Suitability of ex red wine oak barrels for conditioning beer

[stevetk189]

Hi,

Just a quicky from this newb...

I've had a search around here but not found anything with respect to the suitability of using oak casks that have been used to condition wine for beer conditioning.

I live in France and have a friend in the wine industry in Bordeaux who basically has to get rid of his old oak barrels every three or four years. It costs him a fortune replacing them and he didn't seem keen on the idea I presented that he chop them in half and sell them to garden centres for a small fortune... I got a Gallic shrug and a sort of, "why would I do that?" look.

At the time he did try to talk me into taking a couple of dozen away for him, I had no means of transport for that volume.

Anyway, back on topic... If properly sterilized would an ex wine cask be a suitable home for conditioning beer in?

I am thinking that if so it could impart some not necessarily normal flavours into the brew and maybe create something either awesome or s**t.

[unclepumble]

Great for sour and Lambic beers, not much use otherwise

UP

[stevetk189]

Cheers for that, I'll keep the idea on a back burner in that case.

[Trunky]

[stevetk189]

[quote="Trunky"]Great for cider though [/quote]

Ahhh definately good to know! We have several apple trees and each year most of the apples just end up as wasp and bird food... Hmmm...