Wine Barrel?

[John Sand]

I'm going to a tag sale at a winery this weekend. Should I pick up a small wine barrel if I can (reasonably). Can they be cleaned enough? Have any of you aged or fermented in used wine barrels? Thanks.

[D_Rabbit]

I would assume it would be the same as using an old rum barrel. I would expect to gain some of the profile from said wine, along with some characteristics from the barrel itself.

From past experience you should expect to get a sour beer from a used Barrel. It is easy to sanitize whatever first goes in to the barrel but I have found it a little more difficult to sanitize after that. I'm sure there are ways but like I said, from past experience, you tend to get sours from used barrels as it is hard to keep things 100% sanitized with used wood.

[Sparrow]

One of our local micros, Beach Brewing https://www.facebook.com/pages/Beach-Br ... 7857572577, has been doing a lot of stuff in wine and bourbon barrels lately, not all of them sours, though I have no idea what process is used.

Their number is listed on the FB page I linked to, you might be able to give Justin a call for some advice. He is pretty willing to help home brewers.

[D_Rabbit]

One of our local micros, Beach Brewing https://www.facebook.com/pages/Beach-Br ... 7857572577, has been doing a lot of stuff in wine and bourbon barrels lately, not all of them sours, though I have no idea what process is used.

Their number is listed on the FB page I linked to, you might be able to give Justin a call for some advice. He is pretty willing to help home brewers.

Let us know what you find out.

I have always been of the impression that soaking some oak chips in alcohol and adding to secondary is the best way to go but would like to know their sanitization methods in case I decide to get adventerous one day

[John Sand]

Thanks guys. I found a link to a procedure for cleaning wine barrels. And it matches what I was told by a pro brewer a few weeks ago. Basically water, a cleaning solution, then burning sulphur. I think that if I want to oak a recipe, I'll use the cubes. But if I see a small barrel cheap, I may still jump on it.

[John Sand]

Okay, the wine barrels were all either crappy, or full! And the full ones needed a lift truck. I did buy a nice old carboy for $15. Had this sale been six months earlier (when it was originally scheduled) I could have bought a burner and pot. Heck, if it were one week earlier, I could have saved half on the pot I just bought!

[DaYooper]

Keep your eyes on Adventures In Homebrewing as they get them from time to time, but they go very quick. Wanted to pick one up awhile back but they sold out in about 15 minutes.

[John Sand]

Thanks Yoop. I'm not really looking for one, but if I came across one cheap, I'd have to consider it. Probably if I make an oaked beer, I'll just use cubes.