Earlier this week we received 9 american oak barrels from fellow craftbrewer Luke Nicholas of Epic Brewing Co. It is hard for me to conceal my enthusiasm, although non-beer people around me doesn't seem to understand. So let me try:
Wooden barrels are hard to work with when it comes to beer. Unlike stainless steel (which everything in the brewery is usually made of) they can't be completely sterilized, microbes will always find somewhere to hide in the porous wood. In other words, it makes brewing harder, because much more work goes into cleaning and maintaining the barrels which is why most breweries don't bother.
But of course, I am not excited because of the extra work involved but because of the opportunities the barrels provide. Barrel aging brings complexity to the beer. Tannins, vanilla flavours, micro oxidation, depth! Bourbon for example, is basically a tasteless, white spirit that has been aged in american oak barrels. Virtually all the flavour is contributed by the oak. Weather you like bourbon or not, you can imagine what the barrels can do to an already excellent beer.
Epic used the barrels for 2 batches of beer, an IPA and a Stout. Upon first examination, they don't seem to have much beer character in them. The smell is very oaky, very bourbony. I think they have a lot of life left in them and I will make sure to put them to good use. In fact, I already have: This morning I filled two of them with The Big Smoke which I will leave in there for a month or two. I've never worked with barrels before so I don't really know how long to mature the beer. Time will tell.
After that I'm planning a big imperial stout. Bigger than lasts years iStout (which by the way will return to the shelves in May). After primary fermentation in the stainless fermenters I will rack it into the barrels and leave sit until it's ready to bottle. I'm guessing 2 or 3 months should do.
I think this may be the beginning of a glorious adventure into the world of wood!
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The barrels sound awesome! What kind of oak are they made of, French? At the end of their lifecycle for wood flavours will you switch over to some sour beers?
ReplyDeletethey are american oak and still have a lot of flavour in them I think. and yes, when they have served their duty, I plan to make something really funky.
ReplyDeleteIt will hopefully take a few years before they are worn out though, so I will probably get some used wine barrels before that and make some sour beers in them. I need to do some homework first though and figure out how to bottle it, there is no way we can risk infecting our normal bottling line with brettanomyces and funky bacteria...
The Dux de Lux here in Chch had a special beer that was aged in wine barrels (Merlot?). It was a stout, and damn did it have some fine flavours in it!!
ReplyDeletei look forward to trying your brew!!