I have definitely been posting in this community a lot over the last few weeks/days so apologies if it’s a bit much lol, things should slow down since I’m running out of jars and fermenters though. But here’s my fermenter with plenty of sugar, blue razz jolly ranchers, and lots of nutrient. Along side my meme I’m going to turn into moonshine I’ve also got a fall beer my girlfriend requested. I’ve made the pumpkin ale loads of times but this is the first time I’m doing it without pumpkin (the one I bought was rotting when I cut into it and I didn’t feel like going back out and buying another)
I haven’t done wood aging yet, but it’s been something on the back of my mind for a while now. I’d love to get a 5 gallon wood barrel to properly age beer for a year or so, since I love barrel aged stouts. I also saw a few research papers on using ultrasonic cleaners to rapidly “age” spirits and it’s something I’m trying to justify giving a shot, albeit I don’t have a lot of space for a new gadget so that’s been the limiting factor of me not trying it yet lol
a 5 gallon barrel will impart a ton of wood character to your beer really quickly (compared to a 55 gal or 225L barrel) due to the wood surface area to beer volume ratio. You probably wouldn't want to put a stout into one for an entire year, at least not right away, maybe once you've sent a number of beers through it and stripped out a lot of the wood character from the barrel...
One way to find out, right? Thanks for the info though! Think I’ll play it by ear or maybe do the wood chips like someone else mentioned, at least until I get enough space for a nice wood barrel room lol
Wood chips work well, you can also get cubes, that impart the character a bit more slowly, and a lot of people swear by them over chips.
The wood chips have lots of surface area, when I soaked them in to cherry distillate for few days (to disinfect them before pitching), it made noticeable difference.
For beer and wine few weeks is enough with them. They are cheap, you can get different grades (toasted...) and some brews are quick.
I’ll have to give it a shot, though, admittedly I love the idea of a barrel, just makes it seem fancy lol