Secondary fermentation after racking Whiskey Chub into the barrel

About a month ago I added my second beer to the Whiskey barrel, a Strong Scotch Ale.  I initially figured that this second beer would take twice as long to pick up the whiskey character.  My first surprise was the amount of whiskey flavor in the holding solution, vodka.

A whole bottle of vodka went in clear, half a bottle came out smelling and looking like whiskey.

I took my first sample at two weeks and the whiskey component was quite evident.  Before I decided to empty the barrel though I wanted a second and third opinion.  Last weeks brew night I pulled another sample and passed that around.

Everyone could pick up the whiskey immediately.  After that it was a mixed response.  One commented that there wasn’t much of the Scotch Ale maltiness present.  Another asked for more whiskey.  That may just mean that it’s just right.

As with the last batch, I’ll keg half of the beer and bottle the other.  This time, even though there is likely enough live yeast since we’re only a month in, I’m going to pitch some more yeast along with priming sugar to ensure proper carbonation.  My last batch of the Whiskey Russian Imperial Stout has been in bottles almost 3 months now and has very low carbonation.