Reconditioned barrel.

[emptyglass]

I got my barrel back from the cooper about 2 weeks ago.

My golly miss molly, this is a new world. Just snuck my first sample of some UJSSM of about 2 weeks.
In my opinion this is as good as $50 a bottle burbon at 2 weeks old.

I found this barrel at a junk shop for $70. I gave it a good wash out and got some old mould from perhaps some grappa out of it. Sat it for about 4 day with water and it took up nicley. Emptied it and filled it with UJSSM from a carboy. It was ok, but tasted a bit like red wine. Nice if you like it, I guess.

Anyway, got on to a semi-retired cooper. He replaced 3 staves (saved), scraped the rest, reco'd the brass vavle and made a nice turned bung for $50.
I was chatting to him about charring, he says "thats only good for burbon, yours is nice and clean."
Then I uneasily reminded him I said I was making burbon. I asked him how much $ to pull it down and charr it. He offered to do it for nothing. He also guessed it as American oak.

I rang him to see how it was going, he told me it has a new head. Why?? I asks. Old head planks warped on charring and opened up. He made a new head, but it was too small and wouldn't seal, so he made a second one. Did it all for nothing. His words - "I f**ked it, I'll fix it". I gave him a bottle of my best (up till now) overproof hooch.

I definatly got the better deal. I know if luck wasn't on my side with this, I wouldn't have a 20L barrel.
I can say if you want good burbon, strive for a barrel, there is nothing to compare, in my two week old opinion.
Sorry chip and stick guys, I just can't play anymore. Once you've had plank, you can't go back.

The moral of my rant is if you get one cheap, get it fixed, you wont regret it, just watch out for how much can go wrong with the bloody things.

[Kifi]

AMEN. I'd do anything to find a local cooper like yours. New barrels are insanely expensive.

[LWTCS]

Nice post.

Just an observation though,,,,,,,and correct me if I'm wrong.........
You've transformed yerself into a likker snob,,,,,,haven't you?

[rtalbigr]

I definatly got the better deal. I know if luck wasn't on my side with this, I wouldn't have a 20L barrel.
I can say if you want good burbon, strive for a barrel, there is nothing to compare, in my two week old opinion.
Sorry chip and stick guys, I just can't play anymore. Once you've had plank, you can't go back.

Yep, barrels definitely make better booze.

Big R

[rubber duck]

Yes a barrel is the best investment you can make if you want to do a nice whiskey.

They're not to hard to re char your self if you don't have a local cooper. Just make sure you mark where the head went into the croze ad don't get aggressive charring the heads, if you don't do that it's hard to seal.

I shave what I can out of the the old barrel and dump old heads into it and light it up. Just before it gets charred to the level I want I dump water in it.

[emptyglass]

Nice post.

Just an observation though,,,,,,,and correct me if I'm wrong.........
You've transformed yerself into a likker snob,,,,,,haven't you?

You bet.

And I'm going to stay that way for a couple of weeks.
I'll still use sticks, I just won't tell anybody.

[emptyglass]

Yes a barrel is the best investment you can make if you want to do a nice whiskey.

They're not to hard to re char your self if you don't have a local cooper. Just make sure you mark where the head went into the croze ad don't get aggressive charring the heads, if you don't do that it's hard to seal.

I shave what I can out of the the old barrel and dump old heads into it and light it up. Just before it gets charred to the level I want I dump water in it.

Thats where the old bloke went a bit hard. The old head boards couldn't handle it.

When he offered to charr it, he also said something about a good excuse to make a fire in the shed. I admit I was a bit worried about that. Makes good sense to use the shavings and heads for charring. Maybe he had a lot of other shavings.

Yes, a barrel is the best investment for nice whiskey. I am surprised at just what a difference it makes.
I put an order in for a 5 litre barrel, when he makes the next lot. After the results with my repaired one so far, I can justify the expense.
This one is for when I get my act together and make some scotch.

Should be clean/uncharred inside, right?

[rtalbigr]

Yes a barrel is the best investment you can make if you want to do a nice whiskey.

They're not to hard to re char your self if you don't have a local cooper. Just make sure you mark where the head went into the croze ad don't get aggressive charring the heads, if you don't do that it's hard to seal.

I shave what I can out of the the old barrel and dump old heads into it and light it up. Just before it gets charred to the level I want I dump water in it.

D*** RD, now that you've said it I'll definitely have to give it a try some day. Worse that can happen is I'll have to buy another barrel after I F*** it all up the first time.

Big R

[rubber duck]

Ya it's really not that hard to do.

What I like to do is buy a medium toast barrel and use it 2 or 3 times. After it's spent I mark where the head goes into the croze and I take the head out. You've got to be gentle taking the head out, take the top 3 rings off and use some thin wood shims to separate the head from the staves.

When you get the head off pour about a half gallon of fors or head into the barrel and light it up, make sure you do this on pavement as it's going to seep out of the bottom a bit. When it looks like you have a light char pore water into it and put the fire out. I will continue to burn a little and give you a medium to medium heave char.

Don't mess around with the heads, if you don't know what your doing the head will warp and your barrel won't seal.

To get the head back in line up your marks insert the head and drive the hoops back on. Fill it full of hot water, dump it and refill it with water once a day for 2 or 3 days. They always seal back up for me, if it doesn't I've heard you can use a little bees wax but I've never had a problem.

One thing to note, don't try this with a cheep barrel, cheep barrels are sometimes sealed up with reeds or wax and you won't get them to seal again. Buy a high quality barrel such as a Gibbs, it will cost you a extra 50 bucks but in the long run it's a good investment.

Folks look at the price of a good barrel and think it's expensive but when you do the math you can re cooper that barrel and use it 5 or 6 times. A good 5 gallon barrel will cost you 170us shipped, use it 6 time and you've got 30 gallons on the life of the barrel. That about $1.40 a bottle. Pretty cheep if you ask me.

[mash rookie]

Ya it's really not that hard to do.

What I like to do is buy a medium toast barrel and use it 2 or 3 times. After it's spent I mark where the head goes into the croze and I take the head out. You've got to be gentle taking the head out, take the top 3 rings off and use some thin wood shims to separate the head from the staves.

When you get the head off pour about a half gallon of fors or head into the barrel and light it up, make sure you do this on pavement as it's going to seep out of the bottom a bit. When it looks like you have a light char pore water into it and put the fire out. I will continue to burn a little and give you a medium to medium heave char.

Don't mess around with the heads, if you don't know what your doing the head will warp and your barrel won't seal.

To get the head back in line up your marks insert the head and drive the hoops back on. Fill it full of hot water, dump it and refill it with water once a day for 2 or 3 days. They always seal back up for me, if it doesn't I've heard you can use a little bees wax but I've never had a problem.

One thing to note, don't try this with a cheep barrel, cheep barrels are sometimes sealed up with reeds or wax and you won't get them to seal again. Buy a high quality barrel such as a Gibbs, it will cost you a extra 50 bucks but in the long run it's a good investment.

Folks look at the price of a good barrel and think it's expensive but when you do the math you can re cooper that barrel and use it 5 or 6 times. A good 5 gallon barrel will cost you 170us shipped, use it 6 time and you've got 30 gallons on the life of the barrel. That about $1.40 a bottle. Pretty cheep if you ask me.

Another great example of why I read all of your posts. Thanks

[rtalbigr]

Thx RD, great info. I bookmarked this so I can find it when I need it.

I really need to get some 5 gal barrels. I have three 2.5 gal and I've always got stuff sitting in jugs waiting for a barrel.

Big R

[The Baker]

Thanks for that, duck. I had read about barrels a bit and thought they were all sealed with reeds; it made the idea of working on them a bit daunting.
But it seems the well made ones seal because the joint (lid to staves) is accurately cut and fitted, and the expansion of the wood when the barrel is filled
just makes a good seal more secure?

[rubber duck]

Even some of the heads on some of the better made barrels are sealed up with reeds. The barrels I have don't look as though this is the case, but I'm no expert and I'm certainly not much of a cooper. I've always heard that the better barrels don't use reeds but I honestly haven't researched it a great it a great deal.

The best thing to do is not mess with the head.

[emptyglass]

The head(s) are charred in mine, at least the original one he replaced was, that was the start of his trouble (the cooper).

He did a second one, but even after 53 years of doing it, he made it too small to seal. The one that's in there now looks to have some sort of reeds, if thats what you call them, to help it seal. At first it looked to be shavings that were in there, but thinking about it, it would be very difficult to use shavings.

Mine also seems to have some "reeds" in between some of the staves. I guess he had some trouble there.

If I was ever to have a go at charring one, I would not go near the heads.

RD,,, your method above,,do you pull the staves back together with the bands while doing this?

[rubber duck]

No I don't, I leave the bottom 3 hoops on and drive the middle hoop back on loosely. Even with the top 2 hoops off the barrel will still retain it's shape. You don't want to go driving hoops on and off more times then you have to, it's a pain in the ass and the less you mess with it the less chance you have of messing it up.

After the fire is out I get to work putting the head back in and start driving the hoops on while it's still warm, after it's completely cool the staves are difficult to work with. You want to work with the barrel while it's still warm, your less likely to crack a stave that way. I've never cracked a stave but I've always been patient and I've always started work when the barrel was still warm.

[emptyglass]

I imagine if I tried it, I'd end up with a heap of oak that I would then probably split up for flavoring sticks.

I'd like to try it, none the less.