Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Just came across a 15-20 ltr used port barrel for sale in local area. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Owner said they have had port in it for prob last 20 years.
Will the port overpower whatever i oak in it before the oak has time to do its job or not? I did read somewhere about pulling the barrel somewhat apart and re-sanding and charing ect... is that hard to do properly?
They were wanting $100 for the barrel.

Sounds good for rum or whiskey. Not a bad price. I would grab it if I had the cash spare..

Takes a lot longer for port to use up the oak then high proof spirit.

Dunno about resanding it , I'd be tempted to put a charge of neutral hearts . Reckon 20 years of port in there would make a real nice drop .

:text-+1: brandy-ish drop. Didnt think of that 8-}

:text-thankyoublue:
Was wondering about putting neutral in it first too... just to tone down the port flavours a little.

I'd go right ahead and fill it with what you want to add port to, you can always do blends with subsequent refills to adjust the strength of the port flavour to suit your taste (or mix with any other oaked spirit)

Just need enough to put in it. Does it actually matter if you dont fill it completely?

Keep it as full as possible. Lower the volume the more evaporation..plenty dissapears from my 10l..

Yeah righto... when you say plenty, how many ltrs ya reckon?

Maybe as much as 5l over 5 months. New barrel so absorbtion prob half that rest evaporation. Been turning over a lot about 30l including 12 still in it. (10l barrel but holds more like 12)Was stinkin hot and dry which will increase evap. But its a much smoother spirit and comes "good" much faster than oak in a sealed glass bottle..

Psykamaholik wrote:I'd go right ahead and fill it with what you want to add port to, you can always do blends with subsequent refills to adjust the strength of the port flavour to suit your taste (or mix with any other oaked spirit)

On the money here, my first rum fill on a barrel previously containing port was very porty after a cpl months. I drew nearly all out and refilled. This was excellent and the first batch was used for back blending of later rums!

Evaporation isn't a big issue as it helps the aging. That said I'm in qld with high humidity most of the yr. The southerners might get different mileage. If it's an issue for you just add more heads then your loosing the nasty stuff anyway!

Thanks fellas :wave:
Yeah im a southerner so our hot summers may cause a lot of evaporation.
Id love to have an old fashioned cellar for storing all my booze and fermenting in the summer. Who knows, maybe oneday. :think:
At least i could have more stable temperature on those 45 deg days.
Can anyone tell me if putting BWKO in a ex port barrel would come out alright?

Port and sherry have been used as secondary oaking for many spirits and I see no reason bwko would be any different.

As a side note on aging. Scotland has cold temps with high humidity. Aging takes 10 or more years. A similar sized barrel in various parts of Aus 4 to 6 yrs.

bluc wrote:Sounds good for rum or whiskey. Not a bad price. I would grab it if I had the cash spare..

Takes a lot longer for port to use up the oak then high proof spirit.

Spot on Bluc :smile:

I'd be doing that.

coffe addict wrote:Port and sherry have been used as secondary oaking for many spirits and I see no reason bwko would be any different.

When you say secondary oaking... do you mean that you oak with just toasted or charred oak first and then put in barrel after that?
Im a bit green on some of these processes still!

Yeap, that's secondary oaking. Sometimes referred to as finishing.

You can oak it on just straight american/french oak for the period of time you need it to taste good, then put it into the port barrel for a short period of time to absorb some of the port flavourings that barrel will produce. Depends how strong you want the port flavour in your spirit