When I received the barrel it came with simple instructions: “Fill the barrel with boiling water for three hours, drain, and fill with beer.” That was easier said than done. I added water and watched it drain out all over my garage floor.

I received the barrel 4 months before I was able to fill it.  Plenty of time for the staves to dry out. That doesn’t include how long it was empty prior to the barrel being sold. So now I have a dry leaky barrel that can’t fill with beer.

So I decided to try to force the barrel to be filled. The hot water should swell the staves. I boiled water and continued to attempt to fill the barrel to the top. The leaking continually slowed but did not stop over the following 24 hours. I was topping off the barrel at least every 2-3 hours except overnight.

The other thing I was trying was tapping on problem staves with a mallet. This was another solution that the internets taught me. How well this worked is unknown. But it did help me feel better as I smacked the barrel that would not let me put beer in it. I was nervous about hitting it too hard so I’m not sure if I did any real good with the mallet.

So I’m 24 hours in to trying to fill the barrel and I can’t stop the leak. The internet has not been helpful and I’m reduced to putting random words together that are related to barrels to try to find something to help me stop the leak. Finally I came across an article from WineMaker magazine. It contained tips for new barrels and used barrels and at least gave me something new to try.

The new technique consisted of filling the barrel about 20% full with hot, steamy water, shaking the barrel to get the steam to penetrate the staves, and setting the barrel on its end to swell the head of the barrel. Repeat for the other barrel head. If that doesn’t work then soak the barrel.

I was already soaking the barrel with only limited success so it seemed foolish not to try it. Before I could do this I needed to empty the barrel. The leak was slowing at this point so the barrel still contained about 2 gallons of water. As I emptied the barrel my garage immediately smelled like bourbon. All of this soaking was stripping the barrel of some of its bourbon character.

Thankfully this new technique finally sealed the barrel. I tested it again by filling it with water. Finally I could drain the barrel and fill it with beer! I had the Russian imperial stout ready in a keg and used my Blichmann beer gun to fill the barrel gently. Being in the barrel would introduce enough oxygen. I wanted to add the beer gently so I did not make the oxygen impact more dramatic.

So if I had to do it over again I would do the following for barrel prep:

1. Partial fill with hot, steamy water. Shake the barrel. Set on barrel head. Repeat for opposite head.
2. Overnight soak with hot water if needed.
3. For obvious gaps or large leaks in the staves try tapping the staves or bands with a rubber mallet.

Now the wait has begun. I lost some of my barrel character through long hot water soaks, but I’m confident that I will still end up with a delicious beer. If anything this may have made the barrel aging process less stressful. I was worried that with the small barrel size it could impart too quickly and become overbearing. After this ordeal I am going to relax and enjoy what the barrel brings.

Brewing beer is simple. When people ask me how hard it is I tell them that if you can boil water, you can make beer. Sure there is a little more that goes into it, but not so much that it should be intimidating. Most brewers start out brewing malt extract. Malt extract is a condensed form of the sugars used in brewing. It comes in both liquid and dry forms. Using extract simplifies the brewing process because someone has already done part of the job for you: getting the sugar out of the malt. We will use a simple pale ale recipe as an example for this process. The general process is the same for any beer.

Be sure to read through the steps a couple times before you start your brew day. That way you won’t be surprised by anything you need to do.

Easy Drinking Pale Ale
8 lb gold liquid malt extract
1 oz Cascade hops (6% AA) 60 min
1 oz Cascade hops (6% AA) 20 min
1 oz Cascade hops (6% AA) 0 min
1 packet US-05 dry yeast

Brewing Process:

1. Clean and sanitize your equipment. Follow the instructions on your sanitizer to mix a solution to the proper concentration.
2. Heat 3.5 gallons of water to boil in a 5 gallon kettle.
3. When the water is boiling, turn off the heat and stir in the malt extract. Stir well to avoid the extract dropping to the bottom of the kettle where it could burn.
4. Turn on the heat and return the wort to a boil.
5. When the wort starts boiling again, add your 60 minute hop addition (1 oz of Cascade hops) and start a timer for 60 minutes. The time next to the hops is the amount of time they spend in the boiling wort.  It is possible that the wort will foam up and boil over the side of the kettle within the next 10 minutes or so.  If the beer starts to foam up turn the heat down and stir until it subsides. You really want to pay attention to your kettle during this time. Cleaning up a boil over is not fun and a quick way to get kicked out of the kitchen when brewing beer.
6. Continue your boil and add your hops at the proper times. For this recipe that is an ounce of Cascade at 20 minutes left and an ounce of cascade at 0 minutes left.
7. Turn off the heat when the timer goes off and begin chilling the wort. There are many ways to chill the wort.  One inexpensive way is to just put the kettle in an ice bath in the sink. Be very careful moving the kettle while it is full of boiling wort. Another option is to use a copper immersion chiller. If you are using the immersion chiller, you need to put the chiller in the kettle with about 20 minutes left in the boil in order to sanitize the chiller.
8. Chill the wort until it reaches 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the beer is chilled, make sure that everything that touches the beer is sanitized. No reason to risk letting your precious beer getting infected!
9. While the wort is chilling, make sure your fermenter is sanitized and ready to receive your delicious wort.
10. Transfer your wort to the fermenter. You can pour it in if you are using a bucket.  If you are using a carboy, you can still pour the wort into the fermenter but you will need to use a sanitized funnel to get the wort into the carboy.  I prefer to use a siphon to transfer the wort. Using a siphon is easier on your back and you do not have to worry about spilling the wort or dropping the kettle.
11. Top off your wort with cool water until you reach a 5 gallon volume. Chances are your tap water won’t cause an infection. If you are concerned about infection you can boil water in advance and cool it in the fridge prior to adding it to the fermenter.
12. Now it is time to pitch the yeast. Follow the instructions on the yeast packet to rehydrate the yeast and add to the fermenter. Technically you now have beer! Very weak beer.
13. Put the lid or stopper in your bucket or carboy, respectively. Attach the airlock and fill it with a sanitizer like Star-San or cheap vodka.
14. Store the fermenter in a cool dark place that will stay at a constant temperature (preferably 68 degrees Fahrenheit) for three weeks. Light will skunk the hops in the beer and ruin the flavor. Fluctuating temperatures can stress the yeast causing them to create off flavors in the beer and/or stop working before the beer is done.

Congratulations! You made beer! Now you need to have patience. Let the beer ferment fully. Don’t rush it. Too many beginning brewers will try to speed up the process and end up disappointed in the final product. Let the yeast do their thing and be rewarded with some tasty beer.