StillSmart

Have any of you tried these 1 litre oak barrels??? at £39 that seems a good punt.

Here

Then being so small would you leave any likker in there for a long period...because I've read..."1 litre barrel it ages liquor much quicker 1 month= 1- 1 1/2 years".

I wouldn't want to over oak..

Edit...found this one now double the size for a few quid more.

Also http://www.thebarrelmakers.co.uk

There must come a time when they are 'mugs' not barrels.

Would like to know more about the oak ones...ie what oak and how long is been matured. 5 or 3 might be a bit of fun.

These small barrels should probably be thought of for use as opposed to storage. I think you can get them in exotic wood also, as well as the ones intended for vinegar.

Perhaps a dumb question here but, from the barrel makers website they sell wine barrels & beer barrels....can anyone enlighten me as to the difference? The beer barrels are much cheaper for the size, which would you use for whiskey?

Wine barrels are (should be) a better grade of oak and thicker that beer.

Its never the cheaper one is it?! Law of sod I think it's called, you want it right it's going to cost you! The ex whiskey barrel is intriguing at that price although I'm guessing as a former holder of the good stuff, it's had the life sucked out of it & wont be adding much flavour! I'd love to fill something that size & hide it until my son got married (he's 4 so plenty of time to mature), that would be one hell of a party

Have an 8 ltr barrel it was a birthday prezzie.
dont really know what to do with it.
Or should i say didn't, got 2 cachara washes
started tonight might be good to age so of that
in my prezzie.
Can anyone give me some guidance.

Icefever wrote:Have any of you tried these 1 litre oak barrels??? at £39 that seems a good punt.

Here

Then being so small would you leave any likker in there for a long period...because I've read..."1 litre barrel it ages liquor much quicker 1 month= 1- 1 1/2 years".

I wouldn't want to over oak..

Edit...found this one now double the size for a few quid more.

Probably holds a little more than this; viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3883

And agreeing with Myles, you wouldn't store for very long in something so small.

Robert.

Benoit wrote:... The ex whiskey barrel is intriguing....

'ex' is a big clue for barrels imo.

No more so than JD chips from EX bourbon barrels.

Robert.

Ive mentioned these guys before but here's a reminder

I use 5 and 10 litre to mature my stuff with good results

http://www.oak-barrel.com/barrels_and_o ... _index.htm

Wouldn't use anything that small for ageing.

Been thinking and investigating this for some time. Industry standard barrels are about 200 litres in size. Spirits barrels are toasted much heavier than wine/Sherry/port barrels. It's feasible that you could get a wine barrel and chat the inside, if you're skilled enough to remove the heads and do the burn.

I'd guess the smallest barrel I'd consider would be (probably) 50 ltrs or so. Any smaller amounts would just get chips or staves.

The stronger the batch, the quicker the extraction of vanillins etc (and the likely higher losses to evaporation).