charring barrel

Pieterpost · Post by **Pieterpost** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 9:55 am

Recently I obtained a (they said unused) barrel ! Which I am mighty pleased about ! It's an oldie but seems to be in good shape. Now I am fairly certain it's made of oak, so I'm gonna proceed to use it.

The plan is first to make bourbon and when that has finished: whiskey.

First I need to soak it to see if it's watertight but first, I think, I should char it. Now from memory I know that someone had done that before (Fourway, THM ?) and I was kinda hoping one of you guys could help me out in how to start and which way is the best way to go about it.

cheers,

PP

knuklehead · Post by **knuklehead** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 8:56 pm

I think I remember the post you are referring too and it was a long time ago. It was posted by THM but at that time I didn't really pay to much attention to it so I don't remember all the details. It was something about using hot coals, dumping them into the barrel and rolling it around to char the wood on the inside. Also Fourway posted something around the same time about numbering the staves and taking the barrel apart to char it and reassembling all the staves back together in order. Sorry, best I can remember.

Pieterpost · Post by **Pieterpost** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 2:38 pm

thx, KH! That atleast helps me a little bit further. I also didn't pay too much attention to it at the time ...... didn't even remember the coal method .....

Is THM still active? His profile says 0 posts?

stillman · Post by **stillman** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 7:53 pm

I saw a show on the Food Network or something like that about a barrel making company in California. They were using a large rosebud propane torch for the charring. (It was like the big torches they use to do flat roofing.)

These guys were amazing, putting barrels together like nobody's business.

Pieterpost · Post by **Pieterpost** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 11:06 am

well, as I couldn't find more information I took the plunge and opened up the barrel. I was able to take off the top 4 rings without the barrel falling apart ( I had numbered the staves just in case).
It seemed that the barrel was unused and already lightly charred. With my blowtorch I charred it some more (to medium/heavy char) and then attempted to fill it with water.

Man on Man, a sieve would have been able to retain more water. Because the barrel was rather dry I wanted to rehydrate the wood without having to use too much water so at the moment I am soaking it in my bathtub. It's been 1,5 days now and on first glance it seems to have sealed itself !!!!

This made me very happy, can't wait to get some mash fermenting to fill it! In the mean time I will keep the water in there to keep it sealed !!!