Filling wine barrel in stages

[Daftbeer]

Hi All,

I am looking to fill a 225lt wine barrel to age a kriek. My problem is that i can only ferment out 100lt at a time.

Can fill the barrel in 2 stages over a period of a couple weeks?

Thanks

 

[droid]

Hi mate, I can't speak directly about how that will affect the style as I have never done a kriek.

However I filled a barrel over 8weeks or more with 4 batches and it didn't seem to be a problem at all. I transferred with a couple of gravity points (in the beer being added) to go each time.

 

[drsmurto]

I personally wouldn't as you're creating a massive surface area for bugs to play in an oxygen rich environment. It would be safer to rack beer to cubes ensuring minimal headspace and rack to keg when you have the requured volume.

Remember you need extra beer to top up the barrel as some will evaporate and the barrel will soak up some.

Unless of course you're wanting to get bugs in there.

 

[bradsbrew]

My 100L barrel is full and i want to fill one keg but i do not currently have wort to replace. If i use Co2 to transfer to the keg will it be ok for a weeknor so before i top up again?

Cheers

 

[drsmurto]

My 100L barrel is full and i want to fill one keg but i do not currently have wort to replace. If i use Co2 to transfer to the keg will it be ok for a weeknor so before i top up again?

Cheers

Barrels are not gas tight so using CO2 isn't going to protect the beer against anything. I'd err on the side of caution and wait till you have enough liquid to replace what you take out.

Or light a sulfur candle in it......

 

[pcqypcqy]

Air space in a barrel is called ullage. I've never done it but I know there are such things as 'ullage preventers' used in the wine industry, which are basically inflatable bags that go inside the barrel and can be adjusted to remove all the air space.

 

[Yob]

My 100L barrel is full and i want to fill one keg but i do not currently have wort to replace. If i use Co2 to transfer to the keg will it be ok for a weeknor so before i top up again?
Cheers

I don't worry about it brad, take some out and refill when I get the chance to brew/ferment the replacement, hasn't seemed to cause any issues

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

Air space in a barrel is called ullage. I've never done it but I know there are such things as 'ullage preventers' used in the wine industry, which are basically inflatable bags that go inside the barrel and can be adjusted to remove all the air space.

They are basically just goon bags inserted in the top of the barrel.

If you fill them with gas they float and they don't work that well. If you fill them with water and one splits, that's several hundred dollars worth of wine ruined: I've seen this happen and was part of the evidence tasting panel for the court case. It was ugly.

 

[pcqypcqy]

They are basically just goon bags inserted in the top of the barrel.

If you fill them with gas they float and they don't work that well. If you fill them with water and one splits, that's several hundred dollars worth of wine ruined: I've seen this happen and was part of the evidence tasting panel for the court case. It was ugly.

Yikes. That'd suck. What gets used these days? Or is it a matter of managing your barrels so that you keeping them full by emptying some of the ones you started with?

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

If you top when the ullage reaches 2% you can fill fifty barrels by breaking down one.

In wine it's not too important to keep the barrels completely full as long as they started that way and are kept bunged tight: some people even roll the barrels on the shive to prevent them being opened*. If you do this you can reduce your topping frequency.

* well you can still open them but it makes an awful mess.