For a while now, I've been tempted to do a 'start to finish' barrel project. hat is to say, beginning with a new oak barrel, aging wine, spirits, then beer.
So here's my current plan:
I purchased a 3 gallon port wine kit from Midwest Brewing Supplies, which I will proceed to age in a 10 liter barrel, which should leave me with adequate top-off capacity. A bottle of inexpensive brandy will be used to sanitize the barrel (after it's been sealed via a hot water soak) and draw off that first dose of woodiness. I guesstimate 2-4 weeks for this.
After aging the port for a bit, I will draw it off and age a spirit, perhaps a whiskey or white rum. Let's not ask how I'll be obtaining 10L of spirits
. I'd guesstimate 3 months for this.
After drawing off the spirits, I would put in a dark beer that would benefit, perhaps a vanilla porter. Guesstimate another 3 months for this.
By this point the barrel would most likely be pretty spent, but might serve well as an extended aging container, say for wine, spirits, or cider. It would certainly make a good display point for a home bar.
Sooooo, here's the big point of contention I'm worried about. A 10L (~2.5ish gallon) barrel is, well, pretty small. And small barrels will tend to impart woodiness pretty quickly, often before you can benefit from a lot of the reasons you age in an oak barrel--the wonderful vanillins and slow oxidation. Therefore the big question is:
Is a 10L barrel too small for practical aging of port? Or do I really need to step it up to a 20L/5 gallon barrel?
Going for the bigger barrel would necessitate getting another port kit and double the necessary amount of spirits...and that's a lot of spirits!
Thanks in advance!
So here's my current plan:
I purchased a 3 gallon port wine kit from Midwest Brewing Supplies, which I will proceed to age in a 10 liter barrel, which should leave me with adequate top-off capacity. A bottle of inexpensive brandy will be used to sanitize the barrel (after it's been sealed via a hot water soak) and draw off that first dose of woodiness. I guesstimate 2-4 weeks for this.
After aging the port for a bit, I will draw it off and age a spirit, perhaps a whiskey or white rum. Let's not ask how I'll be obtaining 10L of spirits
. I'd guesstimate 3 months for this.After drawing off the spirits, I would put in a dark beer that would benefit, perhaps a vanilla porter. Guesstimate another 3 months for this.
By this point the barrel would most likely be pretty spent, but might serve well as an extended aging container, say for wine, spirits, or cider. It would certainly make a good display point for a home bar
.Sooooo, here's the big point of contention I'm worried about. A 10L (~2.5ish gallon) barrel is, well, pretty small. And small barrels will tend to impart woodiness pretty quickly, often before you can benefit from a lot of the reasons you age in an oak barrel--the wonderful vanillins and slow oxidation. Therefore the big question is:
Is a 10L barrel too small for practical aging of port? Or do I really need to step it up to a 20L/5 gallon barrel?
Going for the bigger barrel would necessitate getting another port kit and double the necessary amount of spirits...and that's a lot of spirits!
Thanks in advance!
