Ordered a 2L laser engraved, non-varnished barrel from BarrelsOnline just a week ago (before reading this thread). $35 for barrel, $15 shipping which didn't seem horrible from the other places I'd perused.
I'll post back on what I find when it arrives... Hopefully they've improved since Jimbo's 2017 review!!!
Realizing I'm still a novice at this, but I was quite happy with a Kashi cereal experiment that I aged in this barrel for 5 weeks. Nice subtle smoke & sweet notes with good mouthfeel. The real test will come tonight when I have some buddies coming over for a fantasy football draft to get their take on it.
I emptied the barrel, proofed it down to ~45% & bottled it. Refilled it with my Gen 2 Odin's Rye Bread since I liked how the Kashi came out.
The barrel itself is holding up well. No leaks after water-conditioning. The logo turned out great, but my only gripe is that the lettering font size could have been larger. I'll wager that if you contact them directly or give more specific instructions on the ordering page to rectify that issue.
Duck
There are two times of year: FOOTBALL SEASON and... Waiting For Football Season
Jimbo wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2017 10:46 am
BarrelsOnline, 1000Oaks - stay away. Crap quality and/or blingy consumer nonsense.
Jimbo, I have to agree. Avoid barrelsonline.com! Check out this horrible quality. And the service is worse! When I brought this to their attention, they told me 'that's the way it is'. I'll never buy another barrel there, I suggest you avoid them as well. Check out this pic (click to see the detail, in all it's awful glory):
Attachments
- The Doubler (5 gal pot w/thumper)
Run it, X. Thump it, XX. If you get 1.5, well, I think you can do better! It's EASY to make good liquor. It's even EASIER to make bad liquor!
Jimbo wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2017 10:46 am
BarrelsOnline, 1000Oaks - stay away. Crap quality and/or blingy consumer nonsense.
Jimbo, I have to agree. Avoid barrelsonline.com! Check out this horrible quality. And the service is worse! When I brought this to their attention, they told me 'that's the way it is'. I'll never buy another barrel there, I suggest you avoid them as well. Check out this pic (click to see the detail, in all it's awful glory):
I was gifted a 2L barrel from BarrelsOnline for Xmas last year. I filled it with some A/G George Washington Rye (2nd fill) in July. Then a couple weeks ago, went to draw a sample, & it was completely empty. I'm thinking "WTF?!?..." Examined the barrel, and found crack in bottom stave, perpendicular to the long axis of the barrel. It was never dropped nor moved since 2nd filling. I'd pulled maybe 1 small sample off of it in Aug to check progress.
I will provide feedback on their reply. Depending on how they handle it, my endorsement of the company may be revoked...
Duck
There are two times of year: FOOTBALL SEASON and... Waiting For Football Season
Whenever you get a “dry cask”, you ALWAYS need to hydrate it to expand the wood. What I do is to sink it in a bucket of warm water. The 2L cask will easily fit into a 5 gallon bucket. Even a 10L cask will fit. You will need to weight the cask down (when full of water) to keep it from floating (it’s wood, remember, like a boat!).
Let it soak for a few days (I usually soak for 2-3 days). Then, when you take it out of “the bath”, put it on your stand in the horizontal orientation on a cookie sheet so you can monitor if it is leaking (hopefully, it won’t). After a day of monitoring, you can drain the water out and fill it with your spirits.
Sorry about your “devil’s share” theft. But, it is a “lesson learned” the hard way.
ss
still_stirrin wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 10:48 am
Whenever you get a “dry cask”, you ALWAYS need to hydrate it to expand the wood.
Let it soak for a few days (I usually soak for 2-3 days). Then, when you take it out of “the bath”, put it on your stand in the horizontal orientation on a cookie sheet so you can monitor if it is leaking (hopefully, it won’t). After a day of monitoring, you can drain the water out and fill it with your spirits.
I did condition it until it stopped leaking. And fill #1 went perfectly fine (as did the withdrawal of the product!). This was fill #2 on a "wet" barrel from the previous fill.
I have another 2L barrel from them that is actually 1 year older & no incidents (to date).
You're saying COMPLETELY submerge it during the water conditioning phase?
Thanks,
Duck
There are two times of year: FOOTBALL SEASON and... Waiting For Football Season
I've found that often when a barrel is stored dry for months or years on end that a split stave like that is sometimes the end result.
When they are dry the staves shrink, sometimes while they are shrunk the steel bands / hoops of the barrel move slightly.
This in turn puts more or less pressure on parts of the staves once the barrel is soaked and swells again. End result cracked stave.
Always check that the hoops are EXACTLY where they were when the barrel was made before soaking and swelling, you can usually see marks on the wood that will give a clue to original position.
Seen it happen more than once and a lesson I learned the hard way.
i was tearing my hair out trying to seal an unused barrel for 2 weeks, then i tried hammering the hoops in slightly, thinking it would tighten everything.
nope, made it slightly worse, but luckily didn't damage anything.
hoops returned to original position pretty quick.
but i'm happy to report after 2 months, after the treatment with a heatgun and a $5 stick of beeswax from the big green shed, my 6l barrel of rum is still leakfree.
howie wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 6:55 pm
hen i tried hammering the hoops in slightly, thinking it would tighten everything.
nope, made it slightly worse, but luckily didn't damage anything.
Sometimes that will work,I've stopped a couple leaking that way. Just needs to be done as a last resort, after a good soaking. And the hoop usually only needs to move a tiny bit.
still_stirrin wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 7:41 pm
Yep. Like a “wooden submarine”. All the wood will grow, inside and out, including the heads. I’ve had good luck doing it this way.
ss
Works for me too, warm/ hot , but not boiling water speeds things up at the beginning.
