Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Picked up this little barrel from the local trash and treasure market this morning for $30
It doesn't look very old, I think it's about 5 litres, the bloke I bought it off said he had kept red wine in it.
I have read a bit about people ageing rum in ex wine barrels.
Can anyone advise me, should I put some pre aged on charred/toasted oak in there?
Or white dog?
Or just chop it up and make some dominoes/sticks to char/toast

I know all these things are options. I just need a bit of guidance as to the best way to use it

Cheers

Looks in good condition!

I'd start of with hot water to see if it leaks, then you can see what it comes out like!
You don't know how honest this guy is nor when he last used it... but it's a good find if all goes well.

Once its leak proof and the liquid that comes out doesn't make you vomit, it 'should' be good to go I'd think. Couple of things tho, it looks like it has a brass tap and that "may" need to be changed (brass contains lead) - someone will correct me if I'm wrong, and I would look inside (if you can) because some barrell's come with bladders in which case tho is better of chopped up...

Good luck, certainly a steal if it works out!

Im with ezi do you know if its lined inside? SOme use wax or other stuff to seal them inside spirit barrel needs to be 100% oak :handgestures-thumbupleft: nice looking barrel btw :D

No bladder, the bung hole in the top is very small so it's hard to shine a light in there, but from what I could see the wood looked pretty raw.
I filled it up with hot water and its leaking a little bit but it seemed pretty dry on the inside, if I leave it full for a couple of days it might sort itself out?

Hoping you're on a winner there, sounding good so far!

Any smells?

Fishleg wrote:No bladder, the bung hole in the top is very small so it's hard to shine a light in there, but from what I could see the wood looked pretty raw.
I filled it up with hot water and its leaking a little bit but it seemed pretty dry on the inside, if I leave it full for a couple of days it might sort itself out?

Keep topping it up, unless its f*&#ked it will seal up ok, one of mine took 3 days to seal completely. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

When i bought my barrel i was told never leave water in more than 48hrs as it will go bad and it promotes fungi bacteria and can also affect taste. Dont think any fungi or bacteria would grow at 65% i think that was more in the case of low proof wine/port but would not like stale water taste in my spirit :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I put a few litres of neutral in the and rolled and shook it a bit before filling. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

EziTasting wrote:Hoping you're on a winner there, sounding good so far!

Any smells?

No hardly any smell at all, smells like new to me.
The old bloke I bought it off said he'd kept wine in it but he didn't speak English too well, maybe he said it's meant for keeping wine...... I don't know
Either way hope it seals up and is useable

Hey guys,

The barrel is still leaking a bit after a week. :angry-banghead:

I've been changing the water every day or 2 so it doesn't go bad.

Is it still worth persevering? I can't tap the rings on tighter coz they are nailed in place

Put real hot water in that should do the trick :handgestures-thumbupleft: same thing do leave more than 2 days :-B

Also if you put it in the sink and pour hot water over the outside that can help. If it still leaks you could dry it out again and while dry hammer the rings on harder paying particular attention to the area it leaks. Then repeat the filling.
My 25L wouldn't have sealed if I hadn't tapped the rings on tighter

You can drip some candle wax on the area that is leaking and this worked for one of my barrels that wouldn't stop leaking after a week, and I never noticed any off flavours :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I had one that leaked real bad i ended up submerging the whole barrel in a plastic tub after a week it did seal and is still doing a fine job 4 years later :handgestures-thumbupleft:

:text-+1: some poorly joined barrels can be fixed soak in inside and out, getting a picture of why this barrel hasn't been used and why you got a $300 barrel for $30

I think it's getting there, last day or 2 the leaking has really slowed down