Home aging whisk(e)y & other spirits

[Huskee]

Anyone dabble in this? I am a big fan in my limited experience with it so I acquired another larger barrel to sit on some more.

[JGo37]

I think that's a great idea if it hatches, please reserve me a couple hatchlings. I'll take the first brood.

you know - "sit on some more...", till it 'hatches'...

Am I writing to myself here?

[Nate]

I did something similar with Port wines.

The advice given to me was find the most expensive bottle of port you would be willing to buy then buy something more expensive as the first bottle to put in... after that go with what you want.

The cool/sad thing is there would never be a way to replicate a glass of port out of that cask. The flavor profile would change every so slightly with every new bottle added.

[Huskee]

Very true. I've been told you can go 3-4 uses with bourbon. I would assume a little longer sitting w/ each time. Then get a new barrel. I plan to age gin in mine once they're getting too used up for more whiskey.

[Attjack]

Another way to go about it is to add oak staves to a glass bottle or SS vessel. But those barrels sure look cool.

[Huskee]

Yeah I agree. Great decor whether being used or not. I might get me some cheap moonshine and try the stave thing. Definitely cheaper that route.

[Dr ROK]

I use oak chips in my homemade wines and it adds a nice oaky taste.

[Steve R.]

I want to do this. I have a neighbor who is a distiller for Beam Brands (we end up with some killer prizes at our neighborhood chili cookoffs) and he has one of those aging barrels on his front porch. Looks like a decoration, but it has some good stuff in it.

[texastweeter]

Ill sign up as the official Pit Taster...IJS

[jgreen]

Dang, now I need a room like that in my house.

[Donw]

Just how big are those barrels, and how long do you age the contents?

[Huskee]

Small. The larger is 3L which is just under a gallon of course so milk jug sized, the small is 1L, about the size of a NFL football. With the 1L 1 month or so is good, I went 2. With the big one I plan to go 3 or 4 months, maybe 6. Small barrels have more wood surface area to liquid so they age faster.

[Barry Friesen]

Huskee Just where does one acquire these barrels? Apparently, I need this now.

[Huskee]

Amazon. I linked to the ones I've used a few posts down. I've had a couple great experiences with the barrels and that seller so far.

[Attjack]

Huskee what sized are those? 1 and 3 liters? I'm looking at Amazon do you have a better source?

https://www.amazon.com/Personalized-Customized-American-White-Barrel/dp/B01LXWMCM4/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_79_lp_t_3?_encoding=UTF8&refRID=0HGXGTGKFNJJJRHHQQV8&th=1

[Huskee]

Yes, 3 & 1. See below for the ones I purchased.

[shify]

I bought a 1L barrel and aged cocktails but didn't age straight whiskey.

Did a Manhattan first and then a negroni. Both aged for around a month but the negroni was aged slightly longer to account for the barrel already being used. Unfortunately after I finished aging the negroni, I let the barrel sit for weeks/months without rinsing it out and wasn't comfortable reusing after it sat around so long.

I would totally do it again in a cocktail context but doubt I would ever consider a white dog whiskey or some other unaged spirit

[Huskee]

I'm debating on trying moonshine. Tim Smith's (from the TV show Moonshiners) Climax Moonshine is really good, sweet like kettlecorn in a bottle, I thought about doing a batch of that. I know I'll do gin.

[jfmorris]

Interesting, and I didn't know people were doing this. I've been involved with aging beer in bourbon and whisky barrels, but those are all 53 gallons, and it would take a heck of a lot of booze to fill one up.

Part of what leads to the barrel "character" in alcohol is the seasonal variation in temperature in the barrel aging houses, which causes the liquid to move in and out of the wood over time.

I've looked into the smaller barrels with regards to aging beer without having to get with a group of 8-10 guys to brew enough to fill up a full size barrel, and decided the drawbacks were not worth it for me. Specifically, with the smaller barrels, at least when used to age beer, you need significantly less time than a 53 gallon barrel to pick up the same amount of oak/char/whatever flavor. A beer that might need to age 6 months in a 53 gallon barrel will pick up the same amount of oak character in just a few weeks in a 5 to 15 gallon barrel. The reason? Surface area to volume ratio. The smaller barrel exposes a much larger percentage of the liquid to the wood. My solution in creating "mock" barrel aged beers is to soak a few ounces of charred oak cubes (medium toast usually) in a 8-16 ounces of my favorite bourbon, then dump the entire thing into the keg, let it sit for some number of weeks, then transfer the beer to another keg once I am satisfied with the oak flavor profile.

All that said, given that most bourbon or whisky is already aged 4+ years in a wooden barrel, I really wonder how much more oak character is desirable. Curious to hear how your experiment works out. I am certain it will lead to more oakiness in the whisky, to put it in a fresh barrel like that with lots of surface area.

As far as souring, and having something grow in a barrel, while that is a concern with beers, I wonder if it is really something to worry about with 100 proof or higher spirits.

[Huskee]

Oh it's amazing the depth of character re-aging whiskey adds to its flavor. Might not be for everyone but I tell you what it's definitely for me. It makes it much more smoother, it takes that burn down a notch, but it's still there, and it adds a lot of oakey caramel to the flavor. Pure bliss.

[jfmorris]

I bet it is good! Do you serve right from that spigot on the front of the barrel, or just let it age, then put it back into the original bottles or a decanter?

[Huskee]

I've bottled my first two attempts... But the tap is fun. I'm new at this. I think my larger bottle may be a tapper..

[jfmorris]

Huskee where do you get your barrels?

[cgrover60]

After making beer for a couple years I got curious about home distilling which it turns out is still illegal and quite dangerous as distilling vapors are explosive. So I skipped the distilling and focused on trying aging which is very easy - time and a barrel and all is good. I used a commercially made premium white spirit - 100 proof Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine and aged in an oak barrel for just about three months. Sure it's not Makers Mark by any means but for home made bourbon it makes for some great conversations. One good source for barrels and other goodies is https://americanoakbarrel.com/en/. Cheers

[Huskee]

That's cool! I would love to distill. I contacted my local liquor board to see if I could make a small amount for personal use. I could see myself firing up a tiny still on stickburner day. All they said was its against federal law. So this is the next closest.

[Huskee]

The ones I bought were from Amazon, from a seller called Sophia's Findings. Free personalization should that interest you. Barry Friesen Attjack. jfmorris
https://www.amazon.com/Personalized-...T5L&ref=plSrch

[jfmorris]

Thanks. Cool, at $150 for the 20L size I would need for a 5G batch of beer, probably not worth it. Makes more sense for what you are doing.

[Barry Friesen]

Thanks!