New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Any hardware used for mashing, fermenting or aging.

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JHeron
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New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by JHeron »

Well I guess I had a few drinks to many last week and went shopping, I went from zero oak to having a badmo, a barrel and a box of staves in one day... DOH! That look I got from the wife when the second barrel arrived the same day as the badmo... lol
I got the Badmo made from a used bourbon barrel, I filled it with the grain whiskey I made back in December. I must of messed up my cuts as I can catch a hint of tails in it now. Is there any chance that this will age out in the badmo or am I just wasting time and oak putting it in there?
Not long after I pulled the trigger on the badmo (almost missed it as they went very fast lol) I got a notification that the cooperage a few hours away finally got another shipment of 6.1 gallon bourbon barrels in so I got one of them too. I also got a bunch of old whisky barrel staves to cut up and toast/torch into sticks for glass aging.
I love Irish whiskey and I have read that they age it in used sherry barrels.
When I asked the guy at the cooperage about sherry barrels he said I could just pour a bottle of sherry into the bourbon barrel and let it ruminate for a few weeks to achieve something similar to a sherry barrel?
I picked up a bottle of sherry (dry sack) to try this but I though I would pick the brain trust around here first.
Do you guys think this is a good idea? The barrel smells fantastic as is.
Cheers,
Jon
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by JHeron »

I am also wide open for suggestions on a Irish style whiskey recipe to fill this thing.
I also love rye whisky FWIW.
I am all setup for all grain (beer maker) I have lots of 2 row, pilsner, malted wheat, etc etc on hand as I do bulk buys through my beer club twice a year.
Cheers,
Jon
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by JHeron »

Well I poured the sherry in, it smells wonderful in there!
Going to get the whiskey recipe figured out this weekend. I have in stock a sack of 2 row, a sack of pilsner and a bunch of wheat malt I need to use up which I may just split evenly between each bag of base malt...
Cheers,
Jon
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by Deplorable »

Barrel Mill makes a good barrel, but them pricks had me on a wait list for one to become available. Called me up, and left a message at 4PM PST while I was working, returned their call, and left a message after hours, called again the next morning at 8AM PST, and they already moved on to the next person on the list and put me back on the bottom of the list.
The two I have from them will be the last two. I'll buy Gibbs Brother's barrels from here out.
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by JHeron »

Deplorable wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2023 3:38 pm Barrel Mill makes a good barrel, but them pricks had me on a wait list for one to become available. Called me up, and left a message at 4PM PST while I was working, returned their call, and left a message after hours, called again the next morning at 8AM PST, and they already moved on to the next person on the list and put me back on the bottom of the list.
The two I have from them will be the last two. I'll buy Gibbs Brother's barrels from here out.
That is a piss off.
I got mine here https://thecountycooperage.ca/collectio ... -once-used
200 canuck bucks plus 50 to ship it. Cheaper then a 6 hour round trip drive.
It doesnt look like Gibbs ships to the great white North eh.
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by greggn »

JHeron wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2023 3:44 pm
I got mine here https://thecountycooperage.ca/collectio ... -once-used

They have a good deal on used staves ... 20 staves for $20 CAD. I'd do that in a heartbeat if I lived up there.
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by JHeron »

greggn wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2023 5:20 pm
JHeron wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2023 3:44 pm
I got mine here https://thecountycooperage.ca/collectio ... -once-used

They have a good deal on used staves ... 20 staves for $20 CAD. I'd do that in a heartbeat if I lived up there.
Yup I got a box of them with my barrel.
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by Ben »

JHeron wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 11:33 am
I got the Badmo made from a used bourbon barrel, I filled it with the grain whiskey I made back in December. I must of messed up my cuts as I can catch a hint of tails in it now. Is there any chance that this will age out in the badmo or am I just wasting time and oak putting it in there?


I love Irish whiskey and I have read that they age it in used sherry barrels.
When I asked the guy at the cooperage about sherry barrels he said I could just pour a bottle of sherry into the bourbon barrel and let it ruminate for a few weeks to achieve something similar to a sherry barrel?

I am also wide open for suggestions on a Irish style whiskey recipe to fill this thing.
You can redistill to get the tails out. Dilute it with freshly made distillers beer to a safe ABV. You will lose whatever oak it has now but the aging will stay. I have never been able to get tails to fully age out, if I blend in a noticable "tails flavor" the entire blend goes into the feints and I run it with the next batch.

Some Irish is aged in sherry, a lot of it is aged in ex bourbon/rye/wheat casks, even rum. Any of it will work, and it's all got it's own flavor. The bottle of sherry in the cask will work fine, I do the same thing for finishing barrels.

My Irish whiskey is 50% barley (horse feed, raw, whole) 15-20% munich malt, 20% 2 row barley, 5-10% oats (horse feed, whole raw oat) 5% roast barley or chocolate malt, depending on what I have on hand, fermented off the grain. I like it, you could cut back on the 2 row and bump up the raw barley if you wanted to get it a bit grungier. Pot still 2-3 times, recycle all feints.
:)
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by Twisted Brick »

Deplorable wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2023 3:38 pm Barrel Mill makes a good barrel, but them pricks had me on a wait list for one to become available. Called me up, and left a message at 4PM PST while I was working, returned their call, and left a message after hours, called again the next morning at 8AM PST, and they already moved on to the next person on the list and put me back on the bottom of the list.
The two I have from them will be the last two. I'll buy Gibbs Brother's barrels from here out.
That sucks. I love my BM barrel. I put my name on the same BM waitlist the day after Deplorable did, and after 6mo's hadn't received a call. So I emailed them for status a few days after his 'missed message' fiasco. I should have been called next. They responded that that no barrel was available, and offered no word on where I was on the fabled 'waitlist'.
Right after Christmas I received my 5gal med toast/char barrel from Gibbs and a box of sweet-smelling cutoffs sufficient for at least 4 or 5 Badmo's.
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by JHeron »

Ben wrote: Mon Feb 06, 2023 8:15 am
JHeron wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 11:33 am
I got the Badmo made from a used bourbon barrel, I filled it with the grain whiskey I made back in December. I must of messed up my cuts as I can catch a hint of tails in it now. Is there any chance that this will age out in the badmo or am I just wasting time and oak putting it in there?


I love Irish whiskey and I have read that they age it in used sherry barrels.
When I asked the guy at the cooperage about sherry barrels he said I could just pour a bottle of sherry into the bourbon barrel and let it ruminate for a few weeks to achieve something similar to a sherry barrel?

I am also wide open for suggestions on a Irish style whiskey recipe to fill this thing.
You can redistill to get the tails out. Dilute it with freshly made distillers beer to a safe ABV. You will lose whatever oak it has now but the aging will stay. I have never been able to get tails to fully age out, if I blend in a noticable "tails flavor" the entire blend goes into the feints and I run it with the next batch.

Some Irish is aged in sherry, a lot of it is aged in ex bourbon/rye/wheat casks, even rum. Any of it will work, and it's all got it's own flavor. The bottle of sherry in the cask will work fine, I do the same thing for finishing barrels.

My Irish whiskey is 50% barley (horse feed, raw, whole) 15-20% munich malt, 20% 2 row barley, 5-10% oats (horse feed, whole raw oat) 5% roast barley or chocolate malt, depending on what I have on hand, fermented off the grain. I like it, you could cut back on the 2 row and bump up the raw barley if you wanted to get it a bit grungier. Pot still 2-3 times, recycle all feints.
Thanks for the tips and information!
I tried to find the definition of "distillers beer" and came up blank?
There was just a hint of tails I thought, I have it in a badmo now so I will check it in 4 months. If I still taste it then I will run it again in shame...

Cheers,
Jon
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by JHeron »

Twisted Brick wrote: Mon Feb 06, 2023 1:18 pm
Deplorable wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2023 3:38 pm Barrel Mill makes a good barrel, but them pricks had me on a wait list for one to become available. Called me up, and left a message at 4PM PST while I was working, returned their call, and left a message after hours, called again the next morning at 8AM PST, and they already moved on to the next person on the list and put me back on the bottom of the list.
The two I have from them will be the last two. I'll buy Gibbs Brother's barrels from here out.
That sucks. I love my BM barrel. I put my name on the same BM waitlist the day after Deplorable did, and after 6mo's hadn't received a call. So I emailed them for status a few days after his 'missed message' fiasco. I should have been called next. They responded that that no barrel was available, and offered no word on where I was on the fabled 'waitlist'.
Right after Christmas I received my 5gal med toast/char barrel from Gibbs and a box of sweet-smelling cutoffs sufficient for at least 4 or 5 Badmo's.
Nice!
I am going to try to make a badmo or 3 with the staves I got too. Just need to figure out a steamer to straiten them out. I have everything except a steamer and a band saw, I figure my router or jig saw outta work for that though...
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by Ben »

JHeron wrote: Tue Feb 07, 2023 12:27 pm
I tried to find the definition of "distillers beer" and came up blank?
Just fermented mash, beer with no hops for the still.
:)
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by JHeron »

Well I got the first ~52 gallons or so of beer made.
It was a fair amount of work, I did 4 mashes with about 24 lbs of grain in each. I sparged with about 8 gallons of water for each mash and I think it was a bit much as it came in at 1.042. If I was to do this again I would likely only sparge with 6 gallons or so which may leave enough room in the drum for one more mash. It was cold out so I mashed in at around ~150f and let them sit for around 1.5~2 hours.
I sparged the last mash with cold water which brought the batch down to about 95F, perfect for the Keviek Voss I pitched (https://www.lallemandbrewing.com/wp-con ... ENG_A4.pdf ) which was fermenting in seconds, you could literally see the yeast zooming as I pitched it, incredible.
Cant wait to run this and see how much I get to fill the barrel!
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by squigglefunk »

JHeron wrote: Sun Feb 19, 2023 8:10 am Cant wait to run this and see how much I get to fill the barrel!
that should get you about 2 gallons of hearts
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by JHeron »

Cool.
That yeast was already finished by Monday morning!
A guy in my beer club just gave me a 30 gallon mash tun so the next mash should much quicker!
I am thinking I will just add the next mash on top of the yeast cake once I get this batch out. I have done that with beer in the past and found that it really takes something away from the brew, so maybe I will remove half of the yeast cake and try that? Anyone have any experience with that for whiskey?
Going to start the stripping this afternoon hopefully if this storm doesnt knock out the power...
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by JHeron »

I started a strip of it now.
Lookout! Very foamy!
That sight glass just paid for itself lol
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by Ben »

JHeron wrote: Tue Feb 21, 2023 11:21 am Cool.
That yeast was already finished by Monday morning!
A guy in my beer club just gave me a 30 gallon mash tun so the next mash should much quicker!
I am thinking I will just add the next mash on top of the yeast cake once I get this batch out. I have done that with beer in the past and found that it really takes something away from the brew, so maybe I will remove half of the yeast cake and try that? Anyone have any experience with that for whiskey?
Going to start the stripping this afternoon hopefully if this storm doesnt knock out the power...
Good chance you are overpitching yeast when using the full cake. Use a slurry calculator and pitch the correct volume of yeast, it will come out great.
:)
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by JHeron »

I ended up with 15L proofed to 60% so I half filed the barrel yesterday, yay!
This whiskey might be too smooth though, I am thinking I should spice up the next mash that should top off the barrel.
I have some Simpsons brown malt which I love, how much should I put in for a full bag of 2 row, 5lbs or so?
I have about 11lbs of rye I am going to toss in as well.
Any other recommendations? I have simpsons black malt, crystal malt, amber malt, munich malt on hand also.
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by still_stirrin »

JHeron wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 7:07 am… I have some Simpsons brown malt (5lbs or so?) … in a full bag of 2 row … about 11lbs of rye I am going to toss in …
That sounds like a great start for a whiskey (“whisky” where you live, I believe).
JHeron wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 7:07 am… Any other recommendations? I have simpsons black malt, crystal malt, amber malt, munich malt on hand also.
Munich malt with a touch of some darker crystal malts would make an excellent single malt styled whisk(e)y. The toastiness of the Munich would be delicious when aged on wood.

Amber malt would work well in a 50/50 ratio with pale malt too, for a “softer” single malt recipe.

The black patent malt is great for a stout but might be too “heavy” for a spirit. The patent’s astringency would tend to “dry” the spirit when distilled.
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by rubberduck71 »

JHeron wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 7:07 am Any other recommendations? I have simpsons black malt, crystal malt, amber malt, munich malt on hand also.

I made an Irish style whiskey with the following recipe:

40% golden promise
40% rolled barley
10% toasted oats
10% corn meal

Turned out dayum tasty, if I do say so myself! Even the following sugarhead was good!
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Re: New guy, Bourbon barrel for Irish style whiskey

Post by JHeron »

Well batch number 2 to fill the barrel went well.
I did 2 50# batches in my new tun. I made a 3500W inline heater setup and the only buckets I had to handle was the sparge water.
I pumped it out of the tun through a plate chiller right into the fermenter, very slick.
I used some simpson brown, rye and Munich malt which definitely spiced things up!
I did the first stripping run last night...
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