Show us your Barrels

[Yob]

Yob, do you worry about air spoilage while you are part dispensing, or do you replace the air with CO2 before refilling? Did you add any brett yeast to the barrel?

Nope and nope.. It's %12-13

I've been thinking about making up a bung to CPBF though to make life easier so stay tuned on that

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

Trying to inert gas barrel headspace is a waste of time. Just make sure you fill it again, bung it and don't keep opening it to see how it's going, or at least if you do, top it up again straight away.

You can't keep oxygen out of anything in a barrel: they're permeable, that's how they work. Figure roughly 1 mg / l / month O2 permeation for older* barrels in standard sizes (barriques or hogsheads).

Yob, you can buy systems designed to use gas pressure to empty barrels from any wine equipment wholesaler. I think Wally Ware makes one.

* Can't see anyone springing around $1k for a new barrel for beer but if you did, permeation rates are much higher in the first year.

 

[RobW]

You're going for a funk barrel?

Let's call it character rather than funk

 

[RobW]

There are really good podcasts on Sour Hour regarding barrel care, storage, treatment and cleaning. From memory starsan and citric acid is your friend.

Citric acid is the go for storage IIRC.
I need to check and do that.

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

A few litres of a solution of 2% citric acid with 1000 parts of PMS in each barrel. Replace every few months. It's convenient to make up the solution beforehand and pour it in but if you're a sulphite triggered asthmatic (as I am) that can be problematic. Another way of doing it is to pour in a few litres of citric then throw in an effervescent sulphite tablet, available from winemaking supplies.

If you are really careful and live inside the range you can knock one head out of the barrel and store it dry. Getting the head back on is the hard bit, there's a special tool you'll need (or call a cooper).

What a lot of wineries do is designate a bulk wine as barrel fill and use it to keep empty barrels sweet then just blend it away once finished.

It is completely impossible to sanitise a barrel, there is no point in trying. There's a system on the market to sterilise them using a microwave large enough to put a barrel in but it costs a fortune. A few years ago I took over looking after a small winery where the previous winemaker(s) had been a bit slack about barrel care so we needed to sterilise quite a few of them. I rigged up a continuous water heater on a recirculation loop and took the thermostat off line, recirculated the water until the whole barrel got to 100 oC then left it overnight. Seemed to work OK.

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

Addendum to the above: assuming you have a keg system, put the sulphite / citric solution in a keg and dispense it into the barrels. No muss, no fuss.

 

[Yob]

Yob, you can buy systems designed to use gas pressure to empty barrels from any wine equipment wholesaler. I think Wally Ware makes one.

I think you more so than many appreciate the fun in a good build though right?

 

[drsmurto]

I've got 2 ex-Yalumba octaves currently full of RIS and Imperial Rauchbier. I store them full of beer during the cooler months with a small dose of PMS (50mg/L). They get emptied late Spring, high pressure hot washed at a local winery, then stored with a concentrated sulfite holding solution until ready to be refilled in Autumn. No funk in my barrels.

My one regret is i should have bought 220L barrels instead of these small ones.

 

[Yob]

I've got 2 ex-Yalumba octaves currently full of RIS and Imperial Rauchbier. I store them full of beer during the cooler months with a small dose of PMS (50mg/L). They get emptied late Spring, high pressure hot washed at a local winery, then stored with a concentrated sulfite holding solution until ready to be refilled in Autumn. No funk in my barrels.

My one regret is i should have bought 220L barrels instead of these small ones.

you just keg them up Doc?

Whats PMS.. Im sure if I google that I'll be offered all sorts of compounds

 

[dannymars]

Whats PMS..

Potassium Metabisulphite

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

I think you more so than many appreciate the fun in a good build though right?

Yes, currently investigating options for lauter plate:

Option #1 is SS from my favourite laser cutter; they're not sure if they can get the slot width right.

Option #2 is chemically milled SS; I can do that here.

Option # 3 is carbon fibre; strangely that looks to be the easiest.

 

[Yob]

Can you whip me up a bike while your at it?

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

You want it in stainless or carbon?

On a serious note, bikes are what I do for a living now. Google my user name.

 

[Zorco]

Bike builders are impressive....you already were LC..

http://www.gianlucagimini.it/prototypes/velocipedia.html

How much to make me the white one?

 

[sstacey]

Should be cheap because it doesn't have pedals.

 

[drsmurto]

you just keg them up Doc?

Whats PMS.. Im sure if I google that I'll be offered all sorts of compounds

As already mentioned, PMS is potassium metabisulfite. I treat my wine barrels as....... wine barrels.

And yes, the beer gets kegged. What sort of beer snob doesn't want barrel aged RIS on tap?

I don't bottle as I don't have a sadomasochistic tendency.

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

http://www.gianlucagimini.it/prototypes/velocipedia.html

How much to make me the white one?

That site is cool. It's a source of constant amusement how depictions of bikes are so often very far from the mark, he's taken that concept and run with it.

"Age old Grandpa Lee" seems to have been channeling the CInelli Laser, one of my favourite ever bikes:

 

[Mardoo]

The elegance of some the Cinellis is exquisite. What's going on down around the bottom bracket there?

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

What sort of beer snob doesn't want barrel aged RIS on tap?

I'm evidently not a beer snob, that's good to know.

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

The elegance of some the Cinellis is exquisite. What's going on down around the bottom bracket there?

Early attempt at fairing the rear wheel using an extension of the down tube past the BB. SInce outlawed, along with the differential wheel sizing.

I love these things so much I'm making a replica of the road bike version next month. I'm calling it "Cineole" which is a bit of a nerd joke: cineole is the main component in eucalyptus oil.