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Buying Oak Barrels

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Barrel Char Wood Products
McJeff said:
Damn now I think I will buy a barrel. You guys spending my money better than the gf ;)
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Hey I'm right there behind you. As soon as I get my garage free of that pesky Road Runner, and I just bought an Acme Road Runner Sales kit, I'm picking up the biggest freezer/fridge contraption I can to house the biggest possible barrel at the correct temp. :)
 
I would think that temp control is not the biggest problem, me and medsen both age most our stuff at ambient (non barrel, which is >74F here) and I think you could get away with it in barrel as long as you top up well and sulfite appropriately. May allow you to get a bigger barrel. Also, have you noticed that we have perfect oloroso de Jerez weather? Oh the ideas! :)
Mannye, give me a ring, I've got some barely wine from FLAB for you.
 
I would think some temp fluctuation is what you would want because it will drive the the mead in and out of the oak. The best whiskeys are aged in the top of the storage buildings where the temperature is hottest causing more movement in and out of the oak thus imparting more character but this might not translate to wines and meads I don't know.
 
Liqour a draw out much more from wood than wine, and it's more integral to liqour styles. Think of grappa vs brandy, two completely different drinks, and the major difference is time in oak (I didn't say cognac or high end brandy, just average brandy vs average grape spirits; clarity before someone cites regulations).
 
Bob1016 said:
I would think that temp control is not the biggest problem, me and medsen both age most our stuff at ambient (non barrel, which is >74F here) and I think you could get away with it in barrel as long as you top up well and sulfite appropriately. May allow you to get a bigger barrel. Also, have you noticed that we have perfect oloroso de Jerez weather? Oh the ideas! :)
Mannye, give me a ring, I've got some barely wine from FLAB for you.
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Calling you this evening!

Oh I don't think I would chance anything without some kind of mechanical cooling. Temps in my house can go up above 80 in no time. The garage will probably be worse. Even with the insulation I put in it gets into the 90's in there. Air conditioning and coolers with back up generators are the only way I've had success. I guess humidity and the concrete condo canyons eliminate whatever sea breeze might have existed in the past.
 
A barrel has a useful life and can only give what it has or has left. Small barrels used the first time are going to have a huge surface area per gallon and the tannins and vanillins are going to come pouring out of that oak. It would need tasted and topped very often. The next batch thru would obviously not benefit from what had already passed on to the former mead. Scots Whisky is aged in used Sherry or Port barrels and then are no longer considered usable after 70 years. American Whiskey requires a new charred oak barrel and must be aged for a minimum of I believe three years, then passes on to other uses or planters. This barrel thing is another whole study to obcess over.
 
The Scottish distillers typically get used bourbon and Kentucky whiskey barrels shipped from the States for aging and although they do use sherry and port casks they are for special bottlings and have typically spent some time in American oak before being aged in the sherry casks.
 
We'll I was hoping to age something for a year, guessing a 5 gallon barrel isn't the size.

From what I'm finding a minimum of 30g barrel is required.
 
McJeff said:
We'll I was hoping to age something for a year, guessing a 5 gallon barrel isn't the size.

From what I'm finding a minimum of 30g barrel is required.
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Absolutely. A year in a five gallon keg would most likely render anything in it undrinkable or make it into something you use to blend with. I remember a scotch tasting I did once from single cask examples that to me just tasted like what a burned house smells like. The char had just overtaken everything.
 
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