Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

bluc wrote:

Psykamaholik wrote:I leave a tiny bit of headroom in mine because I found if I didn't, putting in the bung would create new leaks in the barrel

Interesting thanks. People with 10l barrel how long do you leave it in and what do you reakon your losses volume/abv are?
I plan to use mine for my best, tightest cuts and never empty it but pull two litres out and put 2l white dog back. Initially thinking about leaving about 3months :think:

I have 3 10L barrels of Franks Scotch recipe with the first put down end of Sept 2016 . We chose to get the varnished ones , , which we sand down both ends to raw wood, and the reason for that was 1. They hit a price point that kept us around $35 per barrelled litre. And 2. We wanted longer term storage from them with less evap than 100% raw wood. I've gotta say that they are doing the job well . The colour from the first brew is a beautiful med gold, its sweetened up well and it's on its way to being something pretty special. The peat has really come to the front too. Evaporation is minimal which is pleasing as we never have enough left over to be kept as a topper.
There's probably a lot of purists who would say ' get outta here, those barells are shit" but all I'd say to that is don't be afraid to try something different. We met our objectives even tho we bucked traditional systems a little.
As for over oaking, I would be a little concerned if it was French Oak, but being American it's very subtle at this point, so two yrs is what we have in mind. Time will tell tho.
We have a fourth ready to spirit run , just waiting for the temps to ease off as my water source is the pool and it's pretty well on the edge of being too warm.
With this one we are setting up an old fridge so we can try an force it through the process . The plan is to keep it in warm storage for 2 weeks then drop it to 5 degrees for two weeks. Repeat blah blah .Give it the warm n cold treatment. Till we get jack of moving it in n out. Also have soaked 3 x mini med French dominoes in cream sherry to add to the barrel. Fingers xd we are not pissing in the wind.
Sorry about the waffle Bluc...lol.. Hope the rum turns out special mate. I have 5 litres put away in a Demi with dominoes , and I just gave a bloke at wk 5l of second gen to refill his barrel with so will be interesting to see how it oaks up. Not impressed with mine to be honest, but thinking the barrel one will be good one day. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

MMM yes I have to get some off these as well. Years ago I done port and very nice I drank it even though I don't like port. But in port I was told when changing it you just take off what comes out the tap. You don't tip every last drop out is it the same for rum and whisky. :think: From memory I think it was to help with the next lot of aging. Yes if you fill it with port or sherry get it all out but after that.

Do you leave the whisky that is below the tap or not. I'm looking at two rum and a whisky mmmm.

Wondering will it make any difference as far as toning down flavour from my barrel if i
A ) dump entire contents and fill with raw spirit
B) dump half wait till it matures dump another half wait till it matures
Looking to tone it down so i can age longer.

bluc wrote:Wondering will it make any difference as far as toning down flavour from my barrel if i
A ) dump entire contents and fill with raw spirit
B) dump half wait till it matures dump another half wait till it matures
Looking to tone it down so i can age longer.

Google solera method of aging :handgestures-thumbupleft:

TasSpirits wrote:

bluc wrote:Wondering will it make any difference as far as toning down flavour from my barrel if i
A ) dump entire contents and fill with raw spirit
B) dump half wait till it matures dump another half wait till it matures
Looking to tone it down so i can age longer.

Google solera method of aging :handgestures-thumbupleft:

:text-+1: go B)!!

Yea thats what i was planing just replace half each time..thanks fellas :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Ok so 3 weeks in(according to the barrel chart on here 12weeks equivelant) on a new 10l barrel my rum has plenty of vanilla and is developing real nice fruity flavours. I did what I consider pretty tight cuts on this rum and I reakon its going to be awesome. I will pull out 2l today and replace with 2l white dog. I need some rum :D :handgestures-thumbupleft:

After about 4 rums at 40% i can say theres heaps of vanilla but not much else yet. But will be a pleasant drink to have until it matures more..almost no mank in this..

Ok have pulled 4l out and put back the
Same new make rum. I can say its coming good very fast, much faster than it does in glass the vanilla is fading fast and there is toffee and tobaco and fruit flavours coming to the front. Going to be good :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sounds like you have it under control. Barrels do beat glass and wood staves.
I have found while new make rum is waiting for room in the barrel you can get a head start with a glass jar and a few pieces of oak!

Nice work bluc! Awesome :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Thanks fellas. Yea coffee was gunna geta head start but decided I wanna just use the barrel for the rum just to see the difference :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Make sure you put it somewhere out of sight or you won't even make it to six weeks! :))

:laughing-rolling: yea i have a hard enough time as it is. The barrel is next to my pc and i get the smell of rum and oak everytime i am at pc..

a barrel is next on my shopping list. I was thinking of 20 to 25l but 2 10l gives more options. Was thinking of putting it out of sight and waiting 2 years....prob dreaming.

If you want to put it out of sight for 2 years you want a 20-25L ;-)

:text-+1:

I think a barrel is next item on my list also, when buying a barrel is a home brew shop the way to go or is there places that just specialise in oak barrels?
I think a 10 or 20 litre is more than enough just to get my legs on the ground at first. 8-}

copperhead road wrote:I think a barrel is next item on my list also, when buying a barrel is a home brew shop the way to go or is there places that just specialise in oak barrels?
I think a 10 or 20 litre is more than enough just to get my legs on the ground at first. 8-}

Roll out the barrel, just north of brissy somewhere. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Doubleuj wrote:

copperhead road wrote:I think a barrel is next item on my list also, when buying a barrel is a home brew shop the way to go or is there places that just specialise in oak barrels?
I think a 10 or 20 litre is more than enough just to get my legs on the ground at first. 8-}

Roll out the barrel, just north of brissy somewhere. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Champion Doubleu :text-thankyoublue: