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  • Salvaging a "wild" Brett Barrel

    Hi All,
    We have a young Brett and sour beer program. The bugs we have been using so far have been limited to lab strains of Brett, Lacto, and whatever came in on the whole fresh fruit we stuck in whichever barrel (likely a good deal).
    We have a Pinot Noir barrel which was storing a Flanders Red style beer, pitched with Lacto more than a year ago. It obviously developed a Brett infection. It's almost certainly not one of our lab strains, as those barrels never even got in the same room with this barrel, and I have a good idea how it came about, as unfortunately this barrel spent a summer or so empty and dry as we were struggling to find an opportunity to brew beer for it (and had less experience storing barrels).
    Anyway, now the beer inside smells pretty strongly of acetone. Obviously it will be dumped.
    My question is, has anyone had much luck re-introducing barrels like this into their sour program?
    It's a really nice barrel and it would be a shame to write it off.
    With a good hot water cook, and maybe a healthy pitch of some other Brett, could this barrel be salvaged?
    Or once you get ethyl acetate formed in a barrel, is it a lost cause, and time to turn it into a planter?
    Thanks for your input,
    Jesse Shue
    Brewmaster
    Golden Valley Brewery

  • #2
    contact Rick over at http://www.ecologiccleansers.com/index.php He sells to a lot of wineries and knows a bit about cleaning and refreshing barrels.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Jesse Shue View Post
      Hi All,
      We have a young Brett and sour beer program. The bugs we have been using so far have been limited to lab strains of Brett, Lacto, and whatever came in on the whole fresh fruit we stuck in whichever barrel (likely a good deal).
      We have a Pinot Noir barrel which was storing a Flanders Red style beer, pitched with Lacto more than a year ago. It obviously developed a Brett infection. It's almost certainly not one of our lab strains, as those barrels never even got in the same room with this barrel, and I have a good idea how it came about, as unfortunately this barrel spent a summer or so empty and dry as we were struggling to find an opportunity to brew beer for it (and had less experience storing barrels).
      Anyway, now the beer inside smells pretty strongly of acetone. Obviously it will be dumped.
      My question is, has anyone had much luck re-introducing barrels like this into their sour program?
      It's a really nice barrel and it would be a shame to write it off.
      With a good hot water cook, and maybe a healthy pitch of some other Brett, could this barrel be salvaged?
      Or once you get ethyl acetate formed in a barrel, is it a lost cause, and time to turn it into a planter?
      Thanks for your input,
      Jesse Shue
      Brewmaster
      Golden Valley Brewery
      How many barrels do you have right now? I mean ethyl acetate is lovely when diluted down and melded with other sour flavors. I remember when I took a brewing school class from Gwen at Lost Abbey. She brought out a ton of barrel samples, all were just so gross, but then she blended them into something amazing. All these strong gross flavors turn great when blended 20 times with other strong flavors.
      Peter Cronin
      Senior Quality Analyst
      AleSmith Brewing Company

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by PCQC View Post
        How many barrels do you have right now? I mean ethyl acetate is lovely when diluted down and melded with other sour flavors. I remember when I took a brewing school class from Gwen at Lost Abbey. She brought out a ton of barrel samples, all were just so gross, but then she blended them into something amazing. All these strong gross flavors turn great when blended 20 times with other strong flavors.
        Indeed, blend it down until you get pineapples rather nail polish remover. You can also try to slowly change the culture of the barrel by lab pitches or even bottle dregs over time. Or just throw it out, there is much wisdom in "never blend a beer to cover up a flaw".
        Last edited by morolen; 06-27-2016, 08:51 AM.
        Denver, Colorado.

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