Changes

The inoculated wort is transferred directly into various sized oak vessels including standard wine (~ 60 gal) and spirit barrels (~ 53 gal), puncheons (~ 120 gal), or foeders (~ 1,600 gal) <ref name="thesourhour1"></ref><ref name="craftbeertemple"></ref><ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 164564). Consistency between beers aged in barrels and foeders is very high <ref name="craftbeertemple"></ref>. The brewery nearly exclusively uses Northwest-sourced barrels <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref>. Some non-neutral barrel types used include cognac <ref name="thesourhour1"></ref>, gin <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref>, rum <ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 161740), and bourbon <ref name="beerandbrewing"></ref>. De Garde especially enjoys the synergy between gin and hops which is why they age most of their hop-forward beers in gin barrels <ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 164378). All oak vessels go through a full sanitization regimen before first use and between subsequent uses. A high pressure wash of 180°F is applied to inverted barrels for 20-30 minutes. Despite this process, Rogers has noticed ''[[Brettanomyces]]'' character expresses itself earlier in subsequent barrel uses. Barrels are stacked to a maximum of three levels high to help maintain consistent temperature throughout <ref name="craftbeertemple"></ref>. Most of de Garde's beers go through a ropy period in the barrel, indicating the presence of ''[[Pediococcus]]'' <ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 160189).