Aging sticks from a used barrel

[Ftero]

A while back, someone posted something about Lowe's having used barrels, that were sawed in half, and sold for use as planters.
Since the local brew shops are selling the French Oak spirals for @ $18 a pair, I started looking into alternatives.
The closest cooperage is about 45 minutes from here, and it was going to cost me $15 for each 5" x 48" board. That wasn't going to work for me either.

So, Yesterday, I went to Lowe's and bought a half barrel for $40. The employees there must have thought that I was nuts, because I took my time, inspecting each of the available barrels.
In the end, I ended up with a nice French oak barrel, that was used for wine aging by some wine cellar in California.

This is the barrel that I got: http://www.premierwinecask.com/catalogu ... tails&id=7" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I took the barrel to my friend's shop, and had it apart in 5 minutes. Easy. Next, I began sawing the staves on the table saw, until I had some dimensional lumber, and the wine soaked inner wood and stained outer wood was gone.

I had bold plans to saw all of the wood into Pigroasters stick profile. I got lazy, and ended up sawing it all into 345 sticks, measuring 6" long x 3/4" tall x 3/8 wide".
It took me 2 1/2 hours total to do all this, and I am very happy with the amount of wood that I got out of my $40.

I hit 10 of the sticks with the MAP gas torch, and threw 5 of them into a 1 1/2 liter mason jar of Corn flake/Grape Nuts whiskey that I just got done distilling. It's coloring up nicely so far.
This weekend, I will toast it all in the oven to varying levels......when the wife goes shopping.

Well worth the effort.

[HookLine]

That is more or less how I got my oak.

[Q-bIc]

that is how i plan to get a hold of mine...

i go to the demo yards and get old oak, they rip out of the old buildings in brissy, and take i to my neighbors house. He's got a shed with a panel saw, band saw and thicknesser, so it's easy to cut and plane it so all the sides are nice and new.

cheers

[bronzdragon]

Silly me, I just buy my wood off of ebay and it comes pre-sawn and cured in 1"x1"x5" sticks, no additives. Just ready to be toasted or charred. But to each his own.




Either way you have some wood to do the job now.

Cheers

~bd~

[blanikdog]

I do the same as Hook. We aussies are a mean bunch.

blanik

[olddog]

I bought a oak barrel from a secondhand barrel merchant for $40 I now have enough oak for 10 years

[HookLine]

Silly me, I just buy my wood off of ebay and it comes pre-sawn and cured in 1"x1"x5" sticks, no additives. Just ready to be toasted or charred. But to each his own.

Choice for me was: Should I buy little satchels of oak (good quality, I agree) from the local brew store (or even online) for maybe $20? Or should I buy half a 320 litre, good quality, used French oak wine barrel for $75 and with a little effort get virtually a lifetime supply?

Got the half barrel.

[olddog]

Thats exactly the conclusion I came to after paying for two small packets.

[Hawke]

Our local brew shop had 8 oz. packs of French oak (made from used barrels) for $40.oo. Paid 25.oo for a half barrel. Only takes about 15 minutes to make a years supply of sticks for toasting.

[Barney Fife]

I've done the same. That half barrel was a bargain. I only dismantled mine, and store all the staves in a large Rubbermaid tote to keep them somewhat fresh. Mine was a whiskey barrel, and the oak imparts a bit of that flavor to the spirit, so I only cut what I need as I need it, to try to preserve the goodness within. For that same reason, I only toast what was the outside of the barrel. Works for me....