Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hi All

I am thinking of graduating from using oak chips to using a barrel.

In your opinion, what would be the better method?

Method One
Is it better to use smaller barrels 25L - fill it up and then let it age then bottling it all at once.

Method Two
Have one large 50L Barrel, fill it up and leave for a while to age - then just keep topping it up as you draw spirit out. i.e. draw a 5Lr Demi out and replace it with 5L freshly distilled spirit on a continuous cycle.

Thanks
Paul

Turbo yeast? Pop into the welcome centre. helps us help you when we know a bit more info :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Smaller barrels are said to impart flavour faster so they dont need to be stored for years if using smaller barrels.
Bigger barrels are possibly easier to find especially if a winery is tossing some old ones out.

Probably go for a smaller barrel as you will fill that faster and be able to leave it alone for a bit.

... Or just get some quality dominos...

Nice and easy to start with - but don't waste good dominos on a turdbo... Graduate to a wbab, or a TWP... You will NEVER look back.

...and introduce yourself! :teasing-neener:

prcarr wrote:Hi All

I am thinking of graduating from using oak chips to using a barrel.

Not base on experience, but the chips would gives huge advantage based on surface area to volume so I'm not certain if that is a step forward. Perhaps going to barrell's is more of a sideway step, being more traditional.

prcarr wrote:In your opinion, what would be the better method?

Method One
Is it better to use smaller barrels 25L - fill it up and then let it age then bottling it all at once.

Method Two
Have one large 50L Barrel, fill it up and leave for a while to age - then just keep topping it up as you draw spirit out. i.e. draw a 5Lr Demi out and replace it with 5L freshly distilled spirit on a continuous cycle.

Thanks
Paul

As has been said before, smaller barrell's increase the surface area (of the wood) to the volume (of the alcohol) so it would mature faster.
The idea of taking samples of semi matured alcohol, then replacing them with immature alcohol doesn't seem right. I can't see the benefit, sorry, seems like it soul never finish... Have you done this before,taking a portion out and replacing it with fresh alcohol?

I'll be honest, I'm a bit of a traditionalist. I prefer my whisky to come out of a barrel. There is just something that feels dirty about using oak chips.

I believe your idea would work, but why not invest in more smaller barrels that way it will age quicker and you can just bottle it.

Forget chips, dominoes is where it's at :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Zak Griffin wrote:Forget chips, dominoes is where it's at :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I think we have found a couple of terms to add to the glossary for us newbs.

Oak Chips: Chips of oak added to new make spirit to supplement barrel aging...?
Dominoes: ?

dominoes are larger pieces of oak, about 10x3x2 cm.
Should be lots of info on them around here.
Go the smaller barrel, but not smaller that 20-25 ltr. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

BennyHiggo wrote:http://www.5stardistilling.net/american-oak-dominoes-1kg/

:text-+1:

The smaller barrels you can get while looking the part, can be hit and miss for example; no char or bad quality oak. If you can find a quality product then all good but I can tell you the ones I have seen (and purchased when I started) and the 220 litres I use now are chalk and cheese.

The domino's you can get from Mac are great for aging!

Here is the barrel aging time guide;

res wrote:dominoes are larger pieces of oak, about 10x3x2 cm.
Should be lots of info on them around here.
Go the smaller barrel, but not smaller that 20-25 ltr

Thanks mate, I will have a peruse.

Why wouldn't you got smaller than 25? Is it because there is a higher chance of over-oaking the spirit?

BennyHiggo wrote:http://www.5stardistilling.net/american-oak-dominoes-1kg/

So they are charred as well?

Whiskyaugogo wrote:Here is the barrel aging time guide

I have now saved the guide, cheers!

The dominoes are just toasted, charring them is simple enough though :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I'm looking at getting a barrel, was thinking of going 10 litres because that is about my maximum amount I am likely to age of a single product. A 25 litre barrel is not too much more $. Should I go bigger even if I won't ever completely fill it?

How full do you have to fill a barrel as a minimum? If I only ever half fill a barrel will it work as efficiently and do I need to shake or turn it regularly to keep all the staves wet?

Has anyone used the same barrel alternately for rum and whisky? How do I minimise the rums effect on the whisky taste?

Thanks,

Richard

Jarad wrote:

res wrote:dominoes are larger pieces of oak, about 10x3x2 cm.
Should be lots of info on them around here.
Go the smaller barrel, but not smaller that 20-25 ltr

Thanks mate, I will have a peruse.

Why wouldn't you got smaller than 25? Is it because there is a higher chance of over-oaking the spirit?

IMO 25 is the sweet spot between ageing and oaking, important to remember there not the same thing.
Any smaller and the oak will readily overtake the ageing.
Bigger and longer is better but filling a 50+ ltr is a bit of an ask :scared-eek:

get a 25l and get busy filling it.
I started with a10l , thought I would struggle filling it.
I now have 2 10l barrels full.

Any good places in Victoria to source smaller ~25L barrels from? Only barrels that I can find "cheap" are the 225L ones which are way overkill for me, and I don't think I would be able to fit it in my shed :)

Most of the smaller ones on Ebay seem to be more ornamental than functional. Currently using dominoes and glass, but I think a barrel would be better suited to the temperature swings in the shed I am using.

Depending on your frequency of running the still, there are several advantages to smaller barrels:

1. Practical: Easier to get, cheaper freight, simple storage on a shelf or bench
2. Care: barrels need to stay saturated and swollen to prevent leaks, not good practice to slowly fill a large barrel.
3. Batches: age several blends at once in multiple small barrels
4. Aging: as the dimensions of the barrel reduces the surface area in contact with spirit increases exponentially. Because the age effect of oaking is relative to contact, this speeds up the aging process. We had 300L port barrels at the winery I used to run and if a customer ordered a 3L barrel we would suggest they treat every month as if it were a year in our big barrels. No real science behind this advice, it just seemed to work.
5. Transfer: once it's ready to your palate/preference you should run it off the bottles and then refill it with your next batch. This is more manageable with a small barrel - also if you get stuck and 50L has to sit in the barrel too long you may overdo if and load up the tannins in solution. As the barrel ages it will impart flavour slower but more balanced so allow for this.

Personally, I keep a bunch of 5L barrels and keep rotating stock as needed. If I get caught out, I buy another barrel. If they ever wear out and impart too little flavour they'll be downgraded to port or sherry casks. I think this might be the unpopular opinion here but it's worth thinking about anyway

There's some good points you make there Garfield. Thanks! I will see if I can source some 5L barrels