Sat Aug 14, 2010 7:46 am
The classic answer, it depends. The clarification is that a lot of this depends on what was in the barrel previously, and how much it has been used. Our club put imperial stout in a whiskey barrel fresh from the distillery. It was tested periodically and about 6 months was good. I don't think the person that picked up the barrel did anything special to sterilize the barrel.
For time, a brand new barrel will impart a lot of oak. How much depends on the toast level of the barrel. A month might be long enough depending on the strength and character of the stout. A light ale might be plenty oaky in even less time. If the barrel has been previously used, you'll probably need more time. Wineries typically only use barrels about seven times because after that the oak has faded so much that they don't get oak out of it. You can still use one of these and get oak, but plan on a much longer aging time.
You can never truly sanitize a barrel, and once a barrel is infected, it will stay that way. What you can do is try to control the level of bugs in the barrel. Steam will kill a lot of bugs. Sulfite solutions are commonly used. If I had a new barrel, I would just fill it after filling and rinsing with water to make sure it won't leak. I might consider a sanitizing solution if I was doubtful of the barrels origins and conditions prior to getting it. If the barrel has been soured, I would use a sulfite solution to limit the unpredictable and unknown organisms before filling with a stout, although I would question even putting a stout in a soured barrel.
Aging: Gotlandsdrickå, Baltic Porter in Bourbon barrel, Olde Ale #2 in whiskey barrel
On Draft: Nothing.
Building a walk-in cooler right now.
