Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

hjubm2 wrote:... and this is why you have to make sure you sand the heads to the right size/angle... wanted to test how the wood swells so made this head a close fit, only went in about 1/3rd of the way itself before having to be pressed in....

20230325_094505.jpg

Damn.

Is the split from forcing it in or was that from swelling of the wood ?

Was from the swelling of the wood. No split when it was pushed in, wasn't an overly tight fit, only about 1mm larger then usual

Day off today & the weathers average so shed day today. Decided theres no point having the barrels if I don't have a stand for them so designed up a stand & cut it out on the router...





Went into my wood collection on Saturday & pulled out some more American & French oak fonds so will have to start cutting more heads out soon. Have half a dozen of each already cut out but another 25 or 30 barrels sounds good :laughing-rolling:

Getting the whole process sorted now, the barrels are coming out at a standard I'm quite happy with... I know your quite keen for a barrel Wellsy so let me know what you'd want & I'm sure we can work something out now that the process is sorted...

Made a few more barrels last weekend. Medium toast french oak went to the local homebrew store who are stocking them to see how they sell & made another american oak with medium toast that will eventually be used for whiskey but first up it is getting conditioned with orange blossom honey for atleast 6 months... slowly heating up the honey atm so I can pour it in...

I'm also looking at 11L inserts now to make around 10L barrels. Might be a bit better size for the costs I think, especially when drink too much whiskey :laughing-rolling:

Here’s my first go, using some used French oak wine staves redressed, toasted and charred. Pressed into a $10 Kmart pot, capacity is 6.5L. Waiting now on some seasoned American oak I’ve ordered.

Nice job ned had wondered about those very pots.. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Thanks bouc, your toooo kind :text-lol: it look like shit, next one will be better. Need to fill this one first

]Ned[ wrote:Thanks bouc, your toooo kind :text-lol: it look like shit, next one will be better. Need to fill this one first

Nah I agree with Bluc, looks good. Like the aged/used oak look. Have you tried filling it yet? Interested to know how it lasts long term. I see they have 15L ones so might be a good option for larger barrels... you say you redressed the staves, how did you do that? Plain them back to bare wood I'm guessing...?

I used a belt sander to flatten the inside and take the old wine crap off, the squared off the ends with a table saw. Used our sandwich press to retoast then gave it a blowtorch.

Only filled with water to check the seal,so far, been waiting for my still to make rum to fill it.

It appears ben the original maker has passed away. Scroll down in link. Hope thats ok stig
https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtop ... start=1050

Saw that pop up on youtube the other day, sad to see. Just shows you never know when your times going to be up...

Had to order some more of the stainless inserts, been going through a few of them lately... ended up also ordering some bigger ones. Not sure how they will work out as they are a different shape at the top but think they should be alright... should give about 10L capacity instead of 6.5L

I love the 6.5 litre one Hj

Wellsy wrote:I love the 6.5 litre one Hj

That's great to hear! You got it filled up? I've had brandy in one for nearly 4 months now & it's going great, I should have started making these a lot sooner!

Could this be done with a corny keg?

BigRig wrote:Could this be done with a corny keg?

I have had this discussion with the local home brew store the other week, they wanted to cut a 50L key in half & turn it into a barrel... can't see why it's not possible assuming it's only single walled... otherwise might be a bit of a pain

why cut it in half ? :laughing-rolling:

Cut both ends off a Corny keg , double the oak :handgestures-thumbupleft:

First barrel above was made watertight with heaps of wax but the rum at 63% still leaked so ripped the face back out and made a new one, this definitely was a tight for hopefully it doesn’t split, but got the laser engraver out to put some art on it, how long do you reckon I leave the water in to check for splitting before I risk my rum?

good looking barrel, laser engraving is a winner idea