bourbon barrel staves from beer? Making sticks for jars

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BrewinBrian44
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bourbon barrel staves from beer? Making sticks for jars

Post by BrewinBrian44 »

Hi guys.

I have some good friends at a local brewery that can hook me up with some Elijah Craig oak barrel staves for next to nothing, but the barrels were used to age beer.

I’d like to get some better oak for aging my bourbon other than using small barrels or the crappy oak sticks I have from the home brew shop. I’m looking to do small batches and age in half full jars.

In your expert opinions, do you think the beer contact will give me undesirable flavors? My plan was to cut them into one inch wide sticks, rinse them, then dremel off the char / inner contact layer and re-char them. Any of you guys have experience with beer barrel wood?

Thanks!

-Brian
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jonnys_spirit
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Re: bourbon barrel staves from beer? Making sticks for jars

Post by jonnys_spirit »

I've used staves from 1/2 barrel whiskey barrel planter from Home Depot and cut/split them up into finger sizes and retoast/char... Works great. Could do the same with any stave.

Cheers!
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still_stirrin
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Re: bourbon barrel staves from beer? Making sticks for jars

Post by still_stirrin »

BrewinBrian44 wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 9:05 pm… hook me up with some Elijah Craig oak barrel staves…
Yummm. :-}

Grab ‘em!

Cut them to “domino-size”, re-toast and lightly char. They’ll work great.

You’re a lucky guy, Brian.
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Ben
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Re: bourbon barrel staves from beer? Making sticks for jars

Post by Ben »

Don't worry about the beer exposure, the beer is low ABV and short exposure times. They are basically just taking the devils cut out of the barrel, it will taste great!

Although, you might ask if they dry hopped in the barrels...
:)
BrewinBrian44
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Re: bourbon barrel staves from beer? Making sticks for jars

Post by BrewinBrian44 »

Good to know!

Looks like I have a pipeline for some good oak. Thanks for the replies!
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Re: bourbon barrel staves from beer? Making sticks for jars

Post by BrewinBrian44 »

Picked up a used Buffalo Trace barrel from the brewery today. It was used to age a delicious imperial stout. I think the chocolaty goodness of the beer may actually make a unique impact on the spirit! The barrel itself sat for a bit and the staves contracted, so the inner surface was completely dry, making it easier to work with.

After breaking down the barrel, I ground off some of the inner char and and the outer surface of the stave, then cut into 4 inch chunks to make it 23sq inches. Going to re-toast them / char, then in the spirit they’ll go! I may even keep one untoasted to see what the flavor difference is.

If the smell in the air while I was sawing them is any indication of what’s in store, I’m in for a real treat! My mouth was watering. Smelled just like Buffalo trace bourbon, with a chocolate twist.

I’ll post some progress after they spend some time in the jars. Thanks again for the vote of confidence! I have a ridiculous supply of oak now!
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Re: bourbon barrel staves from beer? Making sticks for jars

Post by BrewinBrian44 »

Just added the oak to my Honey Bear Bourbon I distilled last July. I did a 2 plate run with straight wash, so the flavor was a bit intense at first. The base spirit is awesome now! Has a cherry jolly rancher flavor that compliments the graham cracker flavor well.

As an experiment, I did 3 different quarts. The first one is the oak from the stave, only charred. The second: toasted and charred “400 degree toast for 2hrs.” The third: toasted and uncharred. The base spirit is actually low ABV at 53%, which is also a “test.”

The smell in the house when I was toasting these was incredible. Smelled like I was baking a sweet treat in the oven. Tons of brown sugar and vanilla in the air! I’ll keep ya’ll posted.
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