Just picked up one of the 8 gal barrels from Woodinville Whiskey. Probably a bit ambitious on my part, as I'm not currently brewing beer batches greater than 6.5 gallons, and fermenting my first 10 gallon mead batch this week (well, probably 8 gal when it comes off the fruit and yeast).
I picked up a practice from wine makers of filling carboy deadspace with glass beads or marbles when working with smaller batches. I was wondering if the same principle could be used when not completely filling a barrel for aging, and could this method also be used to replace volume lost to the "angel's share" for longer term?