Charred Keg Newbie

[Boda Getta]

I have my new 3 gal Gibbs charred keg filled will 2 1/2 gals of sweet feed and will have another 2 1/2 gals of UJSSM to age next. After that I will have several months with nothing to age/char. Should I fill the keg with water when its not being used filled with whiskey? I know that ever time you use the keg, that the keg that the aging time increases because the keg is less effective after each cycle. Will a water cycle reduce the keg effectiveness the same as aging a distillate? After a keg is "used up" what do you keg guys do with them?

Thanks,
BG

[rtalbigr]

I have let kegs set full of water for months with no problem. If ya let them set dry they will shrink up pretty bad.

How much time ya need to add for every use is rather subjective. I generally add one month for each use. One thing ya can do as well is add toasted/charred sticks in the barrel. Ya still get the benefit of the barrel and the sticks add new oak.

As for a used up barrel, well, I thought I'd take one apart and redo it but that was a disaster. I didn't let it dry out and the heads warped so bad I couldn't get the thing back together. They warped in just a matter of hours. I have another barrel that I have let dry out real well and some day I'll try to redo it and see how that goes. Of course you can always take it apart, cut it up, toast/char.

Big R

[qball]

How many times do you think you can use a barrel (without disassembling and recharring) before it's no longer effective at aging?

[rtalbigr]

How many times do you think you can use a barrel (without disassembling and recharring) before it's no longer effective at aging?

I've used em up to 5 times.

Big R