NCB barrel number 3

[nigel_c]

As the subject line states. Has anyone had any thoughts about what and when we would like to brew for the next barrel?
From the tasting in the Boro last meet up, barrel number 2 had a much milder whiskey taste that number 1 and by the time we get the next brew in it should be very mellow.

I think we could go for something like a Belgian dubbel for the next lot. A nice simple brown ale might also work well. Both could have a quick enough turn around and be ready for next Christmas. ( I can't believe I'm thinking about Christmas already)

What do people think? What style would anyone want to see going into the barrel next?
Would everyone still want to be involved in the barrel project?
I'm just making a start on this now so we can start thinking about a timeline for barrel 2.

All ideas welcome.

[Jacob]

Not sure about our barrel life time but here are the 3 beers that I would use it for

+1 to dubbel,
beech or oak smoked porter,
something sour

[nigel_c]

I think the whiskey will be mild enough for the dubbel alright. We will have to have a proper taste of the barley wine and see how much barrel is left in it.

Mmmmm barrel aged dubbel. 

[Pat_buttercups]

im gomma say dubbel would be good

[Will_D]

Don't forget I still have an unused (but a bit dry by now) cask!

Must give it a quick check out!

[nigel_c]

Group buy on the pasteurized apple juice from get er brewed and barrel age it.  :

[Jacob]

Group buy on the pasteurized apple juice from get er brewed and barrel age it.  :

200l of oak aged cider ??!!



Love it !!!

[nigel_c]

€33 for 20L before NHC discount.
Might be worth shooting GEB an email see what stocks they have.

[Partridge9]

Without sounding like a party pooper, i like the Belgian double idea   

[ColMack]

I like the idea of the cider, but am easy.  All the beer we've produced has been great, so while not a fan of Belgian, I could be persuaded.

[Jacob]

Don't forget I still have an unused (but a bit dry by now) cask!

Must give it a quick check out!

That's how we got an idea for a cask cider.
With our 'main' barrel we'll probably go for a doubel (personally would prefer trippel or quadrupel )
We can always talk about it on Tuesday.

[Will_D]

My spare cask has been "sniffed" and is still fine.

Problem with a cider is the cost: Typically we are looking at 1€ per litre of fresh juice. (same as Lidl/Tesco but MUCH better quality) Also there is a fair old drive to get it at that price!

[nigel_c]

Anybody had any thoughts about what we could do next? The barley wine is in 4 months now so if we are planning on another big brew we should be starting to think about it soon enough.

The way I'm thinking it is what would I like to be drinking at Christmas.
Belgian Dubbel or Quad maybe.


Info in Dubbel  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubbel
Info on quad  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrupel

This will probably be the last "clean" beer we'll get in the barrel before it gives up most of its oak character.

So what do people think?

[Will_D]

After the debacle that is/was the Capital Dubbel I would like a massive dark quad (BJCP: 18E)

1. Will_D:  Dark Quad (or golden but a quad)

[Dark Humour Switch/On]
We could name it in honour of Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy's Revenge
Return of the Quads
Quad'll get you in the end

[DHS/Off]

[ColmR]

I'm afraid Will I'd prefer to go with a less strong beer. Prefer over the big 9% plus beers (and sure we've done two of those).

But a big question I have is how would we handle the yeast for a posh Belgian? Should we invest in a load of liquid yeast? Or is there a decent dry yeast out there?

For that reason and to reduce the risk of bad batches I'd like to go with a Strong ale (7% ish) with a cleaner yeast profile. I also think that there is more risk that the barrel returns a dodgy beer third time around. Because of this it may make sense to not invest so much in this beer in terms of ingredients. Also we have a tonne of us and uk hops but no European ones that a Belgian beer might call for.

I had a Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard ale last night and it was amazing. It's a strong, dark American ale with loads of hops. To be different to our barley wine we could do an Englishy or Scotishy version with some of our challenger and first gold hops. Something like that maybe?

Just my thoughts. But I will absolutely go with the consensus.

1. Will_D: Quad
2. ColmR: Strong Dark Ale - English/Scotish