Wine barrel, still useable for liquor?

[Denizh]

I have a good deal on a white oak wine barrel that has been used to age wine a few times. The owner says it is fairly exhausted for that purpose. I am curious if I put 57-60% ABV liquor in it, can I draw some more flavor from the oak just because it will have higher alcohol?

[Expat]

Short answer, in it's current state probably no good.

You could recooper the barrei, i.e. shave the inside of the barrel down and retoast... or breakdown the barrel and use the staves for oaking.

I'd do the latter.

[jonnys_spirit]

I offer that yes it is good to go as is perhaps with a mild h2only cleaning. Plenty of spirits are made in used barrels and the wine deep in the wood will certainly provide some flavor. You can also add oak fingers of varying toast and char if the barrel is more neutral and you are looking for more oak flavor. Less is still more in many cases and you can always add more oak and more time later. The barrel will provide significant micro oxegenation and evaporation which always concentrates flavors, cleans the spirit, and depending on the storage environment humidity and temp increases or decreases abv content slightly.

I also have a 5g wine barrel that is neutral but still use it for wine. I’m looking for some 10l barrels maybe for spirits.

How big is the barrel and whatcha gonna put in it?

Cheers!
-jonny

[Saltbush Bill]

That will depend on what sort of wine has been in it , and what sort of spirit you intend putting in it.
The short answer is .....go for it , it should turn out ok.

[cranky]

Make sure it hasn't been sulfured, other than that I'd go for it too. I've been wanting to do some apple in a used wine barrel for a long time.

[Twisted Brick]

It's hard to say how many times the barrel my staves came from was used, but all the sweet vanillas and caramels etc are all still there and helping my rye (and wheat) bourbons age nicely. I say go for it.

[HDNB]

on the advise of a local crafty, i'm about to fill one. I'll let you know in 3 years.

his whiskey from a wine barrel is nice. has an apricot note for fruit.

[RiseNShine]

on the advise of a local crafty, i'm about to fill one. I'll let you know in 3 years.

his whiskey from a wine barrel is nice. has an apricot note for fruit.

Great call. Due to the ABV of wine, it won't extract as much from the wood as a high abv spirit. If anything you will get great influence from the wine and some oak characteristics. I have a small (5L) cask at home that I conditioned with wine, albeit for a short period(21 days,) to take away the harshness of virgin wood and add some interesting notes.

[Deplorable]

I bought a freshly emptied 5 gallon bourbon barrel that contained a wheated bourbon from the local distillery from Washington grown grains.
I then dropped it off with a friend at his winery in town, who promptly filled it with 2020 Malbec made from grapes grown in Washington. This barrel, once emptied of its aged Malbec, will become a finishing barrel for my spirits. Now I have 2 5 gallon Barrel Mill Barrels.

SWMBO says that's enough, but I suspect I may try to sneak a 3rd barrel in to the collection next year.

[SassyFrass]

JMO, but I'd fill that barrel with good likker and forget about it for a few years. I'm not sure what will happen, but it will sure be interesting to find out.
SF

[Deplorable]

JMO, but I'd fill that barrel with good likker and forget about it for a few years. I'm not sure what will happen, but it will sure be interesting to find out.
SF

I just filled one with Single Malt. Next project is 5 gallons of wheated bourbon.

[Dougmatt]

on the advise of a local crafty, i'm about to fill one. I'll let you know in 3 years.

his whiskey from a wine barrel is nice. has an apricot note for fruit.

@HDNB what’s the update? I’ve got some used wine barrels (one used on reds and one on white) that I’m thinking about using with Rum and curious how this went for you?

[jonnys_spirit]

I have a Vadai five gallon wine barrel I'm going to eventually use for something. Long time neutral. I do often save and re-use wine staves/fingers and recommend experimenting with it. If you don't make wine you can prepare oak fingers and fill a mason jar with six or so then fill the jar with wine/sherry/port/whatever, close it up, and leave it - pull one out every once in a while and plop it into your aging glass - or three or whatever you like. Charred / toasted... Lots of options to experiment with... The liquid also becomes oak/port essence or perhaps a type of bitters if you want to add a dash to a glass or a bottle..

Cheers!
-j

[HDNB]

on the advise of a local crafty, i'm about to fill one. I'll let you know in 3 years.

his whiskey from a wine barrel is nice. has an apricot note for fruit.

@HDNB what’s the update? I’ve got some used wine barrels (one used on reds and one on white) that I’m thinking about using with Rum and curious how this went for you?

i only did the one, sadly it developed a leak about a year and half in and i was forced to move it to another barrel. The flavour was nice, it was definitely fruity notes. prolly the biggest factor was the color, it was very dark and red (red wine, go figger) i lost a fair amount and it is all gone now....
would absolutely do it again.
watch the barrel though, i learned that some of the wine barrels are lined with wax. not sure why, but it's no good for booze if it is.

[Dougmatt]

i only did the one, sadly it developed a leak about a year and half in and i was forced to move it to another barrel. The flavour was nice, it was definitely fruity notes. prolly the biggest factor was the color, it was very dark and red (red wine, go figger) i lost a fair amount and it is all gone now....
would absolutely do it again.

Oh no! Sorry to hear about the leak! Thanks for the response.

I make my own wine, and have a 6gallon red wine barrel about to free up that is in its 3rd run of Amarone, Valpolicello, and then Tempranillo. It’s pretty neutral at this point, but lots of flavors locked in that wood. Was thinking about filling it with Rum. Alternatively I could break it up and toast it, but seems a waste…..

[Stircrazy]

wine barrels are not charded on the inside, what that barrel is perfect for is finnishing a whisky thats already aged. wine finished single malts are one of my favorite things right now.

[Bradster68]

I recently tried some fairly expensive rum at Christmas my son brought me. It was aged in used sherry cask. It had a very pleasant flavour

[The Baker]

wine barrels are not charded on the inside, what that barrel is perfect for is finnishing a whisky thats already aged. wine finished single malts are one of my favorite things right now.

Part of the process of making a (commercial) wine barrel is to subject the inside to FIRE.

Geoff

[Saltbush Bill]

Stircrazy wrote: ↑Thu Jan 19, 2023 12:32 am
wine barrels are not charded on the inside, what that barrel is perfect for is finnishing a whisky thats already aged. wine finished single malts are one of my favorite things right now.
Part of the process of making a (commercial) wine barrel is to subject the inside to FIRE.
Geoff

Wine barrels might not be charred inside but most of them are "toasted" to different degrees. Rum from a charred barrel is crap in my opinion,,,,,keep the char for bourbon and things. A Rum stored in an toasted X red wine barrel or port barrel will win the race every time imo.

[Stircrazy]

wine barrels are not charded on the inside, what that barrel is perfect for is finnishing a whisky thats already aged. wine finished single malts are one of my favorite things right now.

Part of the process of making a (commercial) wine barrel is to subject the inside to FIRE.

Geoff

Most of the coopers out here don't use fire for toasting wine barrels anymore, they use a toaster type element and just toast the inside. I have never seen a wine barrel that is charred, but I have seen distilleries take some wine barrels and open them up and subject them to a char and use them for a full maturation. again some excellent whisky.

[Stircrazy]

Stircrazy wrote: ↑Thu Jan 19, 2023 12:32 am
wine barrels are not charded on the inside, what that barrel is perfect for is finnishing a whisky thats already aged. wine finished single malts are one of my favorite things right now.
Part of the process of making a (commercial) wine barrel is to subject the inside to FIRE.
Geoff

Wine barrels might not be charred inside but most of them are "toasted" to different degrees. Rum from a charred barrel is crap in my opinion,,,,,keep the char for bourbon and things. A Rum stored in an toasted X red wine barrel or port barrel will win the race every time imo.

it's a good thing rum isn't whisky and yes I agree that a lot of wine barrels are typically toasted

[cob]

wine barrels are not charded on the inside, what that barrel is perfect for is finnishing a whisky thats already aged. wine finished single malts are one of my favorite things right now.

Part of the process of making a (commercial) wine barrel is to subject the inside to FIRE.

Geoff

Fire makes it easier to bend the staves without cracking. Old school method.