Used liquor barrels

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emjay said:
I'm more interested in using this for wild beers with very little character imparted from the actual barrel itself, but I guess making some rum/oak beers until those flavors fade won't kill me :)

Though... this may sound like sacrilege to some, but is there a way to hasten the removal of rum and oak character so I don't have to wait so long?
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This is what I'm going to use them for. Make at least one Rum soaked beer, please, lol.

You can soak the barrel to get it neutral, take a look around on here, there are some threads.
 
Got my barrel today :)

So is it sufficient to use the rum remaining in the barrel to slosh around and keep it wet, or do I need to add some liquor or water to it?

Also... when I go to add beer to it, the rum should be drinkable?

Oh... and when I shake it and roll it around, I don't really hear any liquid, but instead some solid piece clanging around. This normal?
 
emjay said:
Got my barrel today :)

So is it sufficient to use the rum remaining in the barrel to slosh around and keep it wet, or do I need to add some liquor or water to it?

Also... when I go to add beer to it, the rum should be drinkable?

Oh... and when I shake it and roll it around, I don't really hear any liquid, but instead some solid piece clanging around. This normal?
Click to expand...

You may want to add a little rum to the barrel, when will you use it? If you have a beer ready to go I'd just put it in the barrel.

The solid piece may be a piece of charr that came off (I've seen this). Nothing to worry about.

I'm glad that past customs without issue.
 
Steelers77 said:
I'm glad that past customs without issue.
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Me too. To be completely honest, I felt I was taking a massive risk on the thing most likely being turned away. The fact that there's rum inside technically makes it illegal for me to import, but I couldn't ask any better than to get it in 2 days without a hitch. :)
 
Oh, and I might put beer in it Monday, but that depends... is it generally okay to put fresh wort in it, or is it better off being used as a short secondary to limit the extraction of flavors?
 
I personally use mine (from the previous batch) to secondary beer in for a week up to a month. It gets you all the flavor profiles from oaking, and doesn't leave sediment and trub in the barrel that I'll have to clean out later. Others will ferment in the barrel though, it all depends on what you are aiming for.
 
What kind of barrels are we looking at this time around?

And regarding the 5gal rum barrel I just got, I've been meaning to ask if you had any more specific information about it. For instance, whether you know what kind of oak the barrel is made of (e.g. American, French, Eastern European, etc), what level it was toasted to (light, medium, medium plus, or heavy) and if you know approximately how long/how many batches these barrels were used for (as I assume the distillery replaces barrels once these old ones have been used for a certain length of time and/or number of uses).

The answer may affect how I ultimately decide to use my barrel (especially before it becomes neutral), so if you know any of these things (or can find out), that info would be really appreciated, as would anything else you think might be worth sharing.

bullywee said:
I'm getting one or two this time round, I didn't move fast enough on the last lot.
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The last one sat around for a while before I scooped it up about a week ago :D
 
The one you got Emjay was American oak, with a medium char. They were used twice for Rum which is around 1yr worth of usage. In the future (excluding the next round) all barrels will be used once and not twice.

From what it sounds like, you should get barrel flavors in a depreciating amount for 3-4 beers then you could soak it to get it completely neutral.
 
Steelers77 said:
The one you got Emjay was American oak, with a medium char. They were used twice for Rum which is around 1yr worth of usage. In the future (excluding the next round) all barrels will be used once and not twice.

From what it sounds like, you should get barrel flavors in a depreciating amount for 3-4 beers then you could soak it to get it completely neutral.
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Thanks for the info.

I gotta admit though, I'm not terribly into oaked beers or beers with spirits (and rum seems to be more difficult to pair with beer than whiskey would be!). Honestly, the main reason I'm even making one at all is because you've personally convinced me it would be a damn shame to waste the opportunity, and I agree - it's not every day I even have the option of using a rum-soaked barrel!

Really though, I don't want to have to make 3-4 oak beers before I can use the barrel for what I intended - wild ales. In particular Flanders Reds and maybe even Browns. So I'd like to get my barrel to neutral quickly.

Would repeated filling and draining with a solution of potassium metabisulphite and citric acid do the trick? I'm hoping that keeping the barrel full of this solution, replacing it twice a week, I might be able to get the barrel neutral in 3 weeks or so. You think that's realistic? I've found a lot of sources for maintaining and properly caring for barrels, but nothing really on intentionally speeding up the time for a barrel to become neutral - I've only read of warnings that using solutions like the one above will extract the flavors out of it, but they always seem to assume that this is undesirable, and so don't exactly outline a methodical approach to doing it :)
 
emjay said:
Would repeated filling and draining with a solution of potassium metabisulphite and citric acid do the trick? I'm hoping that keeping the barrel full of this solution, replacing it twice a week, I might be able to get the barrel neutral in 3 weeks or so. You think that's realistic? I've found a lot of sources for maintaining and properly caring for barrels, but nothing really on intentionally speeding up the time for a barrel to become neutral - I've only read of warnings that using solutions like the one above will extract the flavors out of it, but they always seem to assume that this is undesirable, and so don't exactly outline a methodical approach to doing it :)
Click to expand...

This would work, people store their barrels with a citric acid or Potassium Mets solution. I think it will clean up in a decent amount of time if you use it for the stout then add the solution after.
 
lastsecondapex said:
Count me in on 1! Can I combine shipping with an order of hops from the site?
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Yes, now that would be awesome as I need some hops but the shipping is killer. Either way still the best place for me to get my hops and other stuff. Great job FHBS! :mug:
 
what size rubber stopper are people using in replacement of the bung? I had to drill my bung out as i couldnt get it to come out on its own. Currently i have a 8.5 stopper in there reversed. I only have a 10.5 stopper at home but thats too big....my guess is a 9.5 stopper but i just wanted to confirm.
 
Atl300zx said:
what size rubber stopper are people using in replacement of the bung? I had to drill my bung out as i couldnt get it to come out on its own. Currently i have a 8.5 stopper in there reversed. I only have a 10.5 stopper at home but thats too big....my guess is a 9.5 stopper but i just wanted to confirm.
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Which barrel do you have? 5gal rum barrel?

My beer going into my barrel is brewed, but it's currently conditioning in the primary on some toasted coconut... may be another week before it gets racked to the barrel.

But I've been wondering about that... it should be okay to just use the wooden bung since the beer has fully fermented, right? My understanding is that the bung is the most vulnerable part to infections, but after this, I'll be switching to something else since I'll be fermenting Flanders Reds in it.
 
We started sending out emails today, we will get barrels starting tomorrow. Check your spam folder. If anyone elso would like a barrle let me know. Im me with an email address and your zip code so I can calculate shipping.
 
I've been getting some questions about the Honey Liqueur so this is just a clarification. It is basically Rum, it's produced the same way as Rum distilled the same and aged the same. The difference is that it is made form beet sugar and not cane sugar. Rum can only be called Rum is it is made from sugar cane. Also, the honey is added after the liquor is dumped from the barrel, there is never honey in the barrel.
Thanks.
 
Are you and the distiller still thinking about a barrel aged beer contest? I've got a porter in my queue that will be barrel aged, and wanted to see what timeframe you're looking at.
 

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