saturday of the 3rd of May from 21:00. Please check your mail (Tube, Shiny & McGrath excluded as they have contacted me already) for confirmation of my mobile number, address & delivery instructions.

Looking forward to get this sorted soon.

Regards,

Shanna

Hi guys,

Brewtus, Cno1 and John_C delivered their beers over to my place this evening.

Shanna

Ronan do you want me to bring your empty keg with me or will I give it to you at another stage?

David just dropped his beer over to my place.

Shanna

Ronan & Shiny .. I could swing by tomorrow evening and collect your kegs if you need. Just send me a text.

Thanks for the offer Rossa but I have negotiated a lift with them on Friday evening already. Coming back home though after the fill/emptying with a couple of kegs is a different story!

19 litres of barleywine deposited at the South Dublin clubhouse! :)

Final reading came in at 1.019, absolutely spot-on, and very drinkable for a barleywine, or will be when the alcohols die down a bit. Lovely flavour though. Really dark from the choc malt I used, but the roastiness doesn't come through in the flavour, quite surprisingly. Instead, lots of dark crystal malt flavours, raisin, plum... and booze... Nice level of booze though.

I also had enough left over to get 4 x 33cl bottles for myself. Will bring a couple of these to a meet in about a years time.

See ya Saturday night lads.  8)

I'll be attending with Ronan. I'm driving over with Ronan, bringing mine, Ronans and Shanes beers.
Aim to be there for 9.
Chat then..
Ciaran

Tonight's the night chaps!!

Shanna, I forgot to ask you, do you still need a loan of a corny? Offer is still there if you need it, but would you mind dropping down to me to pick it up? I wouldn't mind having a beer (or six) this evening and I'd rather not drive.

Lads, how are we fixed for siphons/pumps? (That's solar pumps, by the way, not the type Ciderhead uses.......)   :o >:D

Cheeky feic I'm bringing it and other gear just for you to fondle in any case

 :-*

Quote from: Bubbles on May 03, 2014, 05:22:39 PM
Tonight's the night chaps!!

Shanna, I forgot to ask you, do you still need a loan of a corny? Offer is still there if you need it, but would you mind dropping down to me to pick it up? I wouldn't mind having a beer (or six) this evening and I'd rather not drive.

Lads, how are we fixed for siphons/pumps? (That's solar pumps, by the way, not the type Ciderhead uses.......)   :o >:D

Bring spare siphon and tubing and the cornie. Will txt you if & when i can collect you depends on kids getting to bed on time.

Shanna

A heroic effort last night lads! Five hours, 217 litres imperial porter out, 217 litres of barleywine in. Thanks to everyone who showed up.

At the very least, I think we all owe Shanna a pint in the DH for babysitting this barrel over the last year, and doing almost all of the organizing around it. Not to mention his and his wife's hospitality last night. That grub really hit the spot last night. Cheers Shanna.

And for those who didn't bother to put in an appearance when the barrel was first filled, didn't give a small contribution to the cost of barrel, and then didn't bother to show up when their porter was taken out of the barrel.... I hope you appreciate everyone elses efforts, and appreciate the fact that you got back exactly 100% of what you put in... Sorry for the rant, but it had to be said.

The porter samples we tasted last night were fantastic. I'm sure the barleywine will be just as good in a years time.

Craic was mighty last night. Kids are at the seaside which is just as well cause the effects of the five hours are visible :) Thanks to everybody who showed up & did a great job. Having lots of pairs of hands helped things go smoothly if not exactly quick. It was great that all the barley wines were in good nick. I hope the beer stays ok till we empty it.

Looking forward to carbonating RIP and given there was a good share left I will try carbonate & bottle it. Some i can bring to meets for tasting & can also distribute some to everybody else. Cant imagine the barrel will be used again after this so looks like people should prepare for barley wine for XMas.

Thanks

Shanna

Hi there,

Quick post mortem. Just been down to the shed to do a quick tidy up before going out for the rest of the day. Shed absolutely stinks of booze even though I washed the floor with left over starsan before finishing last night. No sign of movement from the bubbler on the barrel. I sprayed the outside of the barrel with starsan for good measure.

Conor I have your empty keg, full keg of RIP and your demi john, give us a shout some evening & you can collect them.

Cathal I have your empty fermenter. I can bring it to the next meet or you can come over and collect it some evening.

John C I have one of your kegs that still has the left over barley wine in it. I will be in touch to sort out getting that spare keg from you and to get your own keg liberated of the barley wine.

Bruce I forgot to cut out the insulated foil for you last night, if you want to pm me the measurements of the container you want to cover, I will bring it to the next meet for you.

Rossa if you want to put in the 2nd tap give me a shout some evening and we can give it a go, should not take more than 10-15 minutes.

To all of you who washed up last night as we were doing the refilling of the barrel a huge thank as it made such a difference not to have to do cleaning at the end of the night last night.

CH, hope you got home last night safe and sound, appreciate your help with getting the spare pump from Shiny's place. Am going to shamelessly steal your idea of using the window box for cleaning the auto siphon & tubing.

Collectively we need to discuss/agree how to store the left over barley wine going forward as it will be used to back fill the barrel to replace samples taken out. Kegs are at a premium at the moment so if somebody wants to volunteer one to remain in my place I am all ears.

I plan to carbonate the remaining RIP it, bottle it and distribute it over the coming months. I hope everybody is cool with that.

For now I thinks its time for a bit of non beer/home brewing time in the coming weeks as I sense there is a certain fatigue setting in. Hope everybody had a good night last night, I know I did :)

Shanna

You are welcome I saw a fella on YouTube doing it.
It was good to shoot the shit last night even sober, glad to see your 2nd barrel had no shortage of takers, best of luck with it.

Quote from: Shanna on May 04, 2014, 03:11:01 PM
Collectively we need to discuss/agree how to store the left over barley wine going forward as it will be used to back fill the barrel to replace samples taken out. Kegs are at a premium at the moment so if somebody wants to volunteer one to remain in my place I am all ears.

How much have you left over ?

It might be an idea to freeze what you have in say 1 or 2 litre lots.

That way when the barrel needs topping up you will have a little bit of fresh wort to restart CO2 production!

Quote from: Will_D on May 04, 2014, 08:59:27 PM

Quote from: Shanna on May 04, 2014, 03:11:01 PM
Collectively we need to discuss/agree how to store the left over barley wine going forward as it will be used to back fill the barrel to replace samples taken out. Kegs are at a premium at the moment so if somebody wants to volunteer one to remain in my place I am all ears.

How much have you left over ?

It might be an idea to freeze what you have in say 1 or 2 litre lots.

That way when the barrel needs topping up you will have a little bit of fresh wort to restart CO2 production!

Hi Will

We had a full 19ltr batch left over. Never heard somebody freezing beer like this and don't think we would have the freezer capacity to freeze that much liquid? Not sure what you mean by "fresh wort to restart Co2 production".

We just need to get hands on a spare corny to store the remaining batch.

Shanna

It's fine to leave it in my corny. I won't need it back until we're emptying the barrel.

Quote from: Tube on May 04, 2014, 09:56:00 PM
Whose is the leftover batch? What's it currently in?

Hi Tube,

We originally thought that the barrel had a capacity of 220 litres as that is what we put in last time. General consensus was that the barrel might have dried out some first time around and that we as a result had to put in about 217 litres. This time we brewed an extra 10 litres to have used for top up. As it transpired though this time the barrel was filled to the brim with 210 litres. The 19 litre batch remaining was from Shiny.

Shanna

John confirmed in an earlier post that the excess can stay in the keg until we go to drain the barrel so it should be cool.

Shanna

Quote from: Tube on May 04, 2014, 11:07:05 PM
Saw that, but said I'd offer too as I have spare DJs anyway.

Just out of curiosity how would you store beer in demijohns long term? Would you not have problems with not being able to carbonate it and also issues with light?

Shanna

My point about freezing the beer is that assuming its not fully fermented out it will have a bit of residual fermentables left.

If frozen it will stay in this state. When in 3 months or 6 months time you take out a few litres for tasting you now have a head space in the cask. Fill up with a bit of thawed out beer and you may get a little bit of refermentation which may generate a bit of CO2 for you.

Probably not worth doing though!

It was my beer that was left over and it's completely fermented out. I don't really see the point in freezing it when we can just leave it in Johns keg and top up when necessary.

Quote from: shiny on May 05, 2014, 11:29:39 AM
It was my beer that was left over and it's completely fermented out. I don't really see the point in freezing it when we can just leave it in Johns keg and top up when necessary.

Agreed my original post was as I was unsure what was the story vis a via the use of John's  keg. Interesting point about the freezing.

Shanna

My corny came back with this lid. It leaks with my corny and may work with whoever owns it.

Who has mine?

(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/09/jehu9u4e.jpg)

I'm pretty sure it wasn't me anyway.. I was watching my keg and lid like a hawk while my beers was going into the barrel and the lid went straight back on it.

Everyone should be able to compare the writing on this lid with the writing on the other kegs in their collection?

Rossa, are all your kegs of the same vintage by any chance? Can you post a picture of what your lid should look like?

Yep. All Norm's  corny kegs purchased in 2008 or the new safer ones. This is an old lid. Not corny but had the S on it.

Hi there

We had the first taste of the Barley wine on Thursday night in the dark horse. General consensus is its coming along nicely. There is a slight trace of whiskey still but I think this will fade over time.A nice mixture of beers that should be superb in six months.

Shanna

Hi there,

Had the 2nd taste of the barrel aged barley wine last Thursday night in the dark horse. Its a good bit darker than the last sample and its coming along nicely. Before it was had a taste of Shiny's top of effort that was also pretty good. Now I asked the question how much longer should we leave it in for and I did not get any consensus on this. For those of you who were not present have you any opinion on when we should take it out?

Shanna

Shanna are you going to the Craft beer festival?

Quote from: shiny on August 31, 2014, 08:35:02 PM
Shanna are you going to the Craft beer festival?

Yes manning the stand on Saturday night.

Shanna

Quote from: Shanna on August 30, 2014, 05:29:42 PM
Hi there,

Had the 2nd taste of the barrel aged barley wine last Thursday night in the dark horse. Its a good bit darker than the last sample and its coming along nicely. Before it was had a taste of Shiny's top of effort that was also pretty good. Now I asked the question how much longer should we leave it in for and I did not get any consensus on this. For those of you who were not present have you any opinion on when we should take it out?

Shanna

Dolphin browser playing up. There was talk @last meet about emptying barrel this side of XMas. Going to try two samples one this week + another just before the October meet for comparison.

Shanna

I didn't think there was much oak showing in the last sample I had. But i'm not sure if leaving it in the barrel a bit longer will help things. Is the barrel spent, I wonder?

Anyway, I'm happy to go along with everyone else. But seeing as I haven't even bottled my barrel porter yet, I'd happily leave it in there until Spring.

My vote would be to take it out in mid November. Plenty of time for people to have it carbed and bottled for Christmas and it's also before people start getting caught up in the festivities around December.

Pretty much agree with Cathal's comments. Would be nice to have on tap over Xmas. I thought the last sample had noticably less whiskey character than the previous one (more sherry overtones) so this aspect is definitely no longer being enhanced by remaining in the barrel.

Would be nice to have it for Christmas. 

I'll go along with that.

Just adding a running total here of people and preferences for emptying the barrel
Shanna, Bubbles - After Xmas 2014 - 2
Shiny, JohnC, Brewtus, Cno1 - Before Xmas 2014 - 4

If and when we get a quorom (e.g. 6 or more) then we go with the majority rule.

People left to pitch in McGrath, Beerfly, Tube, Rossa & David

Shanna

I'll wait till shanna tastes it again. I don't need another big beer this side of Xmas. But if it's not changing then I'm happy to take it out.

Just adding a running total here of people and preferences for emptying the barrel
Shanna, Bubbles, McGrath - After Xmas 2014 - 3
Shiny, JohnC, Brewtus, Cno1, Dube - Before Xmas 2014 - 5

If and when we get a quorom (e.g. 6 or more) then we go with the majority rule.

People left to pitch in McGrath, Beerfly, Tube, Rossa & David

Shanna

No hurry for me. 2015

just adding a running total here of people and preferences for emptying the barrel
Shanna, Bubbles, McGrath, Rossa - After Xmas 2014 - 4
Shiny, JohnC, Brewtus, Cno1, Dube - Before Xmas 2014 - 5

If and when we get a quorom (e.g. 6 or more) then we go with the majority rule.

People left to pitch in Beerfly & David

Shanna

Just sampling a bottle of my english barkeywine, 1 of 4 bottles that I had left over after racking to barrel. Very tasty, but even darker than i expected because of all the chocolate malt I used. Not a lot of roastiness in the flavour though, just big raisin, fruity english yeast flavours. Very happy with it. Will bring a bottle to a meet.

Sorry haven't been around much lately I'm happy to leave it and see how it develops.

Bit busy at the moment so mightn't be to active till the new year.

Quote from: Shanna on October 02, 2014, 01:06:24 PM
just adding a running total here of people and preferences for emptying the barrel
Shanna, Bubbles, McGrath, Rossa, David - After Xmas 2014 - 5
Shiny, JohnC, Brewtus, Cno1, Dube - Before Xmas 2014 - 5

If and when we get a quorom (e.g. 6 or more) then we go with the majority rule.

People left to pitch in Beerfly

Shanna

I've decided to defect to the wait side which should bring this to a conclusion (and take the pressure off Ronan to make the deciding vote  ;D). I've just brewed a Baltic Porter which is going to end up a bit higher than expected at ca. 9.5% and be ready about Xmas time and as I already have an Old Ale of similar strength maturing since May, I think a third big beer is a bit redundant.

Still scratching my head over a silly post made in this thread late last night by a certain forum member. While the post was subsequently deleted, I presume plenty of people had read it already. (A screenshot of the post was sent to me by another forum user.)

The poster had got it into his head that a comment I'd made on this forum 9 months ago was about him. Just to confirm, my comment had absolutely nothing to do with him.

When as the last time someone had a sneaky sample of this?

Long time ago dude! Think it was around September. We'll probably start discussing the emptying soon, maybe at next months meet? And of course, the possibility of a refill..

Refill. Refill. Refill. :D

Another imperial porter! I drank all mine.  :D

Really the decision is Shanna's as he'll be the one tucking the baby in at night for the next year!

I'm up for it anyway.. The porter tastes so good I'd happily brew the same recipe again. My spies in wickla tell me that the SD porter has gone down so well at their meets that they're considering brewing the same recipe for their next barrel fill.

If we do another fill, i have a certain cider loving gentleman from wicklow lined up to do a batch!

Quote from: shiny on January 25, 2015, 01:41:32 PM
When as the last time someone had a sneaky sample of this?

Yesterday in motley brew :)

How is it coming along?

I had thoughts of doing a Belgian sour but upon reflection it would probably just make my own brewery more problematic than it is. The roof in my shed needs to be replaced & I hope to get it done this summer weather/cash flow permitting. I would be up for a 3rd fill but only after the roof is sorted as I don't want to have the full barrel in the way. If we emptied the barley wine sometime in the spring I was thinking we could fill it with a few bottles of cheap bourbon or whiskey and just give it a whirl every 10 days to keep it moist. Would people think this would be enough to keep it okay till the next fill?

Shanna

PS: I recently got a couple of stainless steel carbonation caps courtesy of John C I might try bottle a bit of the & bring it to the next meet.

Quote from: Shanna on January 25, 2015, 03:40:17 PM
I had thoughts of doing a Belgian sour but upon reflection it would probably just make my own brewery more problematic than it is. The roof in my shed needs to be replaced & I hope to get it done this summer weather/cash flow permitting. I would be up for a 3rd fill but only after the roof is sorted as I don't want to have the full barrel in the way. If we emptied the barley wine sometime in the spring I was thinking we could fill it with a few bottles of cheap bourbon or whiskey and just give it a whirl every 10 days to keep it moist. Would people think this would be enough to keep it okay till the next fill?

Cheap bourbon? Couple of bottles of the good stuff more like! ;)

But seriously.. There would be no point tipping whiskey into the barrel if we intended doing a Belgian sour. Even if we were doing a stout/porter, I'd still be a bit iffy about leaving the barrel more or less empty for an extended period of time. Could we look at re-siting the barrel? Any takers?

I'd volunteer, but I just don't have room in my shed. And leaving it exposed to the elements would probably be a disaster.

Quote from: Bubbles on January 26, 2015, 09:56:07 AM

Quote from: Shanna on January 25, 2015, 03:40:17 PM
I had thoughts of doing a Belgian sour but upon reflection it would probably just make my own brewery more problematic than it is. The roof in my shed needs to be replaced & I hope to get it done this summer weather/cash flow permitting. I would be up for a 3rd fill but only after the roof is sorted as I don't want to have the full barrel in the way. If we emptied the barley wine sometime in the spring I was thinking we could fill it with a few bottles of cheap bourbon or whiskey and just give it a whirl every 10 days to keep it moist. Would people think this would be enough to keep it okay till the next fill?

Cheap bourbon? Couple of bottles of the good stuff more like! ;)

But seriously.. There would be no point tipping whiskey into the barrel if we intended doing a Belgian sour. Even if we were doing a stout/porter, I'd still be a bit iffy about leaving the barrel more or less empty for an extended period of time. Could we look at re-siting the barrel? Any takers?

I'd volunteer, but I just don't have room in my shed. And leaving it exposed to the elements would probably be a disaster.

Sour is a no go as far as I am concerned in current location. Barrel should stay ok as long as it's rotated & kept moist & closed. The barrels were originally like this. If leaving it empty is a concern let's delay emptying it for a while yet till I get a better idea of when I can get my shed roof sorted out. Let's talk about it on Thursday.

Shanna

Quote from: Shanna on January 26, 2015, 08:04:42 PM

Quote from: Bubbles on January 26, 2015, 09:56:07 AM

Quote from: Shanna on January 25, 2015, 03:40:17 PM
I had thoughts of doing a Belgian sour but upon reflection it would probably just make my own brewery more problematic than it is. The roof in my shed needs to be replaced & I hope to get it done this summer weather/cash flow permitting. I would be up for a 3rd fill but only after the roof is sorted as I don't want to have the full barrel in the way. If we emptied the barley wine sometime in the spring I was thinking we could fill it with a few bottles of cheap bourbon or whiskey and just give it a whirl every 10 days to keep it moist. Would people think this would be enough to keep it okay till the next fill?

Cheap bourbon? Couple of bottles of the good stuff more like! ;)

But seriously.. There would be no point tipping whiskey into the barrel if we intended doing a Belgian sour. Even if we were doing a stout/porter, I'd still be a bit iffy about leaving the barrel more or less empty for an extended period of time. Could we look at re-siting the barrel? Any takers?

I'd volunteer, but I just don't have room in my shed. And leaving it exposed to the elements would probably be a disaster.

Sour is a no go as far as I am concerned in current location. Barrel should stay ok as long as it's rotated & kept moist & closed. The barrels were originally like this. If leaving it empty is a concern let's delay emptying it for a while yet till I get a better idea of when I can get my shed roof sorted out. Let's talk about it on Thursday.

Shanna

Apart from the roof a sour barrel won't lead to the spread of bugs to your brewery in case you were worried

Quote from: Rossa on January 27, 2015, 09:40:11 AM

Quote from: Shanna on January 26, 2015, 08:04:42 PM

Quote from: Bubbles on January 26, 2015, 09:56:07 AM

Quote from: Shanna on January 25, 2015, 03:40:17 PM
I had thoughts of doing a Belgian sour but upon reflection it would probably just make my own brewery more problematic than it is. The roof in my shed needs to be replaced & I hope to get it done this summer weather/cash flow permitting. I would be up for a 3rd fill but only after the roof is sorted as I don't want to have the full barrel in the way. If we emptied the barley wine sometime in the spring I was thinking we could fill it with a few bottles of cheap bourbon or whiskey and just give it a whirl every 10 days to keep it moist. Would people think this would be enough to keep it okay till the next fill?

Cheap bourbon? Couple of bottles of the good stuff more like! ;)

But seriously.. There would be no point tipping whiskey into the barrel if we intended doing a Belgian sour. Even if we were doing a stout/porter, I'd still be a bit iffy about leaving the barrel more or less empty for an extended period of time. Could we look at re-siting the barrel? Any takers?

I'd volunteer, but I just don't have room in my shed. And leaving it exposed to the elements would probably be a disaster.

Sour is a no go as far as I am concerned in current location. Barrel should stay ok as long as it's rotated & kept moist & closed. The barrels were originally like this. If leaving it empty is a concern let's delay emptying it for a while yet till I get a better idea of when I can get my shed roof sorted out. Let's talk about it on Thursday.

Shanna

Apart from the roof a sour barrel won't lead to the spread of bugs to your brewery in case you were worried

No but brewing a sour would :)

Shanna

Quote from: Shanna on January 27, 2015, 04:18:07 PM

Quote from: Rossa on January 27, 2015, 09:40:11 AM

Quote from: Shanna on January 26, 2015, 08:04:42 PM

Quote from: Bubbles on January 26, 2015, 09:56:07 AM

Quote from: Shanna on January 25, 2015, 03:40:17 PM
I had thoughts of doing a Belgian sour but upon reflection it would probably just make my own brewery more problematic than it is. The roof in my shed needs to be replaced & I hope to get it done this summer weather/cash flow permitting. I would be up for a 3rd fill but only after the roof is sorted as I don't want to have the full barrel in the way. If we emptied the barley wine sometime in the spring I was thinking we could fill it with a few bottles of cheap bourbon or whiskey and just give it a whirl every 10 days to keep it moist. Would people think this would be enough to keep it okay till the next fill?

Cheap bourbon? Couple of bottles of the good stuff more like! ;)

But seriously.. There would be no point tipping whiskey into the barrel if we intended doing a Belgian sour. Even if we were doing a stout/porter, I'd still be a bit iffy about leaving the barrel more or less empty for an extended period of time. Could we look at re-siting the barrel? Any takers?

I'd volunteer, but I just don't have room in my shed. And leaving it exposed to the elements would probably be a disaster.

Sour is a no go as far as I am concerned in current location. Barrel should stay ok as long as it's rotated & kept moist & closed. The barrels were originally like this. If leaving it empty is a concern let's delay emptying it for a while yet till I get a better idea of when I can get my shed roof sorted out. Let's talk about it on Thursday.

Shanna

Apart from the roof a sour barrel won't lead to the spread of bugs to your brewery in case you were worried

No but brewing a sour would :)

Shanna

Keep a plastic fermentor and siphon just for the sour and all good :) that said, I ain't leaving spur anywhere near my brewing until I get my mashing down. I have enough trouble in my life...