Better Together: Club Barrel Shares
After a year of pandemic brewing many of us are looking for new ways to explore our hobby. One way to get creative could be starting a homebrew barrel program. While local homebrew supply stores carry cubes, chips, spirals, and other “oak alternative” products for wood aging, these all seem to fall short of the romance of placing your home-crafted ales into a full-sized barrel. The Morris Area Society of Homebrewers (MASH) in New Jersey has two barrel projects for club members to enjoy the mystique of barrel aging their beers while defraying some of the prohibitive costs tied to the process that an individual would have to invest if they went it alone.
The cost of a used or new barrel can be just as much as a top-of-the-line kettle. While most barrels used for brewing are discarded Bourbon barrels, there are also barrels for wine and other spirits available, some of which may be more common depending where you live. The increase in popularity of commercial barrel aging programs and whiskey production have steadily increased the cost of these once affordable barrels. Depending on the size and quality, the cost can run up to $250 dollars and a barrel transfer tool (also called a bulldog) can run an additional $250+ (no, a bulldog is not a necessity for barreled beers as siphoning through tubes will also work, but since our club purchased a bulldog I thought it worth mentioning). With the cost of a 5-gallon (19-L) grain bill and yeast running about $25, multiplied to fill a barrel this equates to over $250 dollars for the wort alone to fill a 53-gallon (200-L) barrel. Of course, this is quite a large amount of beer for an individual, and with the costs associated with these beers it generally adds up to dissuade even those most interested in full-sized barrel aging.
Enter the MASH barrel share project, which makes the cost much more reasonable when it is spread across a group of club members. Using the barrel for consecutive fills diminishes the cost even more. One potential drawback is that with having several members contributing their fermented beers to the barrel there is an increased chance of introducing unwanted bacteria. This occurred in the club’s first barrel after the first fill. The second barrel has been kept “clean” by steaming between fills.
The first barrel our club got our hands on was previously used by Heaven Hill Distillery and procured from Keystone Barrel Supply in Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania. The second barrel was previously a wine barrel procured from Northeast Barrel Company in nearby Lansdale, Pennsylvania. These companies were used due to proximity to the club in northern New Jersey. Websites such as OakBarrel.com and Midwest Barrel Company have different selections of barrels, and there may be other used barrel distributors in your region. Your club’s location and willingness to cover shipping will determine the best company to go through. Another great option is to buy it direct from a distillery, winery, or brewery that may be retiring a barrel. The key is to get a barrel that has been recently emptied. A barrel that has been empty for a while may leak due to the staves having dried and contracted and will need to be expanded before you add any beer to be aged. Also, the longer a barrel sits empty the higher the likelihood unwanted funk will grow in the barrel.
The club uses a barrel bulldog and a barrel steamer that is borrowed from Twin Elephant Brewery. Twin Elephant has had a long relationship with the club, serving as the primary location for club meetings before social distancing forced gatherings online. Barrel bulldogs, or gas transfer tools, can be purchased from brewing supply sites such as MoreBeer!, Homebrewers Outpost, or GW Kent. The club uses a steamer that is connected to a homemade ‘L’ shaped copper pipe. There are vent holes on the lower end of the ‘L’ shape that pump the steam into the empty barrel between fills.
To offer ideas for your own club, let’s take a closer look at how MASH has utilized our two barrels.
Barrel 1
For the initial fill for barrel one back in 2015 all interested club members put their names in a lottery. The eleven members selected to contribute 5 gallons (19 L) of beer decided to brew an imperial stout. A common recipe was developed and each member brought their keg or carboy to fill the barrel on a designated day.
Unfortunately, after a few samplings during aging it was determined the barrel had gone sour and drove the second fill to be a Flanders red. Due to what was most likely impatience the members decided to do a solera pull at six months. After pulling some of the beer from the barrel, the same Flanders red recipe was brewed to top off the barrel again. After another six months the barrel was completely racked and refilled with an oud bruin. The oud bruin was aged in the barrel for one year and then the members chose to attempt a clone of the Tired Hands Orbison golden saison. During this refill the barrel was physically moved between club members’ homes. In February of 2019 a solera pull was made of the golden saison with a second pull in June of 2019.
Just as the pandemic was starting the barrel members decided on a dark sour (a clone recipe of The Bruery’s Tart of Darkness). In April 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic caused a slight change for the barrel program. What was once an all-day social event where participating members gathered to collectively rack and refill the barrel had to change. The 2020 fill had all participants drop off their brewed dark sour for one member to rack and fill the barrel. All members later picked up their portion.
In May of 2021 the social distance restrictions limited a full collection of barrel participants, but a few more were able to attend to help rack, refill, and provide emotional support for another Flanders red barrel fill.
Barrel 2
Two years after starting the first barrel project, MASH ordered a second barrel to allow more members to participate. The second barrel selected was a wine barrel that members hoped would remain clean without the funk the first one developed. This meant that a full rack and refill as well as a deep steam clean would take place as part of preventing the barrel from going sour as long as possible. This provided some mid-barrel day activity of rolling the barrel around to get a good clean.
Twelve participating club members brewed an imperial saison and let the collective brew rest in the barrel in March of 2017. By July the saison was deemed ready and a second fill of the barrel took place with a Belgian dark strong ale. This beer sat in the barrel for a year until it was replaced with a wheatwine in July of 2018.
In January of 2019 the participating members brewed a Belgian triple for the fourth fill. For the fifth fill the club made a change to this barrel. The participating members brewed a golden ale and pitched Funk Weapon #3 from Bootleg Biology. This secondary yeast strain was intended to create a ripe tropical fruit flavor with aromas of strawberry, cherry, and tropical candy. This fill took place during the social distance requirements so, like Barrel 1, it was less of a social event. Most recently in May of 2021 the barrel was filled with a imperial Berliner weisse.
Each barrel is stored at one of the contributing brewer’s homes based on storage availability. As expected life happens and the club has seen both barrels moved over the course of the club’s barrel program. The barrel sponsors are tasked with conducting the shepherding of the beer and barrel. This program allows up to 12 club members (brewing 5 gallons/19 L each, as we found it is safe to have a bit extra in case some brewers came up a little short) to experience the benefits of barrel-aged beers without having to purchase additional equipment, store a full-sized barrel, or monitor its progress in their homes.
One of the club members with experience in barrel aging tastes the barrel at various stages and makes a determination when the barrel is ready. There is not an exact science to this; it is more of a testing until it’s determined to be ready.
Filling the Barrel
Once the barrels arrived they were inspected to make sure there were no cracks or obvious leaks. Prior to filling with beer the barrels were filled with warm water over 170 °F (77 °C). After the barrel was filled a second inspection was done to look for leaks. The barrel should sit for up to 24 hours to allow any staves to expand to stop any leaks present. After the club was happy with the retaining capability of the barrel the water was emptied.
The steamer should be put in for 20 to 25 minutes. While the barrel is being steamed the kegs should be prepped to fill the barrel. Filling from Corny kegs should be a similar setup for any kegerator with CO2 being injected in the “in” port and an open ended hose should be connected to the “out” port. Ensure that the “out” port hose is first in the barrel and touching the bottom or close to touching the bottom of the barrel before filling to avoid oxidizing the beer. For CO2 pressure the club found success at around 12 PSI. We recommend that an extra member brew a batch or asking members in the club to brew more beer than the barrel can hold to account for any members who were not able to reach exactly 5 gallons (19 L). This ensures the barrel is completely filled and does not allow the top staves to dry out. The barrel is monitored and if the fill level drops too much then more of the original recipe can be brewed and added to top off the barrel.
Racking from the Barrel
Again, racking from the barrel can be done by siphoning, but since we invested in a barrel bulldog here are the steps we use: First begin with sanitizing the bulldog. Remove the bung and drop the bulldog down to the bottom of the barrel. Tighten the bung stop to create an airlock and connect the bulldog to the CO2. Similar to dispensing from Corny kegs, the CO2 level should only be enough to allow the beer from the barrel to smoothly flow out into the waiting kegs. With either the siphon tube or bulldog the fill tube should be connected to a sanitized hose that is placed in the bottom of the Corny keg to be filled. One member removes the lid, empties any sanitizer from the keg, and sprays down the lid with sanitizer. Just like filling the barrel the hose should be at the bottom of the keg to avoid oxidation. Once the keg is filled the lid is replaced and CO2 is injected in the “in” port to flush out any oxygen.
Once the kegs are filled members collect them to either carbonate or further age on fruit or adjuncts.
While COVID has made some of the more recent racks and refills virtual, we look forward to the time when these events can get back in person. And even when we can’t all be involved in each step, the barrel program has kept homebrewing exciting and increased the communal feel within the club during these times.
MASH Club Recipes
MASH Barrel Red Sour
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.075 FG = 1.012
IBU = 14 SRM = 15 ABV = 8.3%
After the first MASH barrel had already soured we continued to use it to age sour beer styles. This was the sixth recipe that club members brewed for the sour barrel.
Ingredients
6.5 lbs. (2.9 kg) Vienna malt
5.5 lbs. (2.5 kg) Pilsner malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) Munich I malt
8.1 oz. (230 g) aromatic malt
8.1 oz. (230 g) Caramunich® I malt
8.1 oz. (230 g) Special B malt
8.1 oz. (230 g) pale wheat malt
8.1 oz. (230 g) demerara sugar
4 AAU East Kent Golding hops (60 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 4% alpha acids)
½ Whirlfloc tablet (10 min.)
½ tsp. yeast nutrients (10 min.)
White Labs WLP550 (Belgian Ale), Wyeast 3522 (Belgian Ardennes), or SafBrew T-58 yeast
Step by Step
This is a single infusion mash with the addition of 3.9 g calcium chloride and 2.1 g gypsum. Phosphoric acid is added to the mash water to achieve a mash pH of 5.1 and sparge water to a pH of 6. Stabilize mash temperature at 154 °F (68 °C) and hold for 60 minutes. Lauter as usual collecting 7 gallons (26.5 L). Boil for 90 minutes adding the hops 30 minutes after the start of the boil and the Whirlfloc and yeast nutrients with 10 minutes remaining in the boil.
After the boil is finished, chill the wort down to yeast pitch temperature, aerate well if using liquid yeast, then pitch the yeast. Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) for 7 days before transferring into the barrel.
Partial mash option: Swap out the Vienna and Pilsner malts for dried malt extract (DME), using 4.3 lbs. (2 kg) Pilsen DME and 2 lbs. (0.91 kg) pale ale DME. Add the remaining crushed grains into 1 gallon (4 L) of water and maintain as best you can a mash temperature of 154 °F (68 °C) for one hour. Remove grains and wash with 1 gallon (4 L) hot water. Add another gallon (4 L) to the wort and stir in the Pilsen DME. Bring to a boil and add the hops. Boil for 60 minutes. Add the pale ale DME with 10 minutes left in the boil. Chill wort down to fermentation temperature then add water to make 5 gallons (19 L). Follow remaining instruction from the all-grain recipe.
MASH Barrel Tripel
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.080 FG = 1.009
IBU = 33 SRM = 4 ABV = 9.4%
This is the fourth recipe members of the MASH homebrew club brewed and filled the second barrel (the clean barrel) with after fermentation for extended aging.
Ingredients
13.5 lbs. (6.1 kg) German Pilsner malt
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) table sugar (sucrose)
8.2 AAU Loral Cryo® hops (60 min.) (0.39 oz./11 g at 21.5% alpha acids)
2.3 AAU Hallertau hops (10 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 4.5% alpha acids)
2.3 AAU Styrian Goldings hops (10 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 4.5% alpha acids)
½ Whirlfloc tablet (10 min.)
½ tsp. yeast nutrients (10 min.)
White Labs WLP570 (Belgian Golden Ale), Wyeast 1388 (Belgian Strong Ale), or Mangrove Jack’s M31 (Belgian Triple) yeast
Step by Step
This is a single infusion mash with the addition of 3 g calcium chloride, 2.4 g gypsum, 1.8 g of Epsom salt, and a pinch of table salt. Phosphoric acid is added to the mash water to achieve a mash pH of 5.2 and sparge water to a pH of 6. Stabilize mash temperature at 148 °F (64 °C) and hold for 75 minutes. Lauter as usual collecting 7 gallons (26.5 L). Boil for 90 minutes adding the first hops 30 minutes after the start of the boil and the second hop addition, sucrose, Whirlfloc, and yeast nutrients with 10 minutes remaining in the boil.
After the boil is finished, chill the wort down to yeast pitch temperature, aerate well if using liquid yeast, then pitch the yeast. Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) for 7 days before transferring into the barrel.
Extract option: Swap out the Pilsner malt for 7.3 lbs. (3.3 kg) Pilsen dried malt extract (DME). Start with 3 gallons of water and bring up to almost a boil. Turn off heat and add half of the DME. Bring to a boil and add the first hop addition. Boil for 60 minutes. Add the second half of DME along with the second hop addition, sucrose, Whirlfloc, and yeast nutrients with 10 minutes left in the boil.
Chill wort down to fermentation temperature then add water to make 5 gallons (19 L). Follow remaining instruction from the all-grain recipe.
