HOW SAFE IS YOUR OAK??????
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 5:58 pmThis safety ramble about using second hand oak for ageing was bought about by a personal experience I had last Xmas.
Its not meant to scare people off using oak from old barrels, but is meant to make people think about where that old barrel might have been and what could have been stored in it, on it and around it over the years.
The story goes like this
Last Xmas I travelled to the far west of NSW to visit family and friends.
In my travels I dropped in to see an old mate to see how he was going and to let him test a bit of my UJ.
The first thing I saw when entering his yard was three large oak barrels which had been cut in half to use as pot plants. Now sometime between cutting the barrels in half and the planting of things in them he’s lost interest in the job, the barrels are piled up in a heap against his fence and are slowly falling apart. The staves still looked perfect but the rings are falling of the barrels.
Before I got addicted to distilling I would have thought…Mmmmm handy pile of fire wood, but that was before.
Conversation that followed
Me “What ya doing with the barrels”
Him “Gunna take them to the dump next time I go cause they are rooted”.
Me “ Mind if I break a couple up and take them home to age rum with”
Him “No problem mate help ya self”
Me “ Beauty I’ll come back n pick them up before I leave town”
A week or two later I went back to bust up a couple of barrels….got them broken up and started stacking the staves into the car.
That was when he said “Maybe you wont want them I just remembered that I sprayed them for white ants. Yes that’s what he does for a job….Hes your local Pest Control Bloke.
From now on I’ll be sticking to barrels with a proven history or fresh from the winery or garden centre.
A few thing worth thinking about are …..if its pretty new its probably ok.
The older the barrel the greater the chance its contaminated with something.
If its 50 years old who knows were its been or whats been on it or in it.
Over the years people have used wooden barrels to store all sorts of stuff , some of it good and some bad.
Sorry if I’ve rambled but if it makes people think a bit before the use the first old oak stave they find its been worth it.
Its not meant to scare people off using oak from old barrels, but is meant to make people think about where that old barrel might have been and what could have been stored in it, on it and around it over the years.
The story goes like this
Last Xmas I travelled to the far west of NSW to visit family and friends.
In my travels I dropped in to see an old mate to see how he was going and to let him test a bit of my UJ.
The first thing I saw when entering his yard was three large oak barrels which had been cut in half to use as pot plants. Now sometime between cutting the barrels in half and the planting of things in them he’s lost interest in the job, the barrels are piled up in a heap against his fence and are slowly falling apart. The staves still looked perfect but the rings are falling of the barrels.
Before I got addicted to distilling I would have thought…Mmmmm handy pile of fire wood, but that was before.
Conversation that followed
Me “What ya doing with the barrels”
Him “Gunna take them to the dump next time I go cause they are rooted”.
Me “ Mind if I break a couple up and take them home to age rum with”
Him “No problem mate help ya self”
Me “ Beauty I’ll come back n pick them up before I leave town”
A week or two later I went back to bust up a couple of barrels….got them broken up and started stacking the staves into the car.
That was when he said “Maybe you wont want them I just remembered that I sprayed them for white ants. Yes that’s what he does for a job….Hes your local Pest Control Bloke.
From now on I’ll be sticking to barrels with a proven history or fresh from the winery or garden centre.
A few thing worth thinking about are …..if its pretty new its probably ok.
The older the barrel the greater the chance its contaminated with something.
If its 50 years old who knows were its been or whats been on it or in it.
Over the years people have used wooden barrels to store all sorts of stuff , some of it good and some bad.
Sorry if I’ve rambled but if it makes people think a bit before the use the first old oak stave they find its been worth it.