Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

Ok Brewers,

I'm sick and tired of COVID stifling our fun...so we are thinking outside of the box.

1) The club will sponsor and arrange for the availability for a freshly emptied Bourbon barrel.
2) Members will volunteer to brew a 5 or 10 gallon batch of a selected recipe and have the beer available by a specific date.
3) The participating members will deliver their beer to the designated location of the barrel.
4) The beer will be poured into the barrel....and we wait.
5) At the appointed time, said beer will be distributed back to the members, with 5-10 gallons reserved by the club for pour events (mainly Barrel Aged January at Lion Bridge).

Let's worry about the details of this process later....today, I would like to see some chatter on the style.

For me...it's simple...something bold, something dark......Baltic Porter? Imperial Stout?

What are your thoughts on the style.

I'd say imperial stout


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Let's reach out to Brian Anderson and see if we can get his recipe for the Russian Imperial Stout that we did for the club's 1st barrel project, back in the day. That was a very tasty beer and was well received at multiple beer events. It did take over a year to reach it's potential though.

Are we thinking this is a "one time" project or are we contemplating re-filling the barrel with another beer after this one??

I would hope that we would turn it around and fill it again for next January.

Eventually, it will likely become a club sour making machine!

Unless, the donating business would like it back to age bourbon in a barrel that has had _______ (stout, porter, etc.). That would be cool too.

But out first task at hand is to agree upon a style....and then we can find a recipe.

Id vote stout, get a simple to follow recipe, not too over complicated, let that barrel flavor shine

I would go for
1) Belgian Dark Strong Ale
2) Imperial Stout

That's a RIS that won gold at NHC final round in 2018, if we do the stout that'd probably be a good recipe to use.


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Do you think we should all brew the same recipe or should we blend a couple different beers in the barrel to make a really unique beer? Also I’d be fine with an imperial stout but would also go for a barley wine or Baltic porter.


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Imperial Stout. The recipe should be Lee's "Yes, Have Some." It is available on Brewers Friend

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/ ... ve-some-v2

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/ ... ve-some-v3

i concur with Mark.

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I like Wee Heavy Scottish. Oaky and Earthy go well together. But of course, i’m not opposed to the stout options.


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I was talking with Randy when I dropped off some of the Comp turn-ins.
He wondered, given the short time in the barrel, if we should consider a less-heavy beer....given that heavier beers need more time to age.
Perhaps a Belgium?
And then once we dump the barrel (early January, we have a second, heavier beer, to put in the barrel for a months long aging...perhaps a year if a RIS-like style.

Yes, a quad done right, even at 9%+, with westmalle/WLP530 (best option) or duvalle/WY1388 yeast can be good in just over a month. 3 months+ for chimay/WLP500 if you want that unique tang.

My recipes are all similar to this per 5gal:
1lb D180, 1lb SpecialB (optional 1lb D90), balance base malt, mash for reasonable attenuation and 20-25ibu. Optionally, target lower 1.055-60 then bump gravity to desired strength with secondary sucrose/dextrose additions - including the syrups - (reduces yeast stress for faster turnaround).

I'd be up for a belgian to get something turned around quicker for this coming January


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We should probably decide soon on what we'll do for this. I think for a quicker turn around for the 2021 barrel aged January a belgian dubbel or Tripel would be good options. Then we'll have plenty of time to decide on a style for a longer aging project.


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