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Author Topic: beer style for red wine barrels  (Read 9451 times)

Offline dbarber

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beer style for red wine barrels
« on: April 04, 2012, 01:58:09 pm »
For this year's Big Brew our club will be brewing up something to age in a red wine barrel.  We brewed a dubbel last year and a quad a few years before that, so we don't really want to do another belgian ale.  I'm just looking for ideas of what styles would go well in a red wine barrel....thoughts?
Dave Barber
Orwigsburg, PA
AHA Member, BJCP National

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: beer style for red wine barrels
« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2012, 02:07:26 pm »
Did this just have wine in it? or is it the same barrell as the last 2 years?

If new I like barley wines/old ales. Or a different route would be to do something experimental ala midas touch.
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Offline erockrph

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Re: beer style for red wine barrels
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2012, 06:41:24 pm »
+1 to the Old Ale idea

Anything that can stand up the the tannins should work fine. Chocolate malts would probably play nice. RIS, Baltic Porter, Imperial Brown Ale would all be fine. Dopplebock would be pretty damn nice if you could pull it off as well.
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Offline 1vertical

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Re: beer style for red wine barrels
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2012, 11:03:57 pm »
My cherry rochefort w/ bret in a hungarian red wine fresh dumped oak barrel, now some of it has been in there 2 years really done nicely. FWIW
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Offline euge

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Re: beer style for red wine barrels
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2012, 12:12:57 am »
My cherry rochefort w/ bret in a hungarian red wine fresh dumped oak barrel, now some of it has been in there 2 years really done nicely. FWIW

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Offline dbarber

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Re: beer style for red wine barrels
« Reply #5 on: April 05, 2012, 07:10:05 am »
Thanks for the ideas guys.  These will be fresh red wine barrels, having done only bourbon barrels in the past we were'nt sure how much wine character we would get out of the barrles and how that flavor would work with a english barleywine or old ale (2 styles we considered). 
Dave Barber
Orwigsburg, PA
AHA Member, BJCP National

Offline hoser

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Re: beer style for red wine barrels
« Reply #6 on: April 05, 2012, 07:38:32 am »
I am surprised no one has mentioned a Flanders red?  Napoleon did call it the 'Burgandy of Belgium,' afterall.  That is what our local club did with a fresh red wine barrel a few years back and the results were fantastic!

Offline bluesman

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Re: beer style for red wine barrels
« Reply #7 on: April 05, 2012, 07:42:49 am »
I am surprised no one has mentioned a Flanders red?  Napoleon did call it the 'Burgandy of Belgium,' afterall.  That is what our local club did with a fresh red wine barrel a few years back and the results were fantastic!

+1

This or something along this style.  I think Red wine character blends nicely with the subtleties of Lambic or Flemish style ales.
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Offline dbarber

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Re: beer style for red wine barrels
« Reply #8 on: April 05, 2012, 09:31:22 am »
I am surprised no one has mentioned a Flanders red?  Napoleon did call it the 'Burgandy of Belgium,' afterall.  That is what our local club did with a fresh red wine barrel a few years back and the results were fantastic!

+1

This or something along this style.  I think Red wine character blends nicely with the subtleties of Lambic or Flemish style ales.

I completely agree, we were planning a flanders red or lambic for the second use.
Dave Barber
Orwigsburg, PA
AHA Member, BJCP National

Offline thomasbarnes

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Re: beer style for red wine barrels
« Reply #9 on: April 05, 2012, 10:56:22 pm »
I completely agree, we were planning a flanders red or lambic for the second use.

Flanders Red for the first batch, unless the previous beer was something that doesn't leave too much character in the barrel. Lambic or American Sour for subsequent batches, since the bugs from the Flanders Red will get into the wood.

If you decide not to do a Flanders Red for the first batch, I think you'd need a relatively strong amber or brown beer - without too much hop or dark roast - to stand up to the barrel character. You can always do test batches and doctor them with whatever wine the barrel originally contained to get a sense of what the combined effects will be like.

Whatever you do, however, get moving quickly. There's a lot of air and a lot of alcohol in that cask, and the air is full of acetobacteria looking to move in and set up shop.

Offline kraftwerk

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Re: beer style for red wine barrels
« Reply #10 on: May 20, 2012, 12:28:33 am »
I'm planning to age a sour wheat wine in my port barrel soon. Will probably chuck in some cherries too.
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