Barrel Handling & Barrel Care

Barrel aged beers are everywhere. I just finished thawing my extremities from the two day Freeze-Stravaganza that was the Michigan Brewer's Guild's 2015 Winter Beer Festival, and there was hardly a brewery that was not offering something that had once resided in a barrel. Bourbon or wine, sherry or maple syrup: these barrels are out there, and they are going to get filled. It is not just the professionals out there that are filling barrels, many homebrewers are purchasing their own, or chipping in for a barrel purchase for group homebrew club projects.

With that in mind, I would like to provide a compilation of barrel handling tips from Jay Goodwin, Head Brewer of the Rare Barrel in Berkley, CA. Jay is hosting a new show on The Brewing Network, the premiere source for high level (and free) online beer information on the web. On The Sour Hour Jay talks to top flight guests about the ins and outs of sour beer production, as well as dropping plenty of knowledge himself. Do yourself a favor and check out this podcast. Now let's roll out the barrels.

It is important to find a barrel supplier you can trust. Now is the time to dial up those industry connections you have and find out who among the areas barrel providers are reputable. Especially for the professional side folks, try and establish strong relationships with these providers as they are going to be the backbone of your beer aging program.

Do a visual inspection of the barrel inside and out. Make sure there are no items that have been added to the barrel that you will want to remove (oak spirals, any other flavoring agents, etc.) Once the barrel is free of these items, soak the heads of the barrels. Most of the leaks you are going to get are on the heads of the barrel. Put hot water on one head, and soak it over night. If it is not totally dry in the morning that side can be considered sealed. Flip the barrel over and soak the other side following the same procedure. If the barrel is not leaking, and you want the character of the last liquid in the barrel to carry over, then purge the vessel with CO2 and fill.

If you are not going to use the flavors of the previous barrel aged liquid, use the wet sulfur method. Rinse the barrel with hot water to help facilitate the barrels expansion. (Do not leave hot water in over night, as the water temperature will drop into a range that can favor mold growth, etc.) Then switch to a cold water fill. When the barrel proves to be sealed, add one pound of potassium metabisulfite and a half pound of citric acid mixed into the barrel full of cold water. This serves as a storage solution. This will protect the barrel from mold growth for the next six months before you have to replace the storage liquid.

*Side note: Do not burn a sulfur stick in the barrel. The possibility of the barrel exploding is very real.

It seems as if barrel aged beers, and especially sour beers, have become the next frontier in the beer world. The purpose of this post is to aid in disseminating some of the advice that can help us produce the beers we want to be making. Barrel handling and care may not be the sexiest part of the entire process, but it is a vital one. With that said, I would invite others to chime in with practices that they have learned, or with questions on the concepts previously listed. Once again, thanks to Jay Goodwin of the Rare Barrel for sharing so freely from his knowledge base, and to The Brewing Network for providing the avenue. Grab a bottle of Jay's beer any time you have the chance, and check out some of the amazing podcasts offered by the BN.

Drink good beer with good people!

MBG Winter Beer Festival 2015

Hello again!

We have been gearing up for the Michigan Brewers Guild's 2015 Winter Beer Festival. It is truly one of the unique beer events out there. This outdoor festival has been expanded to two days this year, and it promises to be a true celebration of Michigan weather and Michigan beer.

(Now let's take a moment of silence in appreciation for all of the volunteers that will be busting their tails in the freezing cold to help pull this event off!)

I like to view the Guild festivals as a time to really try and put on the best show we can for festival goers. Usually that entails brewing up some specialty small batches that will only be available at the festival. It is a time to get creative and spread our wings. In the past we have done a version of our Honey Kölsch that we infused with green tea. That beer was the brain child of the well bearded Aaron Stryker, now of Rhinegeist Brewery in Cincinnati. We have made aggressive Imperial IPA's, blended barrel aged beers with cherries, coffee beers, and others.

However, with our production schedule as full as it is, this year we did not have time to brew a lot of small batches, but that doesn't mean we aren't still excited about what we will be pouring. We will be pouring a host of bourbon barrel aged beers (Wheat Wine, Robust Porter, Belgian Amber), some new lagers that we have been working on, a Munich Helles and a Classic American Pilsner. Our Propaganda Red IPA will be pouring as well as a couple of cask beers.

As of right now there are still tickets available to the Friday session of the festival, while the Saturday session is sold out. If you do have tickets, makes sure to stop by and see us at the Cranker's booth!

Drink good beer with good people!

The Barrel Aged Debate

I am fresh off of another fantastic Winter Beer Festival in Grand Rapids this weekend. Winter Fest takes a certain mentality, one that I think captures the spirit of our great state. Weathering Mother Nature with 6000 of your closest beer loving friends turns out to be an amazing experience. Before I forget, a well deserved tip of the hat to the Michigan Brewers Guild for pulling off a smooth and safe event. A daunting task to say the least.

After perusing the wave of social media that follows events like this, I found a topic that should be explored further: barrel aged beers. Droves of beer lovers line up for special releases of bourbon/whisky barrel beers. There seems to be some expectations as to what these beers should be. I have seen some sentiment on Facebook expressing the idea that barrel aged beers are overrated. Also, that just because something has been put into a barrel, it does not make the beer automatically special. Thus the inferno of internet debate was sparked once again. What are these beers supposed to be? What makes a great barrel aged beer? In light of that, I have decided to input my thought on the topic in hopes of stirring a conversation about a wildly popular trend in brewing.

Range of Style

First of all, lets discuss the concept of range of style. I myself am a style brewer. There are a well defined beer styles that exist, and are described by the Brewers Association (BA) and the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP). These styles have been established, and in some cases have evolved, over time. Personally, I prefer to work within this framework and try and experiment within it's bounds. As brewers continue to create and push the limits of brewing, new styles become legitimized. Among these in recent years are Double or Imperial IPA, Triple IPA, Belgian IPA, Session IPA, (think consumers like IPA?), Wheat Wine, Rye beers, and American Strong Ale among others.

Range of style is the idea that no one beer is completely representative of the style (don't nitpick me with Anchor Steam). Using IPA as an example, there are some versions of this style that exhibit a range of malt flavors (toasty, carmel, nutty) that are balanced by a very aggressive bitterness and elevated hop flavor. While other IPA's feature a diminished malt profile with intense levels of hop flavor to create balance. These beers are still bitter, but they do not have to be aggressively bitter to overcome the sweetness of specialty malts.

Issues arrive when people define a style narrowly. For instance, I have had people say that a great IPA isn't a great IPA because it isn't "Two Hearted, 60 Minute, Blind Pig, etc." This logic is simply wrong. The aforementioned beers are all tremendous example of the style. Because individuals may prefer one over the other, it doesn't mean that the rest are not a fine example of the style. It is a matter of taste. The same can be said for barrel aged beers.

Barrel as Ingredient

When crafting a beer that is destined for the barrel, considerations must be made. The barrel should be viewed just as vital to any recipe as any specific malt, hop, or yeast strain that is utilized to ferment the beer. Often times, brewers will begin a barrel aged project with a base beer like a porter or stout, and a high alcohol version of these styles at that. These beers feature robust notes of coffee, chocolate, and extreme roast notes in various intensity levels. These flavors tend to pair well with the crème brulee, vanilla bean, coconut, and spirit contributions of an the American oak barrel. It seems that the expectation for these beers are, or has become, to feature bourbon and oak notes with the beer becoming a secondary or even tertiary contributor to the final product.

For some, myself included, unbalanced barrel forward beers may be fine for a few sips, but rarely would I have interest in a pint of them. I find them taxing to my palate, and in some cases, like a pint dosed with a shot, or biting into a barrel stave. Beers like this play well at a festival, as we receive three ounce pours. At that rate issues like imbalance and cloying notes can be offset by the relatively small sample size. I feel that beers like this do not fall under the “Range of Style” mantle. They are inherently uneven and lack symmetry.

I tend to enjoy beers that use the barrel contribution in a supporting role for the base beer. However, I have had many wonderful examples that are more bourbon forward than my taste dictates, but that doesn't detract from the fact that it is a wonderful beer. Two great examples of that for me are Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stout and Bourbon County Stout from Goose Island. They are on the aggressive side of barrel character but it does not impair the beers consumability. Again, range of style. It is my opinion that in time consumers will begin to see a wider range of barrel beers, those that aggressively feature wood, and those that use it with a lighter hand. Ultimately, barrel aged beers ought to find a balance where the beer and barrel comingle to create a sum greater than it's parts.

Drink good beer with good people!