Life of a Barrel

[BlueSasquatch]

Curious what everyone does with their barrels? I've just got a lone 5 liter at the moment, and then wood chips/pieces that I add here and there to things.

First use - Bourbon, 2nd use - Scotch or Whiskey, 3rd use? How many times until the barrel is tapped? Adding beer like a stout to a used barrel seems common enough, but what about after the 3rd or 4th use? When is a barrel spent, and what does everyone do with theirs once they are spent?

[still_stirrin]

For me, the 1st & 2nd use are for bourbon. The 3rd filling is a wine fill. Then, a rum. Finally, I fill a couple of times with beers, 1st a pale ale and finally a stout. I don’t make single malt whiskey, but if I did it would follow the wine filling.
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[BlueSasquatch]

I've a friend who brews who hasn't done any barrel aging but he thoughts were beer 2nd or not at all, to which I thought was a silly line of thought, but have no evidence to the contrary.

[Stonecutter]

I’m planning a grape brandy for the third fill of my one Gallon Barrel. The first two were whiskey.

[contrahead]

Curious what everyone does with their barrels? ....How many times until the barrel is tapped? ..... what does everyone do with theirs once they are spent?

Whisky kegs in Scotland usually get used a minimum of 3 times, or maybe a 4th; by which time they become useless. It might take 12-25 years to produce a matured product because so little activity is occurring within those reused barrels. The wood is soaked, the cracks, crevices and pores or the wood are utterly clogged with pariffins, oils, lipids and other stuff that comes from new make spirit. Great Britain pretty much chopped down all of its own oak trees back during 'The Age Of Sail”; so they don't have any oak of their own.

This does not look like the identical video that I linked to years ago (which I can't find right now). But it still shows a robotic assembly line – refurbishing barrels; by reaming out the interiors and re-charing them.
Robots handling barrels at Speyside Cooperage

This next video features a knowledgeable cooper talking about his craft. He assembles a barrel as he is talking.
'Be Your Own Cooper' Lecture at the CCBA Fall Conference

* Back in the days of whaling ships, processed whale oil was a very valuable commodity. When those whalers left their home ports they provisioned their ship with enough supplies to last them for perhaps a year at sea. Space was always in short supply on such ships. When they left port all the oil barrels were disassembled or knocked down – to save space. When they eventually rendered some whale fat- the barrels were reassembled and filled accordingly.

[LWTCS]

"Spent" barrels are used to soften / polish white spirits. Then filtered for color.

Not uncommon for a good silver rum to be several years old.

Some of this domestic rum being produced is barely a week old before it goes in the bottle,,,,,,,and it shows.

[Clearmoon247]

My first 5L barrel started off with bourbon white dog for 1.5 years before alternating for 2 months each cycles of honey then bourbon.
My second 5L barrel began with gin and will probably get a nice blend of aged Rye whiskey.
My 5 Gallon barrel started off as used rye whiskey barrel when I purchased it. I filled it up with a young (4-6 year) bourbon blend for its "first fill". It is now resting with a bourbon white dog (70 corn/30 rye) to rest for a few years.
My 15 gallon barrel was originally an apple brandy barrel (purchased a 5gal, received a 15 gal instead). My first fill was a blend of bourbon and rye sourced from locals in the whiskey community. Their portion was pulled and bottled after 3 months. I then topped it off with my own blend which will continue to finish for an additional 6-12 months from now (totaling 18 months). I will probably purchase some new-make from a local craft distillery to do extended aging.

Of the micro-barrels that I have aging (think BadMo bain-marie style), most are still on their first fill, being either new make or finishing, I do have some cask strength scotch or white rum as second fill barrels. I did season one bourbon micro-barrel with honey, then added the bourbon back into the barrel for a honey finished reunion barrel. I currently have ~9 micro-barrels seasoning with various dessert wines to do at-home finishing.

[bluc]

"Spent" barrels are used to soften / polish white spirits. Then filtered for color.

Not uncommon for a good silver rum to be several years old.

Some of this domestic rum being produced is barely a week old before it goes in the bottle,,,,,,,and it shows.

"filtered for colour" Do you mean they run through charcoal to remove all colour? I remember this being the case on barcardi megafactory episode. Been looking for specifics on this but little luck as to how they can pull the colour out..most i read on hobby forums people do a high proof over plates or lower proof reflux to get a white rum. Personally would like to make a good aged rum turn it white..

[Saltbush Bill]

From memory there are types of charcoal products that will pull colour but leave most flavour in.
Seem to remember Punkin was try to get hold of some , or could get hold of some years ago and was looking for people on another forum to trial it.
Not sure what the eventual outcome was.....might find similar products if you research