wood

[ShiFu]

Oops, back on topic. Wood Barrels.

I've had several in the past for distilling, all from the USA. All were expensive.

20L, 40L and 220L. All new oak and all were to be proud of.

No particular favorite as each was spectacular when it was filled with liqueur.

[Swedish Pride]

I'm impressed, filling that 220l barrel would have taken some serious dedication, and emptying it would have been no small feat either

[ShiFu]

I did the Uncle Jesse Simple Sour Mash. A 50 gallon fermenter. Two keg pot stills working at the same time.
One keg was doing the stripping while the other was doing the spirit run.
It took all day, once a week, to add about 5 gallons of 65% to the barrel.
About 3 months.

[Swedish Pride]

holy mother of christ. how long did it take you to empty it?

[ShiFu]

I didn't empty them.
In 2008 the economic crisis hit the US and everyone lost their jobs and houses.
I took early retirement and fled the US.
I sold all of the barrels and the booze to a few friends for about cost.

I was lucky. Was able to cash out before things got really bad.
Most of my friends were not so lucky.

[YHB]

Mum bought me an early Xmas present.

12 staves from recycled sherry hogshead staves which are allegedly quarter sawn European white Oak.

They arrived today, very clean and a serious amount of wood.

wood
Staves.jpg (292.84 kB. 350x466 - viewed 950 times.)

[ketel3]

Mum bought me an early Xmas present.

12 staves from recycled sherry hogshead staves which are allegedly quarter sawn European white Oak.

They arrived today, very clean and a serious amount of wood.

wood
Staves.jpg (292.84 kB. 350x466 - viewed 950 times.)

Whaaw nice very nice what is your plan ? use as they are ,toast them char them looks all, fine to me 

[YHB]

Today, a pal of mine came to visit and brought his power plane. 

An hours work and the new staves cleaned up a treat. 

23 Kilo of Oak for £35.00 - I am happy.

wood
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Now I need to find a pal with a power saw, to cut them into 150mm long planks.

[ketel3]

In the past I used own harvested European oak,after af few weeks it was dry,and I gave it a heat treament in the oven, some got a extra treadment with the gas torch for char,however it was not as good as I expected.
My barrels from Hungary give a way better taste.

Looking on you tube I noticed the Russions ad a extra treament to fresh wood,they cook it twice,and than it gets the oven treadment.,and or char.

Reason is that normaly the wood should stay in the open for some years to mellow out the hard tastes
and tannins,so maybe they do this treament to cover that.

See here below a movie ,one of them as there are a lot more posted.
some of them cook the wood into red wine.
I will give it a try,meanwhile I found Amerikan oak nearby.

[Myles]

Interesting. For wine use oak is seasoned for anything up to 5 years before making the barrel. This is all to do with how much tannin you wish to add into that variety of wine.

Cognac and Bourbon both use new oak barrels. For Cognac these are NOT charred or toasted but for Bourbon they are.

For Cognac "new" oak means the first 3 fills. 1st fill might only be a few months due to excessive tannin leaching into the spirit, 2nd fill might be 2 years and 3rd fill even longer.

Those "new" barrels have most likely been seasoned for 2 to 3 years before they were coopered.

Boiling removes water soluble tannin so it makes sense for fresh harvested timber. I suspect though that I would use air seasoned timber if I could get it.

[ketel3]

Yes Myles,the last you was writing is correct ,leave it for a couple of years after harvesting outside and all will be fine.

My wood was fresh ,so maybe it would be better with this treatment.

The guy who made my Hungarian barrels had a huge amount of old wood and the taste is signifgicant better  as my wood.

Time to empty one barrel and put some of my rum in it 

[Myles]

I have two trials on the go at the moment.

Commercial Vodka @ 40% with oak at just 15 gm per litre. I expect this to take a LONG time, but I was curious about oaking at drinking proof.



On the left are new american oak staves and on the right used JD barrel staves.

Also a more conventional white rum @ 60% with new Appalachian oak at 30 gm per litre



(I now have 3 of 20 litre barrels in storage waiting to be swelled and filled.)

[ketel3]

Yes @ drinking proof it will take a little longer but within limits I think.
I think use the wood twice next time even longer.

White oak is hard to get here 

Ever tought about nuke it  (micro wave treatment )

By the way you live quit nice I see only country side on the first picture.
I'am in the middle of a town  but have the advantage it is a area with lots of green and gardens.

Special treatment for your barrels before use ?