Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Bought a Barrel cheap from a HBS it has issues and was sold as is and I didnt like the tap



Used a bucket to hold staves in place after I had taken off hoops



The inside was nice and clean and unused !



Added a stainless tap bought off E bay



I used Beeswax on the outside and its now got some Port in it to age



Now to be honest :

Did it leak - nope too big to be called a leak more of an outpouring b-(

When I pulled some staves out - same process as above - I found that the staves where rough sawn with cut grooves along the sealing surfaces, which they had sealed with wood shavings.

So i pulled out staves one at a time and sanded the edges flat.

Then after reassembly a second time it still took a good day and a half with water in until it stopped leaking.

Now I know people are gonig to say that I should not seal the outside with beeswax - But, as most people seem to age in S/S or Glass I do not see a problem. :happy-partydance:

Toyoda

As it is now :



And I forgot to say - only put the hoops on after it has dried out properly or they will not go on far enough and will not exert enough pressure to stop leaks !

Toyoda

Great work mate, good wright up :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Awesome job,nice barrel :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Toy, part of the reason barrels are not sealed is that they tend to let some of the off flavours out, only tiny amounts but still some and some oxygen either comes in (or goes out) cant remember the article exactly.It all helps with the overall ageing process.

I think liquid sux part way through staves but higher alcohol travels right through and out into atmosphere :handgestures-thumbupleft:

bluc, yeah, the stuff that we dont want seems to find its way conveniently out... amazin thing..the science of booze.

bluc...PS.. how is the injured (burn) hand coming along...improving i hope.

Burnt foot. As of yesterday is healed over i will dig up my thread and post a pic. Never thought it was gunna heal..

There's different amounts of water and alcohol that travels through the wood to the outside world.
I forget the exact percentages.
But if you age in an unsealed barrel above 70% your abv goes down and if you age 60% or below the abv goes up. Water passes through easier than alcohol.
I can't remember the point at which abv will stay roughly the same.
It's quite a complex relationship between wood alcohol and water.
Sealing a barrel isn't a good idea but I would be very surprised if bees wax would seal a barrel airtight.

Looks good either way.

coffe addict wrote:There's different amounts of water and alcohol that travels through the wood to the outside world.
I forget the exact percentages.
But if you age in an unsealed barrel above 70% your abv goes down and if you age 60% or below the abv goes up. Water passes through easier than alcohol.
I can't remember the point at which abv will stay roughly the same.
It's quite a complex relationship between wood alcohol and water.
Sealing a barrel isn't a good idea but I would be very surprised if bees wax would seal a barrel airtight.

Looks good either way.

I think you will find the climate has more to do with it than starting ABV :-B

Temp has a big impact on the overall rate of transfer but I haven't found anything saying it changes the % of water to alcohol rate.
Have you got a link I can read up on?

I don't have a link but this is an extract from Inge Russell and Graham Stewart "Whisky Technology, Production and Marketing"

Within a warehouse there is an inverse relationship between temperature humidity. Under climate controlled conditions, temperature and humidity have been shown to affect the relative rates at which ethanol and water are lost. Raising the temperature increases the evaporation loss of both ethanol and water. Humidity influences the relative rate at which ethanol and water are lost. At high humidity, more ethanol than water is lost and strength is decreased; at low humidity, more water than ethanol is lost and strength increase (Philp, 1989).

Excellent thanks Sam.