Bourbon Barrel Wee Heavy Project

Things are coming together for our Bourbon barrel project.

First rinsing

The barrel is currently sitting with a holding solution in it. The process was to rinse it out a few times, and then fill it with a solution of citric acid and potassium metabisulfite. This is not a freshly dumped Bourbon barrel. It was used to age 4 batches of Smoked and Oaked belgian ale from Epic Brewing. I have no idea how long it sat, but it was not dried out so I am hoping it wasn't too long. Hence my desire to rinse and fill with the holding solution.



The beer we are going to brew to fill it has been selected. We are brewing a very simple recipe of 99% Scottish Golden Promise and 1% roasted barley. It is based on Traquair House Ale (but this one will be higher ABV). In my mind and others, this is probably the preeminent Scottish ale. The story of the Traquair brewery also happens to be amazing, and totally in synch with why I enjoy beer brewing so much. The house in which the brewery resides is said to be the oldest continually inhabited house in Scotland. It dates all the way back to 1107. If that's not cool enough, the brewery is truly old school. The brewery was re-founded in 1965 after the old brewery equipment was discovered on the property after sitting idle for at least 150 years! The beers are not only aged in oak, they are fermented in the original oak fermenters. And get this, it would be impossible to recreate these fermenters because the oak species they are made from are extinct!

What is also amazing is that even though they brew only about 700 barrels a year, you can actual buy it here in Utah. And let me tell you, this beer is outstanding!

This week I picked up 220 pounds of golden promise. A big thanks go out to Cody and Salt City Brew Supply for giving me a nice deal on it. So the next steps will be setting up the logistics on how to ferment all 60 gallons that will be brewed. I only have 35 gallons of space in stainless, so some of it is going to be fermented someplace else.

Ros Ceithir (Barrel Aged Wee Heavy)

Strong Scotch Ale

Type: All Grain	Date: 9/11/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 60.00 gal	Brewer:
Boil Size: 65.44 gal	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min	Equipment: 26 Gallon (Brewtroller) - All Grain
End of Boil Volume 63.44 gal	Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 59.25 gal	Est Mash Efficiency 76.3 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage	Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU 200 lbs Golder Promise (1.7 SRM) Grain 1 99.0 % 2 lbs Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 2 1.0 % 8.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 45.0 min Hop 3 14.7 IBUs 10.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 35.0 min Hop 4 16.5 IBUs Massive slurry Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) [124.21 ml] Yeast 5 -
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.087 SG	Measured Original Gravity: ?
Est Final Gravity: 1.017 SG	Measured Final Gravity: ?
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 9.3 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 9.7 %
Bitterness: 31.2 IBUs	Calories: 282.2 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 9.7 SRM
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Bottle	Volumes of CO2: 2.3
Pressure/Weight: 46.54 oz	Carbonation Used: Bottle with 46.54 oz Corn Sugar
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 70.0 F	Age for: 30.00 days
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage	Storage Temperature: 65.0 F
Notes
Color will be much darker due to the in kettle caralization we will do.