Storage of whisky, SS keg OK ?

[fadge]

Guys, looking a bit of advice here.
Been making HB for a while, all been good so far, but starting to get a collection of different bottles etc and was thinking.....
Can I tip all my whisky into a stainless steel keg for storage (aging?) ?
I'd just bottle what I'm drinking when needed.
I've 3 kegs, one with a proper brass tap, spotless clean, but need to use a stopper/bung on the opening however.
I can see some advantages, each batch of roughly I make is about 4.5 lt per week, this would get tipped into the keg, mixes with whatever is still in there, "blended" batches, more consistant taste ?..... (no scub that, taste is not an issue,each batch is pretty good anyway)

Basic question
Stick with glass bottles? (collect/wash/sanitise/store/etc)
Use my SS keg ? (keep filling it up, take from the tap when needed)

Thanks Guys
Fadge
:?:

[maheel]

its a reasonable idea
here are a few of my thoughts

upsides:
you get a blended product that will always be the "same" and wont vary much (or only slowly change) from bottle to bottle as you draw it off.
one storage unit instead of possible hundreds of bottles to "control"
your not going to break it...

downside:
if you pour in something "bad" it might ruin the whole barrel, so you need to be sure
oaking, will it become over oaked? if you put in some oak will it over oak the blend if your not drawing off enough ?
if the tap leaked its a lot to loose, get a ball valve where a lock can be attached so no one could leave it open.
full it is heavy if you need to move it around a lot

i often look at the big wodden barrels 200l plus and think how cool, i know i am to slack to fill one... :shhh:

[Kimbo]

I use SS kegs for ageing, i dont completely fill them.
as one is ageing, i am filling another. as for using a bung, be careful as some rubbers can taint the product, i use a spray can lid to fit over mine ;-)

[SBB]

It shouldnt be a problem ..as far as im aware a lot of people store low wines and spirits in Stainless kegs. The ideal set up would probably be to replace the top opening with a 4 inch fitting for easy access if you wanted to get bits of oak in or out of the spirit.
Not so sure about the brass tap......stainless might be better.

[fadge]

Thanks for the replies,
Yes the bung can taint, I've had that issue just sitting one loose in the top, stinks like hell.
As for oaking, never thought about chucking any in the keg.
I've been making TPW, then oaking 3-4 weeks, adding topshelf RYE esssence, works out pretty close my fav Candanian Club.
I can get full size oak barrels, that are still full of red wine(unknown type), peraps discard the wine and use a wooden barrel instead ?
One thing about these wooden ones, they have a shitload of sediment and crap inside them.
I've had 4 full ones that I've cut in half for my veggies, its red crap everywhere, most likely not a good thing for aging whisky knock off ?

So today I've got close to 20 liters sitting around, toss up for bottles or keg....

Cheers

Fadge

[Kimbo]

Hi FAdge,
dont discard the wine, distill it and have a nice Grappa.
Pull the barrel to bits, let it dry, charr it and use the wine stained oak for ageing a nice rum.
trim some of the wine off, charrin and use it for your UJ. ;-)

You can also age the grappa on the oak and have a Brandy :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[R-sole]

Kegs work just fine. You can age in them as you go by tying a couple of toasted sticks up in some stainless wire or cotton string and leaving them in there with the string out.

As for lids, you can shape a wood bung easily with a hole saw, weld a piece of stainless on the original bit you pull out of the keg for a threaded bung, get a silicon bath plug (they fit straight in) or use a triclover end cap and clamp. I'm sure there's many more closures you could use besides a rubber bung.

[fadge]

Guys, went with the keg after the advice given, kinda cool having a keg load of grog to drink...
I have an old walldrobe in my shed, to this I built a shelf inside strong enough to hold 2 kegs full.
Also made it the right height to be able to both fill them at the top, and fill bottles from the tap.
Have not chucked any oak back into the kegs as yet, would it really help the grog or just make me think it will improve the taste ?

fadge

[Kimbo]

Have not chucked any oak back into the kegs as yet, would it really help the grog or just make me think it will improve the taste ?

fadge

Yes, it will really help the grog. ( if your after a brown spirit- whiskey, rum , brandy etc) ;-)

[SBB]

I've been making TPW, then oaking 3-4 weeks, adding topshelf RYE esssence, works out pretty close my fav Candanian Club.

Only just read the above. not sure how that will go with more oak in the keg.............I just asumed you were making UJ or Rum

[fadge]

so far so good, plenty of whiskey "on tap" but I have not placed additional oak inside the keg as yet.
The only thing I miss, is SEEING how my grog is going, in :-D the the keg is kinda cool, but not like looking at bottles of it sitting around.

thanks guys

fadge

[Brendan]

Have not chucked any oak back into the kegs as yet, would it really help the grog or just make me think it will improve the taste ?

Wouldn't not having oak in the keg be the same as whisky in a bottle?...ie. whisky stops aging when bottled because no interaction with the oak.

Or is "aging" in a keg without oak, effective initially due to a higher amount of esters which can evaporate out early on?

[cdbrown]

Does anyone store/age in 19L corny kegs? They of course have rubber seals in various spots - would they be ok with spirits? I have a few spare kegs I could utilise rather than buying demijohns

[kiwikeg]

Okay posting here cause this is the most informative thread I have found my search..
I am fast approaching a almost full 50l keg of bourbon knockoff / ujsm hearts.
I have not done anything to the hearts just diluted the hearts of each spirit run to 65-70% and added to the keg, also added a jar of hearts from the the stripping runs if it tasted/smelt good.
I am happy with the base spirit and the few bottles I have drawn off and oaked,flavoured,drank were good :handgestures-thumbupleft: corn flavour not strong at all, probily the pale malt is the dominat flavour :laughing-rollingyellow:
so heres the question

I intend useing the following in the keg to age

250ml of vannila essence from a 1l bottle of hearts that have been sitting with 5 cut up tahitian vannilla beans in for a month or so
250ml of sherry
500g of red wine oak barrel chips
500g of HBS essencia bourbon chunks
1 bottle of Spirits Unlimited whisky essence (flavours 5ls

going to put this away for a couple of years so would hate to open it up and find i have meesed up.
planning on leaving oak in whole time and sealing keg with triclamp so angels wonts get shitfaced on my watch.
any comments or suggestions gratefully considered.
Edit- forgot to say once age whole keg will be bottled at once for a consistant product. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[crow]

Ok KK first thing that comes to mind is this is flavouring not aging . not saying thats wrong or anything but to hark but to the distant past of my wine and fortified days , wine stored in my earthenware demijohns with oak was nothing like what was in my barrels so there is most definitely something to the you can't copy angel piss theory/fact . I think you will find the wood flavour will really integrate in to the spirit and not feel so "added" like rapidly "aged"/flavoured stuff does but you are going to missout on that smooth bodied mouth feel that comes with true aging , interesting that not one distillery has found away around this and plenty have tried.... Just my thoughts and i might be wrong , its happened before but I really do feel its hard to replicate that angel pissing on ya tongue taste even if it does cost ya 2% per annum ;-)

[Brendan]

I agree with crow.

Although you don't want the angels stealing some of your liquor, I have read that is a very important process where certain congeners permeate through the wood. You aren't actually losing a mass of your entire spirit that you put in...the compounds inside are altered by the process and the makeup of your liquor changes over the years.

From experiments I have tried so far, the big issue I have with currently used home aging methods, is oaking and colouring without actually aging...I would assume wih your locking up the keg method, you would achieve similar results as pouring several bottles of that essense stuff in (which is fucking putrid :handgestures-thumbdown: ). I am investing in a barrel from Roll Out The Barrel for this reason.

Just my 2 bob. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[JayD]

I like the idea of using a S/S keg to age your hooch is a good one, thinking aloud here...god help us all...if they had the knowledge to successfully store their booze in the earliest days would they used it(S/S) and if they did would we know about flavouring using wood as a medium ? I think time has moved on and ageing in S/S kegs is the way to go for the future using a tea bag for the wood to be suspended inside the keg.imo. :handgestures-thumbupleft: just like they do with wine. maybe use a smallS/S keg, container to try it out and see how it goes??
J

[crow]

Yeah granted jayD but... good wine goes in a barrel budget wine gets teabaged and slammed into a plastic cask ;-) so as I should have said it depends on what end result ya hoping for. I believe one will be ok hell maybe even pretty good the other will reach its potential :handgestures-thumbupleft: . They have known about storing spirits in stainless since 1912 and although many many many times cheaper it ain't done much

[Cane Toad]

I may as well throw my 2 cents worth in here,I've only ever used SS kegs for ageing,in goes the spirit to be aged at 65% then in goes the toasted/charred sticks of oak :handgestures-thumbupleft: Every month I remove the tri clamp form the keg for a day or so to let the booze 'breathe' this letting the angels party with my hard earned :handgestures-thumbupleft:
This year,I intend on filling these
One with spirit diluted to 70% and the other with booze that has been partly aged on oak at 70% for 3-4 months.
The later one "should" be ready to consume,by my reckoning after another 3-4 months,whilst the first will take 7-8 years :handgestures-thumbdown:
It seems like a long time,but the way the last few years have been going....

[Lowndsey]

This year,I intend on filling these
.

Next year I intend on stealing them.. :laughing-rolling: