Cheap bourbon aging

[ultrastealth]

Look up the time value of money.

[MarkV]

in for the results

[TexaRican]

How’d you swell the barrel??

Just filtered water. I set it on a crawfish tray on the counter and it leaked slowly for a few hours. By the next day I could still see the wood was wet around some seams but not enough to drip. By day 4 the outside was completely dry and the barrel was still full of water. I drained and rinsed a few times per the instructions. This thing probably came from Mexico but claims to be American white oak with the inside charred.

[BrianL]

Aging is normally in years... How does this speed up the process to a few months?

[wloftis]

You're going to like it. A buddy of mine had one; we experimented with it and thought it was pretty dang good. We couldn't wait a couple months though...I think we broke into it a week or two in and it was good stuff.

[mjhaverkamp]

Aging is normally in years... How does this speed up the process to a few months?

Has to do with the volume of product in relation to surface area of wood, you can age spirits in 2-3 months in those small barrels.

[duckmanep]

in for results.

But what's wrong with Benchmark straight from the bottle?

[Bowhica]

Look up the time value of money.

Ding. I bet these guys make their own sandwiches too!!

[TexaRican]

Ding. I bet these guys make their own sandwiches too!!

Easy there bowchica, it's just for fun

[nando]

I started mine about a 3 weeks ago, can't wait to see how it comes out.

[Bowhica]

Easy there bowchica, it's just for fun

I will GLADLY sample your BT extended version bourbon. For the fun of it. I'll bring the cigars!! The ones from the bottom shelf. Them good sticks.

[chadt1234]

The smaller the barrel the more surface area is in contact with the liquid (by volume). You get flavor more quickly than with a larger barrel. The trade off is the mellowness and concentration you get from longer aging in a large barrel.

[Bowhica]

The smaller the barrel the more surface area is in contact with the liquid (by volume). You get flavor more quickly than with a larger barrel. The trade off is the mellowness and concentration you get from longer aging in a large barrel.

So if surface area is a key factor in the aging process, why not sacrifice some ullage and liquid volume with old thin barrel slats introduced into your barrel. On such a small scale, you could turn around a batch on no time flat. But then you would be potentially sacrificing mellowness.

How many times can a barrel be used before it no longer provides the flavor it once was providing?

[BrianL]

SO.......... You put a $15 dollar bottle of whiskey in a $50 dollar barrel and get out a $40 whiskey???? Guessing the barrel has diminishing returns on reuse? Still kind of a cool idea. MY thought would be putting in a well-aged whiskey to start and see what it makes.

[chadt1234]

Many large production distillers and vintners use oak chips, cubes, staves etc. to get oak flavor in to their products more cost effectively. Only time can effectively mellow out fine spirits though. I don't have any idea how many uses you can get out of a barrel. Depends on how much oak flavor you are looking for. The more time it spends in close proximity to a liquid, the fewer uses you will be able to get. There are plenty of high end distillers and vintners than only use a barrel once.