Any Interest in Barrel Aged Sour

[mcgster]

I'm looking into trying to get a wine barrel right now and i know there are many homebrew groups out there that collaborate to fill a barrel to do a barrel aged sour from multiple batches. I'm interested in trying this, i'm not sure if anyone else is!

[CartoonCod]

I'm interested but live near Halifax. I'd be happy to brew some wort or beer in the hopes that myself or somebody else could bring it over for the filing.

[mcgster]

It will take ALOT of beer to fill and a long time to age so that wouldn't be a problem at all. I'm crossing my fingers the local winery comes through for us with a barrel

[Keith]

If you guys want to wait a bit I'll hopefully have a 50 gallon setup ready in the next 6 months and could just knock this out with one big brew.

[mcgster]

A lot of clubs do it split up into multiple smaller batches so each person has a hand in making it so i don't mind doing it this way. Its kind of a nice way for everyone to have a hand in a cool process!

That being said if there were multiple barrels involved that would be another story!

[mcgster]

Just received word back that the winery has two available that they would be willing to sell.

I"m hoping i can arrange a pickup when i'm home this weekend.

[Keith]

How long are those barrels good for? Would this be able to be arranged before it went bad?

[CartoonCod]

You've got to look at proper storage for an empty barrel so it, doesn't dry out, doesn't go moldy, and doesn't get full of the 'bad' bugs. I think people will occasionally put some potassium metabisulfite solution to keep them clean and hydrated. The good thing about this is that the barrel will be used for souring beer anyway, so even if there is some contamination with lacto or brett that will be fine.

[chalmers]

We've done this previously a few times (The Original Barrel Project (done in two rounds), The PEI Double-Barrel Project, and The PEI Barrel Project, Part 2), with varying results, most excellent. We had done several individual brews to fill the barrels, which does allow more people to brew their own beer and take part, however can leads to issues (one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch).
One thing we hadn't implemented, and should be done, would to have an extra person or two brew a batch, and before any beer goes in the barrel, it all be tested to ensure it's not infected. If it is, the backup batch(es) can be swapped in. If the backup batch is not required, perhaps that extra batch can be bottled and distributed among all participants, so a fair comparison can be made barrel vs. non-barrel, and that (un)lucky brewer would still be able to get some of the barreled beer. Just some suggestions, from someone involved in previous barrel projects.

[mcgster]

We've done this previously a few times (The Original Barrel Project (done in two rounds), The PEI Double-Barrel Project, and The PEI Barrel Project, Part 2), with varying results, most excellent. We had done several individual brews to fill the barrels, which does allow more people to brew their own beer and take part, however can leads to issues (one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch).
One thing we hadn't implemented, and should be done, would to have an extra person or two brew a batch, and before any beer goes in the barrel, it all be tested to ensure it's not infected. If it is, the backup batch(es) can be swapped in. If the backup batch is not required, perhaps that extra batch can be bottled and distributed among all participants, so a fair comparison can be made barrel vs. non-barrel, and that (un)lucky brewer would still be able to get some of the barreled beer. Just some suggestions, from someone involved in previous barrel projects.

Awesome suggestions! Definitely good points. You would hate to have the batch ruined because of one bad brew.

I'm going to read up on those threads find some other tips!

[gm-]

I am definitely in. Straight up lambic, or flanders red would be awesome.

[Keith]

I'd be in for either, but would need to brew someone's recipe.

[CartoonCod]

A straight up lambic sounds great and has my vote. However, if you guys would rather something else check out the http://www.themadfermentationist.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, that blog has got lots of different kinds of soured beers.

[LiverDance]

I would be up for this

[chicanuck]

I would also be interested in this project.

[GasMD30]

As seen in my thread "Cidery taste" I am really good at making sour beer... So I'm out

Also I live in NL

Sounds like FUN though. Old school brewing

[Keith]

A straight up lambic sounds great and has my vote. However, if you guys would rather something else check out the http://www.themadfermentationist.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, that blog has got lots of different kinds of soured beers.

Any sour beers that are best served around 2.5 volumes of CO2? I'd want to keg mine as I don't have space for bottles.

[Jimmy]

A straight up lambic sounds great and has my vote. However, if you guys would rather something else check out the http://www.themadfermentationist.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, that blog has got lots of different kinds of soured beers.

Any sour beers that are best served around 2.5 volumes of CO2? I'd want to keg mine as I don't have space for bottles.

Flanders red/brown

[LiverDance]

A straight up lambic sounds great and has my vote. However, if you guys would rather something else check out the http://www.themadfermentationist.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, that blog has got lots of different kinds of soured beers.

Any sour beers that are best served around 2.5 volumes of CO2? I'd want to keg mine as I don't have space for bottles.

You can carb it much higher in the keg and use epoxy sticks in your dip tube to knock out the foam before serving. So don't limit based on carb level.

[LiverDance]

My vote is straight lambic, that way we can experiment with different fruits as well if we want

[pvanberk]

I'd like in. Straight up lambic is my vote.

[Keith]

Can a lambic be keg conditioned?

[mr x]

I hope so, have a few in kegs.

[amartin]

I'm not too familiar with this, how would it work? Would we just brew and ferment a base beer with a regular sort of ale yeast, and then it would get the bacteria in the barrel? Or would we all be adding bacteria at home?

[mcgster]

I can post a couple of different options for recipes, Michael Tonsmeire's book "American Sours" has a ton of great recipes and some hints on doing group barrel brews like this.

I think the most reliable way to do this is that the barrel gets steam cleaned (i can do this at the house) then all the wort gets added to the barrel with no bugs in it yet. Chances are there will be lots of bugs in the barrel that get into the pores of the wood and aren't killed by the steam cleaning but we would either start off with a clean yeast and add some other bugs once we hit a desired SG. It really depends on what approach we want to take. I can post a couple different approaches later on.

I'm torn between lambic and flanders red.. both are great choices.