Longtime friend of the blog Jeff Fortney, w
ho brews at Warped Wing, hooked up yours truly with a 55 gallon bourbon barrel. Holy shit yes. Popular wisdom regarding this barrel would be to collaborate with others, brew a big 
dark beer, and fill it. Screw popular wisdom. I like sours and I like brewing, so welcome to my personal brewing obsession for the next several months. I’
ll be using three different yeasts for individual batches—East Coast Yeast Bug County, a culture I grew from a bottle of Hanssen’s Oude Gueuze, and White Labs 585 Saison III—and will then blend them in the barrel and let the magic happen. I chose to use the saison yeast because a) I needed a third yeast for the rotation that was speedier than the other two and b) it was on hand.
The following six batches of beer make up the first addition to the barrel; there was something like 27 or 28 gallons total between them that went into the barrel. I would have aimed for more beer for the first addition, but I ran out of carboys. Which is saying something for me. So I’ll be adding more shortly. Until then, enjoy these brewing notes.
Here’s the
second addition to the barrel.
And the
third addition.
186. Gueuze & Saison Starters for Barrel Project
Mash:
8 lbs. Rahr Premium Pilsen
3 lbs. Breiss White Wheat
Mash @ 150° F for 60 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 8 g. gypsum;
collected 2 ½ gallons @ 1.068
Batch sparge @ 172° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4
¼ gallons @ 1.040
Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 1 ½ oz. Cluster leaf 7.6% AA
Chilled & split into two 3 gallon carboys; 186a. racked onto yeast
cake of 181a. WL 585 Saison III and pitched Hanssen’s Oude Gueuze starter in
other
186a. Saison Starter w/ WL 585
Brewed: 11/26/2014
Split between two 5 gallon
batches on 11/29/2014 @ 1.020
OG: 1.054
186b. Lambic Starter w/Hanssen’s
Oude Gueuze starter
Brewed: 11/26/2014
Secondary: 1/6/2014
Split and blended into two
different kegs of beer; one for Dayton Brew Ha Ha (January 31, 2015) and one still sitting in my living room.
OG: 1.054
187. Barrel Project Saison
Mash:
8 lbs. Rahr Premium Pilsen
4 lbs. Breiss White Wheat
Mash @ 150° F for 60 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 8 g. gypsum;
collected 2 ¾ gallons @ 1.082
Batch sparge @ 172° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4
gallons @ 1.030
Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 1 oz. Cluster leaf 7.6% AA
w/10 to go: 3 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient
Chilled, racked to carboy, and pitched ½ of 186a. Saison Starter
Brewed: 11/29/2014
Secondary: 1/17/2015 @ 1.004
Barrel: 1/21/2015
OG: 1.060
188. Barrel Project Saison
Mash:
8 lbs. Rahr Premium Pilsen
4 lbs. Breiss White Wheat
Mash @ 150° F for 60 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 8 g. gypsum;
collected 2 ¾ gallons @ 1.080
Batch sparge @ 167° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4
gallons @ 1.032
Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 1 oz. Cluster leaf 7.6% AA
w/10 to go: 3 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient
Chilled, racked to carboy, and pitched ½ of 186a. Saison Starter
Brewed: 11/29/2014
Secondary: 1/19/2015 @ 1.002
Barrel: 1/21/2015
OG: 1.056
189. Barrel Project Lambic
Mash:
7 lbs. Rahr Premium Pilsen
2 lbs. Dingemans Pilsen
4 lbs. Breiss White Wheat
Mash @ 151° F for 90 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 8 g. gypsum;
collected 2 ½ gallons @ 1.086
Batch sparge @ 165° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4
gallons @ 1.040
Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (70 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 1.4 oz. Cluster leaf 7.6% AA
w/10 to go: 5 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient
Chilled, racked on to yeast cake of 168. Lambic ECY Bug County
Brewed: 12/8/2014 @ 72° F
Secondary: 1/10/2015 @ 1.032
Barrel: 1/21/2015
OG: 1.062
190. Barrel Project Lambic
Mash:
8 lbs. Dingemans Pilsen
4 lbs. Breiss White Wheat
Mash @ 148° F for 90 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 6 g. gypsum;
collected 2 ¾ gallons @ 1.082
Batch sparge @ 163° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4
gallons @ 1.020
Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (70 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 1 oz. Cluster leaf 7.6% AA
w/10 to go: 5 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient
Chilled and pitched yeast from 186b. Lambic w/ Hanssen’s Oude Gueuze
Brewed: 1/6/2015 @ 75° F
Secondary: 1/20/2015 @ 1.010
Barrel: 1/21/2015
OG: 1.058
192. Barrel Project Saison
Mash:
8 lbs. Dingemans Pilsen
4 lbs. Breiss White Wheat
Mash @ 151° F for 60 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water and 8 g. gypsum;
collected 2 ½ gallons @ 1.082
Batch sparge @ 173° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4
¼ gallons @ 1.028
Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 1 oz. Chinook leaf 11.3% AA
w/10 to go: 5 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient
Chilled & racked onto WLP 585 yeast cake from 187. Barrel Project
Saison
Brewed: 1/17/2015
Secondary: 1/21/2015 @ 1.026
Barrel: 1/21/2015
OG: 1.054
Any questions?
report besides that, I’m afraid. I’m sensing a recurring theme in my brewing. Here’s a nod to the wild and the unpredictable.