Barrel Aging and CO2 Flushing

Hey all.
I just recently purchased a 10 gal white oak barrel to age some of my beers in.  My batches are 5 gal and, therefore, half the volume of the barrel will be air.  My question is whether prolonged aging in these barrels with O2 in the barrel will have any negative impact on the beer.  I am looking for an easy way to inject CO2 into the barrel.

Any thoughts??

Brad

Brew twice. Fill the barrel. The cask will leak out CO2 and leak in oxygen. Fill the barrel with two batches to minimize the problem. I am willing to take a chance with your beer! good luck

So I'm looking for an easy solution to injecting CO2 into the cask.  This is something that I can do weekly or even daily if necessary.  There will be plenty of opportunity to brew 10 gallon batches to fill the barrel but if I only brew a 5 gallon batch I would like some way to flush with CO2.  Any suggestions?

Go to your local hardware store and pick up some air compressor parts. Buy a air blow gun and connect that to a gas in hose. You can buy enough parts and connectors to rig up something useful. here is a link with pictures to show you the gun. http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_air-tools+air-blow-guns 
I don't know if you would introduce oil or contaminants into your wort? It may be useful to add co2 into a corny keg before filling? good luck!

I claim no expertise in barrel conditioning, and whether or not O2 can enter or not, I know not. However, CO2 is heavier than O2, and therefore SHOULD cover the beer with a protective blanket of CO2 (assuming there is no ingress of any outside air).

I really think that a blow gun is un-necessary, you could simply place the CO2 (gas) hose in the cask, and let it slowly enter the open area. This is assuming that you have a regulator on the tank and are not blowing with a high velocity stream.

Some time back, I bought a handy little CO2 cartridge/tapper device (not much bigger than a CO2 cartridge as used in pellet guns, etc) that had a trigger. It was very inexpensive, and I use it to inject CO2 directly into the beer side of my sankey tap (right after kegging) to carbonate. Works well, and might be a solution for your needs. It DOES NOT, however, have any sort of regulation, so be careful if you go this route. But it should contain plenty of CO2 to keep you beer happy.

Or you could brew 10 gallons!

I'd be inclined to agree with Bob.  Airspace when aging beer is not a good thing, especially if oxygen can get in.

Fill 'er up!

88Q said:

you could simply place the CO2 (gas) hose in the cask, and let it slowly enter the open area. This is assuming that you have a regulator on the tank and are not blowing with a high velocity stream.

Click to expand...

I do this to purge carboys and bottling bucket with CO2 before transferring;  works well. 

I found this article on barrel aging and thought it may help you.

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2010/04/barrel-aged-beer-new-idea-rant.html

Interesting that there is mention of the use of oak SPECIFICALLY for it oxygen permeability?!?! :-\

88Q said:

you could simply place the CO2 (gas) hose in the cask, and let it slowly enter the open area. This is assuming that you have a regulator on the tank and are not blowing with a high velocity stream.

Click to expand...

Thanks for all the advice fellas!  I think I am going to just use the regulator idea.  It seems simple, and so often simple is best.  I sort of wish that I purchased a 5gal but oh well.  Looks like I'll be making more beer!

I am a bit concerned with O2 intake and will be topping off the keg with CO2 very often.  This said, there is nothing I can do about O2 intake into the beer.  This is going to be one uncontrollable variable in what will be a fun experiment.

Thanks again!
Brad

I know this is an older thread, but couldn't you add dry ice chunks to the beer and allow it to sublimate?  There would be boiling until the dry ice vaporized but you would have plenty of head space.