Barrel-Aging Project Wrap Up: Team Bourbon Barrel

In late 2020, members of the Butler County Brewing Society began a barrel-aging project. We sourced a variety of small format barrels and broke into groups to brew and age a series of beers through each barrel. It’s now early 2022, and the project is coming to a close. As each barrel wraps up, let’s do a run down of what each group did, and what they learned. First up

Team Bourbon Barrel

Six members teamed up to see what they could do with a 25-gallon bourbon barrel. First they group aged a Russian imperial stout. Next was a smoked American porter, that they thought would pair nicely with the rich, boozy flavors left by the stout. Unexpectedly, when they pulled the smoked porter it had noticeable sour flavor notes. “The risk of infection is higher than I expected,” said Travis Taylor. Other participants echoed the need for strong sanitary practices when aging in a barrel.

Kevin Vidourek, another participating member, mentioned the importance of good planning and coordination. Batches “should be ready to add to the barrel at the same time. We have to brew on the same weekend,” so everything is fresh and ready to be loaded into the barrel at the same time. There were plans to age a third beer in the barrel, but the group decided to retire the barrel after two batches.

Matt Cutter thought it would be fun to try again with a bourbon barrel from a known distillery. Still, everyone enjoyed the experience, learned some lessons, and would to it again. Because at the end of the day, everyone had homebrew!

Barrel-Aging Project Wrap Up Part 2: Team Rum Barrel

Barrel-Aging Project Wrap Up Part 3: Team Red Wine Barrel (Coming Soon!)