Aging In Small Barrels

[Barridale]

Not sure if this thread belongs here or has already been posted, but I found it useful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMqAunLew2w&sns=em
Cheers :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Urrazeb]

That's a really good marketing strategy! :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Brendan]

I've read that people thought it tasted shit after aging in their tiny barrel...just a gimmick I guess, people would still buy it.

[TheMechwarrior]

I have no experience in browns or aging yet so I'd watch that and believe it :?

From what I'm picking up around these parts you can get great results from oak staves without the great expense of an oak barrel?

[Muppet]

I have no experience in browns or aging yet so I'd watch that and believe it :?

From what I'm picking up around these parts you can get great results from oak staves without the great expense of an oak barrel?

Comes down to the toast/quality of the oak. I used to use hbs store chips before the last group buy of staves. The super lefort staves make a huge difference, there's a reason everyone here uses them :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[crow]

yes its a gimmick :icon-lol: :icon-lol: :icon-lol: that little barrel would flavor that whiskey in that said time but it would not age it. "aging" as apart from flavoring is to do with a process know as ullage which is very basically the process of leaching out and evaporation of the barrel contents through the wood pore and molecules itself (angels share). This process is very beneficial to acquiring a quality end result as over time a disproportional percentage of higher alcohols (ones you are best rid or reduced of) verses ethanol and water are lost to ullage as a result of their smaller molecular composition. This loss create a headspace know as the ullage that is filled with atmospheric air, oxygen ect. that results in the breaking down of phenolic compounds (think remnant tails) through the gases absorption. Doing good cuts will greatly lessen the need for aging but some of these higher and lower alcohols boiling points are so close to ethanol that it is virtually impossible to get 100% separation even in a commercial enterprise hence why aging is almost uniformly employed by manufacturers of spirits. With diligent cuts ullage isn't required to make a good libation but it will for certain ameliorate or improve the spirit beyond what flavoring will :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Brendan]

Top post crow :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Just a note for the others; I use the dominoes/mini staves and think they're great too, but don't think that you will mimic what a barrel does. Essentially we are infusing it with oak, letting it sit for a prolonged period to mellow, and taking the lid off every now and again for slight evaporation of whatever has collected in the headspace.

Unfortunately, the process where a spirit breathes in and out of the oak and evaporates through the oak cannot be completely replicated, and an appropriate sized barrel will always give a better product.

That said, with a good wash and good cuts, dominoes and time still do a bloody good job :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[crow]

yeah well if ya cuts are good flavoring and airing will give a similar result so it is generally referred to as aging but technically it ain't. Just making the point as I don't believe that tiny barrel in that short time could produce a result that could be described as aged, as my old uncle Bill would say "Looks like oysters but itsnot" :handgestures-thumbupleft: