Dad’s Hat Rye Whiskey Barrel Fill #1
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Hop Oil Information and Taste Metrics
I used a 15 gallon Dad’s Hat Rye Whiskey barrel I purchased at Keystone Homebrew Supply on a trip to Philly last year to drop off my NHC entries (advanced but didn’t place). Because I can only brew 5 gallons at a time, I had to brew 3 times to fill the barrel. Conventional wisdom seems to be for the first time use of a whiskey barrel, you should brew something big and dark, like an imperial stout otherwise the whiskey flavors will be too big for the beer. I don’t like to do what I’m supposed to, even if that doesn’t always work out, so I decided to fill the barrel with a pale ale type beer (kind of an Old Ale) colored a little with caramel wheat malt (46 SRM). People drink straight whiskey right, so why not put a lighter beer in for the first use?!
I decided to get a little bit of Brettanomyces in the barrel from the very beginning to help with protecting the beer from oxygen as it sat since it’s a smaller barrel. I chose to ferment one batch 100% with WLP645 Brettanomyces Claussenii and the other two fermented clean with WLP002 (details below).
Recipe Specifics:
Type: All Grain
SRM: 8.1
IBUS: 35
Batch Size: 6 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Final Bottling Vol: 5 gal
Efficiency: 75.00 %
Notes:
Because I brewed three times (5 gallons each), the only change from each recipe is the addition of a different high protein flaked grain, below are those:
1) 1.5 pounds of flaked organic oats
2) 1.5 pounds of flaked organic quinoa
3) 1.5 pounds of flaked organic rye
Final Numbers:
(Average across the three batches)
Original Gravity: 1.060
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV: 6.6%
Keg or Bottle: Bottled 5 gallons, Aging 5 gallons in a carboy with bacteria, Bottled 5 pounds after it sat on peaches.
Oxygen: 45 Seconds Pure Oxygen
Water Profile:
| Amt | Name | Type | # | %/IBU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.30 g | Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins) | Water Agent | 1 | – |
| 2.10 g | Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins) | Water Agent | 2 | – |
| 4.60 g | Calcium Chloride (Boil 60.0 mins) | Water Agent | 7 | – |
| 1.50 g | Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Boil 60.0 mins) | Water Agent | 8 | – |
| R/O | Tap Water | Gypsum (gram/gal) | Epsom Salt (gram/gal) | Sea Salt (gram/gal) | Baking Soda (gram/gal) | Calcium Chloride (gram/gal) |
| Yes | No | 0.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.2 |
| Calcium | Magnesium | Sodium | Sulfate | Chloride | Bicarbonate | Cations | Anions | Total Hardness | Alkalinity | RA | S04/CI Ratio |
| 110.9 | 0 | 0 | 59 | 153 | 1 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 277 | 1 | -78 | 0.4 |
Mash/Grain Profile:
Mash at 154.0 F for 60 Minutes
| Amt | Name | Type | # | %/IBU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 lbs 8.0 oz | Organic 2-Row (2.0 SRM) | Grain | 3 | 82.1 % |
| 1 lbs 8.0 oz | Oats, Flaked (see above for the 3 different batches) | Grain | 4 | 10.7 % |
| 1 lbs | Caramel Wheat Malt (46.0 SRM) | Grain | 5 | 7.1 % |
Boil Ingredients:
| Amt | Name | Type | # | %/IBU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18.00 g | Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] – Boil 60.0 min | Hop | 6 | 35.9 IBUs |
| 4.60 g | Calcium Chloride (Boil 60.0 mins) | Water Agent | 7 | – |
| 1.50 g | Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Boil 60.0 mins) | Water Agent | 8 | – |
Fermentation:
Starter: Yes
Yeast:
Brew 1 – 4 ounces of WLP002 slurry that was 30 days old. Made a starter the morning of brewing.
Brew 2 – 5 ounces of WLP002 slurry that was 30 days old. Made a starter the night before brewing.
Brew 3 – New vile of WLP645 Brettanomyces Claussenii stepped up in 3 steps till about 1750 ml (on a stir plate) of a starter was ready to pitch.
Temperature: Both batches with WLP002 fermented at 62 degrees for the first 24 hours then were bumped to 66 degrees to finish. The WLP645 batch fermented at ambient temperatures 75-79 degrees.
After each batch fermented for 2 weeks, I then racked into the barrel and crossed my fingers.
I let the barrel site up in a open space by our loft, which meant I had to use some extreme gravity to rack out of the barrel.
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