3.5 Gallon whiskey barrel 125.00

Skip it bud.

Get a Balcones barrel. It's from Waco, it's really, really tasty whiskey, and it's 5 gallons. Perfect size, comes with a silicone bung, and a stand for it too.

I'm racking my BCBS-ish stout to it.. probably next weekend.

Keep in mind as well, that the smaller barrels have more surface area to your beer, and the first couple runs, might not last more than a few weeks, to a month more than likely.

 

You'll end up over oaking the beer. Since the barrel was only used once, and would be freshly dumped, you'll end up getting alot of barrel character the 1st beer in there. The 2nd will get slightly less, and so on and so forth. It'll take longer each time you put something in there to reach where you might think it's done. Normally people note that the 1st run in the small barrels will be done in 2-3 weeks. Has to do with surface area. Your 5 gallons of beer is touching more oak than if you had a larger 55 gallon barrel full.

 

The item is out-of-stock.
Can't buy one at any price!

That and FAQ #2:
Q: Will my furniture smell like wine?

IMO...fermenting any beverage in fookin'furniture is not only profane; it's a crime against nature.

 

I have one since the guy that sells them is in my homebrew club, and they are awesome. I'm making a stout this weekend to fill it!

 

The guy in your HB club is the distiller at Balcones, or is the guy that does the selling of them online at homebrew.com?

Good to know whichever, I might need another when they dump some next time!

 

Not worth it unless that is all you are brewing. I paid the same price for a 15G Dads Hat Rye Whiskey Barrel.

 

I've never played with an oak barrel. Does the Devil's Cut (absorption of beer into the oak) decrease each time you reuse the barrel, or is this pretty negligible?

 

I can't scientifically answer it, but I would assume the rate of evaporation would be the same for each beer put through it, if the conditions that the barrel was stored in, stayed consistent.

The oak can only hold so much volume within the pores of the wood, the tannins in the oak, are what we go after and flavor the beer with. As those get pulled into the beer, there will be less and less each pass, giving you impression of a lighter, smoother oak profile.

Not only that, but the beer doesn't get that far into the wood, similar to spirits as well. Several breweries that age in wooden tanks, have to scrape the sides of the tanks after once in a while to take off the beerstone, and expose fresher wood. Which can start the process over again.

 

Did you find Balcones in Georgia or did you travel to Texas and have it? It's the tastiest distillery I've found and is hard to find bottles even in Texas. Glad to see this post on here!

 

I got balcones stuff in Georgia. Not easy to find but most stores worth their salt have some. I enjoy it but probably more as I'm from the centex hill country.

 

Good to hear, I'm glad it's getting around. They are working on exponentially increasing their production at a new facility. Hopefully there is more to go around soon. Cheers!