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CheckoutAn oak
barrel in the stocks of a moonshiner is certainly one of the most powerful
tools for refining distillate. It is not surprising that many masters do
various machinations to get special drinks.
For
example, there is a method of long sailing on a ship loaded with barrels – a
long continuous shaking and a certain humidity of the air do their job, and we
get a unique drink.
And the
first question on the agenda is: what to choose? After all, there are quite a
large number of different options on the market.
There are
barrels, there are jugs. There are different firing. There is a different tree.
After all, barrels are often sold after aging some drinks in them! And they are
all of different sizes!
Let's
figure it out.
You can
choose a barrel or a jug at your discretion. In fact, the difference will be in
the form. But the degree of roasting will affect the taste of the finished
drink.
We usually
choose oak from wood. However, not all oaks are equally useful, so it is best
to check with the manufacturer which tree he used.
Barrels in
which drinks were aged — it's cool! They add unique shades to your product, but
the price will bite everyone pretty much.
Now the
litre – the higher the volume of the barrel, the more it needs to stand. It
seems bad, right? Not really, there is such a thing as "the share of
angels". This is such an interesting situation when the lightest alcohols
pass through the pores of wood. Accordingly, the strength of the drink
decreases, but its quality improves. By the way, we will not repeat this
process in any way with chips or bars! In some cases, of course, you can do
aeration, but this is a separate topic.
The first
thing to do is to rinse the barrel. First, we just wash out what may be inside
(dust, sawdust, etc.), and then fill it with water. If the barrel gets dirty,
don't be alarmed – this is normal. From the water, the tree inside will swell
and the barrel will stop leaking.
The barrel
stopped leaking. Drain the water and fill in a new one. Now the tedious process
begins, in which we need to change the water periodically for one and a half to
two weeks.
At the end,
we take a 10% soda solution and pour half into the barrel. We roll it for half
an hour and drain it.
This is the
end of the basic preparation, but if desired, you can prepare the barrel even
more. We need to remove alcohol-soluble compounds. Usually raw or tails are
used for this. At the end of the process, our product will need to be
re-distilled! But we will be a little more cunning. We'll need wine. This way
we will slightly improve the aroma and taste of our future drinks.
We leave it
for two weeks. After that, the barrel can be used for its intended purpose! Of
course we will send the wine for distillation
Now a few
important points:
—We store
the barrel only with liquid, otherwise the tree will crack and the barrel will
die!
—The
smaller the barrel, the faster the drink will be infused. For example, in a
barrel of 10 liters, it will stand for about 6-10 months. In 5 liters of
capacity, the drink will be infused in just 2-3 months.
— Sometimes
it happens that the barrel does not stop flowing. Even after all your
manipulations. It's a marriage. And no matter what we do, the barrel, alas, is
unusable.
—Do not
wrap the barrel in polyethylene. The "Share of angels" improves the
drink. You just need to pour stronger moonshine.