Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

In my assortment of barrels 2x 2L, 5L, 15L (maybe closer to 16-17L) I have tried a few things:

2L barrels I used the cheapest port I could find and regretted it, left the port in for 6 months because I didn't get around to distilling enough to fill them until then, and even the 2nd fill of scotch (DWWG + green packet whiskey essence, first fill once had 40% and the other 65%, second & third fills are at 65%) has come out with a ?tartiness (best way to describe it) on the front of the tongue when aged for 3 months. Both are currently on their 3rd refill of the same and I plan on getting rid of them once this batch is done. It was these size barrels I discovered that filling them to the brim caused a leak when putting the bung back in (insert physics mumbo jumbo about air compresses but liquid doesn't when not in a vacuum or something)

5L barrel I already made a post about ( viewtopic.php?f=22&t=10025 ) but the short version is to prepare your barrel with water first to minimise losses and it was filled with a Bourbon (TPW + still spirits american & tennesse whiskey essences) for 6 months, there was about a 50% loss and to me seemed over oaked. I recruited some more taste buds who gave it nothing but praise, maybe they aren't as picky as me? As for refill I put in 4.45L (still some air gap) of single malt (DWWG + still spirits black single malt essence @ 65%) and is due to come out start of april.

15L barrel was filled with the same cheap nasty port for about 4 months, was then swapped for bundaberg rum for about 6 months and finally filled with Scotch (40% TPW + green still spirits whiskey essence) for 12 months. This drop is simply AMAZING! I can't remember exactly how much I filled the barrel with, but I got out of it 18 x 700mL bottles and this has sold me on the idea that bigger barrels @ longer times = much better spirits. Refilled with 15.75L (still had room for maybe another litre?) with Single Malt (DWWG + still spirits black single malt essence @65%) and will be due Australia day next year (you can be sure there will be a sneaky tasting on xmas day this year!).

I hope this helps with people who are looking at both smaller barrels for aging plus aging neutrals with essences added to them. My ambition is to be making all grain single malt whisky by the end of this year. I was nearly going to add this to another current barrel thread but decided it might be taking it off topic a bit.

Thanks for the info cheers :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I do also have another 5L barrel sitting Idle that I plan to use solely for "bourbon" (DWWG + still spirits american & tennesse essences) and see how many refills it takes before the barrel adds negligible flavour.

I should also make a note that all barrels are american oak, medium toast & varnished.

Emptied the 2nd fill of my 5L barrel tonight that had DWWG 65% + single malt essence in it and out of the 4.45L that went in I only got 2L out again :angry-banghead: I'm hoping 3rd time lucky that I don't lose half my grog again, update on that barrel will be in 6 months. If I lose that much again I"m going to have to do what I should have in the first place and fill it with hot water for a day or 2.

It's obviously just soaking into the wood because there are absolutely no leaks on it at all.

Anywho, what I did get out of the barrel is tasting pretty good :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Interesting. I'm surprised that you're losing so much out of varnished barrels. Are they kept outside/in a shed or indoors?

I was thinking the same thing, they are kept in my whisky cabinet which is basically all glass and inside against the north wall of the house. I'm thinking maybe I should find a new location for them that is a bit more stable in temperature.

Pouring hot water over the outside can help seal barrels.
Place it in the laundry sink half full of hot water and use a jug and over a day try to keep it wet.

Varnish will most likely stop this method from working it also stops them from breathing so maybe sand it back to natural wood and do the above. Might be worth a try before you get rid of them

Are you certain you've only got angels taking thier share and not some little devils taking a sample too?
Got teenagers?

Seems a lot to lose :think:

Definitely no little devils to take a cut :))

It does seem a lot, I feel it has to do with not sealing it properly in the first place with water. If this new refill loses heaps I'll fill it with hot water and try again I suppose. I'll sand it back once it seems like it's not imparting any flavour, might give it a bit of a refresher on doing it's job.

I also emptied 2 x 2L barrels that combined actually hold 1.5L and 1.75L and I got 2.2L total out of that pair, so maybe the hot Brissy summer was piss up time for the angels this year?

I never had small barrels but I would think they will always lose more due the the larger surface area relative to spirit volume.
I'd empty them only when you have something else to fill them with. That way you won't lose any extra to the dry wood and they won't have shrunk due to drying :think:
I'd also get the varnish off, I personally don't like the idea of any possible interactions between spirit and varnish.
Good luck with it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Psyk, feel your pain brother... had a similar mega loss with my first (and only) 10lit job. After a few months went to suss the goods...freaken empty. Was i spewing. Lost the lot.
Thanks to the kind hearts here i was advised to fill her with water for a while... ever since... no problemo. I now keep it full all the time. On closer inspection i could actually see where the leaks were.

10L all gone?! :scared-eek: That's the stuff of bloody nightmares Kenster!

My 15(ish)L barrel has never lost much at all, I can't remember if I filled it with water first but I definitely filled it with cheap port for several months and kept topping it up every couple of weeks till it slowed on the vanishing.

Res, my barrels are never empty for more than about 20 minutes because I make sure I have something lined up to fill them before emptying :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Starting to consider if I should empty the troublesome 5L one and fill it with water now.... Decisions are hard :))

Are you rolling the barrels? On mine I drew a clock face , numbers 1-12, and aline the top of the barrel to the current month number. That way as you lose volume the top of the barrel is kept wet.
Do you have much abv variation between filling and emptying? I found in hot weather my abv goes up.

To be honest I hadn't measured them after being aged because my alcometer says it's only accurate for white spirits, but you got me curious.

the 2L of the troublesome barrel was the same as it went in

the 2.2L of combined small barrels was up to 75%

DRUNK ME FUCK! :o :shock:

I'm gonna have to go measure all the other stuff out of the barrels!

(hashtag)mission-for-the-night





........ yes I've been drinking tonight :teasing-tease:

Well heightened abv confirms what you already know, them dam angels have been hooking into your stash. But at least the loss is a little smaller once you add the water back :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Now I'm really confuzzled..... x_x

Every other batch I've put through those 2L barrels or any other barrels I have came out same % as they went in except this latest one that climbed to 75% :shifty:

Did you correct for temp?

After stilling I leave it to air for a day or 3 (depending if I get distracted or not) before combining my cuts and then measuring at room temp. Everything I measured tonight was room temp too.

The only thing that I realised was different was leaving the 2L barrels for 4 months instead of 3 just because of distractions.

Besides that I have no idea

sometimes the ABV increases in the barrel, meaning what loss there is to the angels has a higher ratio of water than alcohol