Membership questions? Log in issues? Email info@brewersassociation.org

Author Topic: Barrel storage  (Read 1020 times)

Offline Visor

  • Brewmaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 753
Barrel storage
« on: June 24, 2021, 10:06:41 am »
   Any thoughts on potential issues with filling empty whiskey barrels with Star San and water for long term storage when not in use. If I leave a  BBL empty, in a couple weeks it's dried out enough that it takes days to get it rehydrated enough to hold water again, and I have some concern that plain H2O might allow/promote funky stuff to have a party. Of course filling them with whiskey would be ideal but that option is a little rich for my blood.
I spent most of my money on beer, tools and guns, the rest I foolishly squandered on stupid stuff!

Offline kramerog

  • Brewmaster General
  • *******
  • Posts: 2262
    • My LinkedIn page
Re: Barrel storage
« Reply #1 on: June 24, 2021, 10:13:31 am »
I have not heard of anyone who has successfully or not successfully used StarSan for barrels.  Use an acidic metabisulfite storage solution instead. That's what winemakers do.  Google it.

Offline majorvices

  • Global Moderator
  • I must live here
  • *****
  • Posts: 11326
  • Polka. If its too loud you're too young.
Re: Barrel storage
« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2021, 06:49:46 pm »
I have not heard of anyone who has successfully or not successfully used StarSan for barrels.  Use an acidic metabisulfite storage solution instead. That's what winemakers do.  Google it.

+1 -- this is the way

Offline Visor

  • Brewmaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 753
Re: Barrel storage
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2021, 05:20:26 pm »
   So are you talking about plain old sodium metabisulfite - as in Campton tablets? Googling and Amazoning "acidic metabisulfite"  was a wild goose chase, although I did come across some psychedelic bands I'd almost forgotten about. If you are talking about So. Met, how long is a mixture in a closed barrel effective as a sanitizer?
I spent most of my money on beer, tools and guns, the rest I foolishly squandered on stupid stuff!

Offline majorvices

  • Global Moderator
  • I must live here
  • *****
  • Posts: 11326
  • Polka. If its too loud you're too young.
Re: Barrel storage
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2021, 12:01:09 pm »
I believe these are the instructions I used

•Creating and Maintaining a Holding Solution
Ingredients Needed:

De-chlorinated water

Citric acid (Alternatively, you can use tartaric to avoid contributing residual citric to your wine)

Potassium metabisulfite.

 

Equipment Needed:

pH meter and calibration solutions

Free SO2 testing equipment (or access to a wine lab)

           

Mix Instructions:  Fill the barrel with de-chlorinated water.  Acidify to 3.7 pH or below by dissolving Citric or Tartaric acid into water and then mixing into the water in the barrel.  Add an initial addition of free SO2 of at least 100 ppm.

 

How much acid is needed to reach 3.7 pH?

This will depend on what is in your water.  A water with very little to no ion content, such as distilled or reverse osmosis water, will take much less acid to reach 3.7 pH than a water with high ion content, particularly alkalinity.  You might use our staff table-top experiment as a guideline as follows.

            We treated two very different water sources with Citric Acid until they dropped below 3.7 pH.  One was Santa Rosa city water with about 160-180 ppm of alkalinity, the other was Reverse Osmosis water with only about 5 ppm of total dissolved solids.  Here were the results:

 

Santa Rosa Municipal Water (160-180 ppm alkalinity)

0.4 grams per liter of water to reach 3.61 pH

 


Offline Visor

  • Brewmaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 753
Re: Barrel storage
« Reply #5 on: July 03, 2021, 11:42:30 am »
   Thanks for the detailed answer :).
I spent most of my money on beer, tools and guns, the rest I foolishly squandered on stupid stuff!