Thanks man. I ended up rinsing the barrel with hot water but it kept producing funny bits so I ended up filling it with hot water and added SPC anyway to clean it well. I let it stand overnight, then rinsed it really well with boiling water for a few times until the water ran out clean, and then filled it.subbrew wrote: ↑Fri Sep 03, 2021 6:01 amYou are going to put approximately 120 proof alcohol in the barrel, anything that can spoil will be dead. The water to rinse out floaties sounds good but I am not sure you need the SPC. Just seems like something else that might get in a crack in the wood and not get rinsed out.
EDIT: SPC is Sodium Percarbonate, a common no-rinse brewery and dairy cleaner (and sometimes sanitizer), so it's not a dangerous chemical at all.
I tasted the whisky that went in (it's at 110 proof), that's been sitting for 6 months on ex-bourbon chips and charred French Oak, and it is DEVINE. I'm hoping this ex-sherry wood will give it a tiny bit more colour, and perhaps a slight sherry influence. I'm not leaving it in there for long - 2~4 weeks and I'm bottling. The whisky is phenomenal, I wasn't expecting anything near that after the 6 months I've let it age.
I've made a few spirits before and they always got bottled and handed out at the 2 to 3 month mark. This time though, I decided to let it sit until the 6 month mark to see if it makes a difference. In the glass jar (opening and tasting once a month) I didn't see much of a difference over time, but once I poured it out and had a taste, I realized how much of a difference even just a tiny bit of time makes.
I can't wait to get the next batch started. Going to do the same again - mostly malted barley spirit (single malt), but I also added a small bit of corn that I cooked overnight, and then soured slightly before adding the yeast. The fermentation smelled really funky, but the distilled spirit was great, so I blended that with the single malt and the result is great. Has that slightly sweet corn on the tongue alongside the smooth barley.
I'll post pics once it's bottled and done.