Aloha all! Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far! I’m about to transfer a Brown Ale that I’ve been aging in a Woodinville Rye Whiskey Barrel for month to the Keg. Was wondering if anyone had any experience with cleaning and re-using the barrel for aging again? Any and all responses are welcome and I look forward to hearing from you all! Mahalo!
I don’t do anything to the barrels in between beers. Pull one beer out, flush the barrel with CO2 (to avoid oxidation from splashing), and rack the next beer in. I suppose I could dump out the dregs of the previous beer before racking the next one in, but I don’t. I now have 6 beers and meads which have been in Woodinville barrels, and hope to have a couple more before Philly. Nothing but goodness.
You can rinse with very hot non-chlorinated water and then hit it with some whisky to replace the lost whisky character then add more beer. that’s what I did.
Aloha guys! Thanks for the info! I just Kegged my Brown Ale today from the Whiskey Barrel and smelled amazing. Of course I had to take a sample and try it. Even better than I expected. Can’t wait to try it!
Thanks again!