13,703
edits
Changes
no edit summary
'''How long should you leave a beer in a barrel?''' The aging time will depend on what sort of beer you are making, what your desired outcomes are, and the characteristics your barrel gives. Belgian lambic is aged in barrels upwards of 4 years with no ill effects. Other beers can go through a barrel primary fermentation or very short aging and be out of the barrel in weeks to months. The longer you age a beer in a barrel, the more barrel character you will extract (in terms of both flavor and tannin structure). This is probably of secondary importance to how much the barrel has been used/how neutral it is, so keep your individual barrel characteristics in mind when determining aging time. Generally, producers of mixed fermentation beers do not report noticing problems from autolysis in prolonged aging on yeast sediment <ref name='Jester King on the Sour Hour, pt.2'/>(~9 minutes in).
Andy Parker from Avery Brewing Co., in discussing non-sour beer in barrels, says that they get complete extraction of flavor from barrels within 2 months. After four months, effects from oxidation can be detected, and after twelve months the more porous barrels display heavier effects from oxidation. Parker recommends removing the beer from a barrel based on the effects of the oxidation of individual barrels (in sour beer, this could have an affect on the perception of acetic acid and ethyl acetate, as well as other oxidative characteristics such as sherry notes, depending on the style of the beer) <ref>[http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/5-tips-barrel-aging-beers-avery-brewing-co/ "5 Tips on Barrel Aging from Avery Brewing Co." Andy Parker on the AHA website. Retrieved 05/10/2016.]</ref>. Sour beer generally takes longer to mature in barrels due to the microbial activity, however this advice might still apply to sour beers in certain barrels that are experiencing too much or very fast oxidationdue to being more porous than other barrels.
'''Should you clean your barrel after every use?''' Jester King reports preferring barrels that get a bit more yeast in them (when using barrels as secondary vessels) and they may use barrels for 2-3 subsequent beers before rinsing out the trub <ref name='Jester King on the Sour Hour, pt.2'/>(~9 minutes in, ~16 minutes in).