My buddy and I are getting ready to bottle a stout resting our bourbon barrel (The 15gal Triple Smoke at the brewhouse). Last time we did a similar beer the yeast crapped out on us and the bottle conditioning never happened. We are pretty sure that it was due to the high ABV and FG. Our hope this time is to force carbonate when bottling.
Does anyone know how to do this?
What equipment will we need?
Thanks for all of your help!
Marc
I do this for everybatch i do. You need to keg it as normal with all equipment to do that. Then use a beer gun to bottle then cap as normal. Depending on tge timing i have a beer gun and can help you with that process.
Thanks Josh, that would be awesome. We have not yet kegged, so still need to get that rolling. If you are willing to help, we will be flexible on when and will provide beer.
How many gallons do you have? It could be a challange if its a 55 gallon barrel.
The barrel is 15gal, so I'm not sure how much loss we will have as it will have been filled 6 months prior to emptying. We are also going to blend in some cold press coffee for some of it, probably 0.5gal coffee + 4.5gal beer to make one of the 5gal batches. Will be doing at least 5gal straight from the barrel. Still undecided what to do with the final 5gal.
So you will need to borrow 3 kegs + a CO2 tank for a week or two to carb and then a beer gun or counter pressure filler to bottle. Folks should have some kegs opening up in late June after AHA and our fundraining event.
Thanks James. Hopefully we can borrow some stuff, and we will purchase some as well. I just want to make sure what we buy is pretty standard and compatible with club equipment. Did some internet searching and couldn't get a clear idea of what is needed since its all foreign to us now. Anything we can learn is appreciated.
Would a class on sourcing, installing, carbing and serving beer from kegs be of use to you?
A class would be great, would definitely be interested.
I've got three kegs you can borrow now. Just let me know.
For my big ABV beers I add more priming sugar, around 7 ounces per 5 gallons.
When I bottled the maple syrup-bourbon barrel stout, I used 1/3 packet of champagne yeast and priming sugar for an imperial stout and it was perfect. (This was a four gallon batch.) Very similar to Bourbon County if that's what you're going for.
Thanks Mark! We are brewing a Barleywine next weekend to fill the barrel when we remove the stout. That should be ready to rack into the barrel by the end of the month. We can rack from the barrel to carboys to hold until there is a good time for you.
There are 5 kegs with a circle of duct tape above a circle of green tape at the top of each. They are all labeled MJW by the out post. Three are in my parking space. You can use them anytime.