Oak Aged Raspberry Porter & Espresso Stout

The barrel brewing adventure continues and has been a lot of fun so far, but I've been busy brewing and testing recipes. Using Balcones Blue Corn Whiskey Barrels, I've managed to keep clean beers in the first and second runs, which makes the barrels well worth all the extra effort. So I've tried classic stout and porter recipes in these barrels, but I haven't tried layering in more ingredients for added depth and flavor.

For me, I always think hops when I think about adding more flavor to a beer, but most of the hoppy beers I've put in these barrels like the Double Whisky Rye IPA became slightly oxidized and lost almost all hop aromas. The oak/whiskey flavor imparts quickly (in just a few weeks) and is the prominent flavor. I have had success using HopShot (Extract) and running barrel-aged hoppy beers through a Randall or hop filter when serving from a keg, but I would suggest brewing a second batch of non-oak aged hoppy beer for blending to achieve a balanced oak and hop beer.

So, since I'd already experimented with hops in these barrels I wanted to try something I hadn't done before. Fruit and coffee seemed like a good pair.

Balcones crew enjoying the Barrel-Aged Espresso Stout at their anniversary party

The base beer for these two recipes utilized 2-row and chocolate malts. The stout relied on black patent and roasted barley for deep color and body while the porter used more caramel and chocolate malt sweetness to balance the tart of the raspberry puree. The finished raspberry porter tasted like a berry Tootsie Pop with fruit first and a chocolate finish. The barrel added an additional layer of oaky vanilla that was very interesting and almost nostalgic. The fresh brewed espresso balanced perfect with the roasted malts and also worked perfect as a top up in the barrel as the angels took their share of the stout.

I used recently dumped whiskey barrels and they smelled great when I popped the bung for filling. After about two weeks both beers were plenty oaked, so I transferred them to kegs for cold conditioning. For the closed transfer, I put together a small gas barrel transfer tool similar to the kind brewers use for full sized barrels. The main parts for the transfer tool are:

Dual drilled #6.5 stopper
3/8" stainless racking cane
1/4" flare/barb fitting

The racking cane comes with a plastic tip to minimize trub and yeast extraction during the transfer. You'll need a 1/4" nut x 5/16" barb fitting on your gas line to connect to the tool and a liquid mfl disconnect with tubing to connect to the racking cane too.

A few notes:
I made a yeast starter for both beers on the stir plate. Chilled beer to 66F and hit the beers with 50 seconds of pure O2 before pitching the yeast. Both beers were fermented at 68F.

Christian Lavender is a father, husband, computer geek, beer writer and homebrewer in Austin, TX. He currently brews on Picobrew's Zymatic and enjoys styles ranging from hoppy barrel aged barley wine to funky sours. Follow Christian's brewing on