Mon Apr 25, 2011 8:46 am
I have aged in barrels have a RIS aging now in a rye barrel, will be doing a sour beer in a rye barrel in a couple of weeks.
The best suggestion I would give you is "Keep it full". Brew a new batch of beer then remove an equal portion to what you brewed and top off or blend and put the remaining from your brew back into the barrel again to top off.
This serves a couple of things, it keeps the barrel wet prevents it from drying and srinking, as well as preventing mold.
It also makes your beer much better as you end up with a nice aged, blended beer. You get a lot of nice complexity from all the different batches going in, as well as that beautiful aged flavor from the blending and aging in the keg.
Obviously this doesn't work if you are wanting to place a different beer in the barrel, just remember, like you pick up the flavors from the barrel, the next beer will pick up notes from the beer it now holds, so that should be taken into account.
