I brewed a robust porter and put it a wine barrel. Hoiw long should I age it ? Anyone use barrels ?
Can you thief a sample to gauge it? I just read something where a guy was getting oak flavor after just days of being in the barrel. I thought it took months.
completley depends what qualitties have been stripped from the barrel. New barrels used barrels all type of barrel and what your putting in the barrel all come into play
You’ll have to up your time in the barrel the more the barrel is used. IME a new 5gal medium toast barrel will impart a pretty strong oakiness in 1-2weeks. Where as a well used barrel may take a month or two. I highly recommend tasting every 3 days or so with newer barrels to get an idea of how oaky it is getting. Remember that the oaking will mellow in the bottle a bit with time.
I also highly recommend treating a new barrel with Barolkleen before use.
