serbian oak barrels. to good to be true?

[WooTeck]

today I have been looking around the web to find reasonably priced oak barrels that I can get in the uk. mainly looking at 1l, 5l & 10l.
I stumbled over this site selling Small Oak Barrels for an unbelievably low price.

average price for a 5l that I can find is about £62 this sight is selling them for £17.5 that's with out p&p.

ive sent an email asking about shipping costs. has anyone used these guys? my gut instinct is that its to good to be true and must be a scam but if not wont be long before ill have a small ware house of aging spirits and barrel fermented beers.

interested on hearing peoples views.

[bearriver]

Oak barrels come in varying quality. Some best use as a wall hanger.

Not sure where these fall, but they do say that they can be lined with wax, which wouldn't be good.

[kiwi Bruce]

Their site is very detailed, showing they spent some coin. Send them an email, say your interested in a purchase, and ask what they recommend the procedure should be to condition a new oak barrel. If they send you a professional tri-fold of instructions or direct you to a web page that has a very detailed explanation on conditioning a new barrel, they are probably OK.

[kiwi Bruce]

English bitter barrels are coated inside to reduce the amount of tannin that's drawn into the beer. Coating kegs for wine and beer is not uncommon. When I worked in a Courage's pub in Woolwich, I was told their Best Bitter Kegs were 80% shellack coated. Today I'll bet they are coated in a plastic.

[WooTeck]

i did notice that. obviously i would go with out wax. im thinking for the cost (depending on p&p) i may have to give a 1l or 2l a punt and see how they work out.

[bearriver]

Send them an email, say your interested in a purchase, and ask what they recommend the procedure should be to condition a new oak barrel.

It may (or may not) be worth mentioning that you are in good standing with a large community of people that use such products. If you get one of these cheap barrels and it works out good, then other members will likely purchase some as well. Just a thought.

[WooTeck]

the responses here are inspiring confidence. now to find out what shipping is and if it still works out to be cheaper

[WooTeck]

got a nice response with all the information on each barrel. they do a bunch of different woods. barrel costs are as they are on the website. i was quoted P&P at 77euro or about £54 for what i asume to be 1x 1l oak, 1x 5l oak & 1x 10l oak.

p&p increases/decreases depending on location

ill post price lists later. seems to be about half the price of the uk retailers. will need to find out about tax.

[WooTeck]

barrels made of Oak, Acacia and Ash is same, barrels made of
Cherry and Chestnut wood is 10% higher cost, barrels made of Mulberry wood is 20% higher cost
and barrels made of Juniper wood is 30% higher cost than on their site

[Danespirit]

They look like they are ok. The quality seems to be in the top.
You know..the reason why they seem so cheap, is probably the lower costs on materials and labour down there..
I think i will order a small one. I have also seen a russian site with cheap prices, but i don't really trust those russians and their postage service.

[WooTeck]

You know..the reason why they seem so cheap, is probably the lower costs on materials and labour down there..

yeah i was figuring that. the catalog they sent will all the different woods, dimensions of each and weight looks pretty slick.

[SaltyStaves]

These are european oak, so I'd play to its strengths. Maybe season with some sherry or port for a while just to break the barrel in. Also not sure how I'd feel about untoasted european oak, which lends itself more to white wine than white spirits. Easily remedied though...

Would love to try Chestnut. Heard there are some Germans maturing whisky on chestnut with very favorable results.

[amdamgraham]

Wow - head over to the "other" tab and they are selling stills as well. These guys don't look sketchy at all to me, they clearly want to make money and stay in business. I agree that the staves in their photos look thick, certainly thicker than the staves on the 1L & 2L barrels I bought in the USA and that were actually Hecho en Mexico. I did not see that they publish their barrel prep steps so hopefully they send you information on that with the barrels. I emailed with my barrel source asking about the hoops and they advised galvanized will retain a nicer appearance longer. The black hoops can stain the wood apparently.

[Danespirit]

These are european oak, so I'd play to its strengths. Maybe season with some sherry or port for a while just to break the barrel in. Also not sure how I'd feel about untoasted european oak, which lends itself more to white wine than white spirits. Easily remedied though...

Would love to try Chestnut. Heard there are some Germans maturing whisky on chestnut with very favorable results.

They state their barrels as : "They are medium Charred or Toasted, and barrels up to 10 liter size come complete with a stand, a spigot and a bung."

A lot of distilleries and winemakers use european oak for their barrels.
If one is lucky..one can even score a old cognac barrel (if you have the space for it).
Vikings made ships out of it, sailed around the world and discovered America..so i should be ok for a barrel.

[SaltyStaves]

They state their barrels as : "They are medium Charred or Toasted, and barrels up to 10 liter size come complete with a stand, a spigot and a bung."

Ha. Was in the very first paragraph and I totally missed it!

A lot of distilleries and winemakers use european oak for their barrels.
If one is lucky..one can even score a old cognac barrel (if you have the space for it).
Vikings made ships out of it, sailed around the world and discovered America..so i should be ok for a barrel.

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not saying anything against european oak, I just wanted the OP (or anyone else) to be aware that there is a difference. If you wanted caramel/vanilla for your bourbon/scotch/rum, then one of these barrels wouldn't be the first choice. Perfect for a spicy/fruity finish.
Horses for courses.

[thecroweater]

I have always been led to believe chestnut is better for short term rather than long term ageing given that it is much more porous than oak

[durty_dunderpants]

hey, just wondering if anyone went through and ordered any of these serbian barrels in the end? came across them myself and they look better than a lot of the alternatives around this way.

[sparky marky]

Has anybody ever used this company?
I am looking at them and wondering what the quality is like.
Or does anybody have an alternative source that they like using?
I’m looking for anything between 10 and 50 liter.

[Swedish Pride]

Yes, I'm posting in a 5 yo thread.
Not easy to find small new barrels in Europe that sells single barrels.

This crowd does, I got a 5 l barrel off them 4 years ago, great little barrel, looking to get a 15l this time.

Nice thick staves, never leaked a drop.
Spigot has some silicon stuff in it though so I replaced it with ss.

A bit cumbersome process, have to email back and forth, pay by bank transfer.
But in the end, a lovely barrel at half the cost of other local companies.