Treatment of barrel staves

[PalCabral]

Hi.

I’ve had a 3L oak barrel for a good 25 years.Got it and used it for aging Brandy when I lived in Portugal. When we moved and family grew there was no cheap wine to distill nor was there time. So the barrel’s been empty for the last +20 years. Having heard that some manufactors of these small barrels use glue also made me hesitate to use it.

But since I want to use oak for my coming projects I decided to kick off the new year by dismantling it, to verify if the barrel was ligit or bad, and to fix it up for toasting and charring sticks from the individual staves.

I was happy to find no traces whatsoever of glue or foul play, except the head parts were held together by nails (not sure if that counts as foul play tbh), but the inside was full of Whiskey fungus, Baudonia Compniacensis, which I washed out with a steaming hot water scrub. Seems it comes with Brandy too…

Now the staves and the heads are drying on my kitchen table and the question is what I do now? My plan is to STR, sand, toast and rechar, but do I need to do some sanitization, deep cleaning, steel brush scrubbing, etc before I start sanding the staves? How should I sanitize the wood? What are your thoughts?

Sharing some pics.

[Coyote]

If it was me. I would run those stave through the table saw as wide as they are thick,
cut it fit in a one gallon glass jar. cook em or burn em for the char you want.

5 to 7 pieces in a gallon glass jar ages in 3 to 4 months into some mighty fine hooch.

Toss a cinnamon stick, a vanilla bean or a short hand full of raisins in - you might be surprised.
I am aging on barrel staves I cut & charred 5 or 6 years ago. I just keep reusing them.


Coyote

[PalCabral]

If it was me. I would run those stave through the table saw as wide as they are thick,
cut it fit in a one gallon glass jar. cook em or burn em for the char you want.

5 to 7 pieces in a gallon glass jar ages in 3 to 4 months into some mighty fine hooch.

Toss a cinnamon stick, a vanilla bean or a short hand full of raisins in - you might be surprised.
I am aging on barrel staves I cut & charred 5 or 6 years ago. I just keep reusing them.


Coyote

Thanks for the tip, Coyote! Are you not seeing some deminishing effect from your sticks after so many years? Personally, I think it's great to have some sticks for slow finishing and others more active and fresh. I read somewhere that the sticks lose their effect quite quickly, like after a year or two.

[Twisted Brick]

Fewer sticks for a longer aging stint is preferred over more sticks for shorter. Don’t forget to allow for width expansion of your sticks when sizing to fit your jugs.

[PalCabral]

Fewer sticks for a longer aging stint is preferred over more sticks for shorter. Don’t forget to allow for width expansion of your sticks when sizing to fit your jugs.

I was planning to age in glass jars of 1-3L, I haven't thought about using bigger volumes. You got me thinking now.

[jonnys_spirit]

I find 2-4 toasted/charred finger sized sticks per gallon or one per liter is a good place to shoot for. I'll also make a much stronger extract where I fill a mason jar with charred oak sticks and top up with likker that I keep topped up - for blending if I'm feeling it.

Cheers,
jonny

[Coyote]

PalCabral My sticks end up roughly 3/4 x 3/4 x 8 long. I do notice
some loss over time but I am checking every few weeks for the finish
I am after. I have replaced a stick or 2 after 2 or 3 uses but them I lost
track of which ones I had replaced . . .
I can't see that you would lose much effectiveness over several years, think
18 year old aged in the same barrel. . . .
I stuffed a gallon jug of rye under a friends cabin in the mountains, 100 miles from
here 10 years ago with just 2 sticks inside. Plan to pull it on his 60th birthday, 5 years
from now. Hope the cabin don't burn down, nearly lost it this past summer in the
Lone Rock fire here in Oregon.

A single barrel cut into 8" sticks will likely last you the rest of your life. And those are
way easier to hide away verses a 50 gallon barrel.

Have fun!

Coyote

[Saltbush Bill]

My experience of quantity used lines up with Jonnys spirit.
Sticks approximately 1/2 X 1/2 inch X 4-5 Inch per Litre is a good oak quantity for long term oaking.

[PalCabral]

I stuffed a gallon jug of rye under a friends cabin in the mountains, 100 miles from
here 10 years ago with just 2 sticks inside. Plan to pull it on his 60th birthday, 5 years
from now. Hope the cabin don't burn down, nearly lost it this past summer in the
Lone Rock fire here in Oregon.

Wow! What a cool idea! I am crossing my fingers it will survive and be just as great as you were hoping for!09

[PalCabral]

My experience of quantity used lines up with Jonnys spirit.
Sticks approximately 1/2 X 1/2 inch X 4-5 Inch per Litre is a good oak quantity for long term oaking.

Sounds like sensible guidelines. Thanks!