Why Are Whisk(e)y Barrels Being Burned?

[@JakeHarris0]

You can make "activated charcoal" by running steam through charcoal at really high temperatures. This just gives the same charcoal more surface area. Please try this!!! Get some small barrels and put one in an oven with steam, age whiskey in both, and compare. If it works, you can use it; if it doesn't, we get a fun youtube video!

[@wp2746]

A whisky barrel is hold together by love more than anything.

[@StillIt]

New marketing ploy to go on every bottle. "Every bottle contains a little bung hole juice"

[@folkmarcmetal]

So you have found a new fast aging method to use for your channel, have fun with it lol

[@StillIt]

@@folkmarcmetal bahahaha I just saw this mate. That will add color fast all right!

[@lorenwegele7517]

LOL!!!!!!

[@customgunpla]

Someone should use this wood to smoke a brisket, might be interesting.

[@cobrian45]

That idea is gold.

[@benjalowiec7934]

I've been thinking that. That would be pretty awesome

[@joshbaker2105]

You can buy smoker chips made from JD barrels. You can see the char on some of them. I haven’t used them for brisket but they work well to smoke salmon.

[@RecoilOperated]

I've used barrel wood. its amazing.

[@StillIt]

Yeah dude I save my wood for smoking :)

[@edsterling6943]

Interestingly enough, I read somewhere that there are companies that actually do put chunks of wood (not saw dust, lol) inside their barrels along whith the whisky which also add to the final flavour and color.

[@maximumenergy5925]

Yes they make " inserts " and some distilleries do use them

[@maltymission]

excellent vids, I love this combo of (nerdy) intel which feeds my obsesive-want-to-get-to-know-all-there-is-to-know about whisk(e)y with a good laugh and some shenanigans! THANK YOU, sirs!

[@thewhiskycouch7886]

Fascinating video! Great job guys! Cheers from South Africa 🇿🇦 😊🥃

[@jakeike374]

I love how y’all still manage to make horrible decisions while you’re NOT DRINKING!!! Congrats

[@CMHasty028]

No way to explain how hard I laughed at the end of this! Thank y'all for that!!

[@ribbit1964]

i am so glad i found your channel! fun stuff & accidently learning stuff too!

[@WhiskeyTribe]

glad to have you here!

[@boone6646]

I absolutely love your channels! your personalities are interesting, you’re incredibly knowledgeable and capable of teaching, which helps if you’re someone like me who wants to learn as much about whiskey as possible. Keep up the great work you guys!

[@adamcroft80]

What’s really annoying is that a couple of years ago I literally a mile or 2 away from this place (Fang & Feather) and didn’t even realise till I got home. Would have loved to come and have a few drinks with you guys.

[@mattthompson5908]

Just went to the Jack Daniel's distillery in TN and they were talking about their barrels. Awesome experience

[@Crazt]

Oo! Taking apart old barrels of different chars and different whisk(e)ys, rebuilding individual staves into a single Frankenstein's monster barrel!

[@robertamsler]

I didn’t expect to laugh as hard as I did at the end of the video. That was great.

[@patricklahr5680]

gentlemen I have enjoyed all of your vids. I must come and visit your place it seems to me that you have the "saint peter's: of whiskey. I APPLAUD ALL YOU EFFORTS AND EXPERIMENTS!!!!If only I could spend some time and visit my bucket list will be complete.

[@edstewartjr4530]

A+ for creativity, Rex... C- for scientific effect. Still, educational and highly entertaining as always!! Can't wait to see how some of the really, really small batch experiments work out...

[@joartdz230]

nothing like waking up in the morning to you guys!!!!

[@cricardol]

I think you didn't need to cut the rings ... Hammer them off

[@ScotchTestDummies]

Cutting them was cool however and as a viewer I got a little thrill when each one popped free. Maybe just me. Bart

[@ryansmith5043]

YES GUYS!!!! YOU LET DANIEL SCIENCE! Thanks for being better about this Rex. We know. You do it for the people.

[@theflannelfisherman8329]

I made a one gallon bourbon barrel porter. Soaked 1oz of charred oak cubes in 2.5oz Buffalo Trace for two weeks. It was blacker than that. The smell was incredible. Sadly I didn't try it straight. I added it all in with the beer right away when I racked to secondary :(

[@joewiener1616]

Please correct me if I am wrong. The changing temperatures in the rick house (spring-summer-fall-winter) pump the liquid into the char and pull it out of the the char. This is where the flavors and color come from.

[@fenxis]

The experiment of the different charing was done by Dr Don when he created Dissertation. At the end of the day they used about half of the barrels in the final product.

[@AdamPFarnsworth]

I saw those charred staves at the distillery on Friday!

[@Nonzeugma]

Post-hoc ergo propter hoc It's a maddening one for sure

[@darthtripedacus1]

Still makes me smile. By the way where can people download a char list similar to the one you had?

[@rockthebuilder]

SUPER unpopular opinion, BUT, I think you should always leave the guard on the grinder. Reason: once witnessed a coworker cut off all 4 digits with a grinder.

[@edstewartjr4530]

Yeah, it's kinda hards to go back to normal after a quadruple severing...

[@lorenwegele7517]

I slipped and stuck a grinder in my thigh once. THAT wasn't fun either although not as damaging or traumatic

[@johngustavlabayen]

Safety first!

[@paulbu6003]

Some suggestions! Same process but bake wood in oven for different periods of time, then use moonshine as base! I'm serious!

[@beng808]

Rex!!! You need to try this again since it’s not dry week anymore!!

[@chrisparkin6894]

LOL - I think you overdid the surface area :D

[@KillCoMentalMusings]

My favorite part is that Daniel never actually said ""ok good" once when they were trying to char it was typically "alright" or "go for it" :P

[@davidstecchi5885]

The logical fallacy you were trying to state was, "Post hoc ergo propter hoc", or in the words of an ancient Arabic proverb, " The donkey's nose does not cause his tail."

[@tartenterror1]

Really cool video guys!

[@checkoutthatthing]

Perhaps toasting your saw dust first would work better, like they char the barrels first.... Just saying. I thoroughly enjoy seeing sharing of the "results" of the Shananagins. Not that I don't like seeing Daniel being tortured, but, when Rex also gets in on the funky produce in the end. That was groß.

[@thewhiskybowman]

Compass box added extra staves to their original spice tree to mature it faster, but were told they couldn't sell it as scotch by doing so, I don't know if there are regulations against it in other countries as well. The regulations seem a bit odd, it has to be unmodified barrels, but I'd have thought charring, or using ex sherry/bourbon casks, sounds like the very definition of modified casks. But what do I know?

[@siggyincr7447]

Seems to me that the most economical way to age clear distillate into whiskey would be in large sealed stainless tanks with a bunch of charred oak inside. First off you'd get the economies of scale on storage space and material handling and you'd also avoid all the losses associated with aging in wood barrels for years. I'm sure lots of whiskey snobs would complain about the more industrial method, but wouldn't it just be a faster and cheaper method to produce potentially better results?

[@romannod5191]

I think that would be comparable to wines aged in steel tanks together with wood chips. It can actually give you a result, good enough to even fool sommeliers. I think that some products made with your proposal could actually be superior in taste and quality to others. I would be fine with it, as long as they would be clear about it

[@DeathMonky22]

you could say, that bitter note had a ... slow burn.... YYYYEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@nivikliriak]

What if you charred half of the barrel at one darkness for certain flavor notes, and charred the other half of the barrel at a different darkness for different notes?

[@mosesumike]

Thank you for sharing!

[@bigpoopins8061]

I always thought it would be fun to char the barrel by burning a used char barrel. Something like put the new barrel on a cement mixer, put some of the used wood in 2-3 chimney fire starters till you have a good bed of coals than one chimney thing after the other into the cement mixer barrel till the coals burned off. Make sure you have more coals ready cause it could take awhile.

[@caseyboutillier7510]

Bless that fella for at least running that cut off wheel the right way!

[@Sgt_Fury]

You guys should take a look at lost spirits distillery. They claim to have a process that speeds up aging significantly.

[@christinedaisy594]

Another great video! Did you guys make any Sneaky Pete in your MGP barrels after you emptied out the Eleanor?

[@luckysledge8064]

What about charring say half a barrel at level 5 and the other at a 2? Would that mix things up?

[@007hwm3]

Love the facial expression at the end! Bitter...yeah really bitter😂🤣

[@BeanDip125]

How did a guy from a whiskey channel on youtube not know whiskey barrels are charred

[@michaelmurphy5911]

Keep up the great content guys!!!

[@a.vincent1248]

I'm not sure if anyone has asked this or not, but could someone pre-char the barrel sections at different char levels and assemble the barrel from them as to bring in the different flavour profiles of the different char levels?

[@jainiajackson3216]

A. Vincent I was going to ask the same thing. Or transfer between barrels as it ages. Or add pieces of a different char inside the barrel. All the flavors! 🤔

[@sgtsagara02]

So what would happen if you were to use a grain vodka and then age it in a charred barrel. Would the end result be similar to whiskey or would the multiple distillations used for vodka strip to many of the flavors from the distillate to make it useful for aging?

[@StillIt]

I messed with doing just that. It definitely does not taste like a whisky. But it does have some similarity. It also adds a little body and the wood sugars take the edy off a little.

[@ferryboom6255]

I heard about those rapid aging machines that use electricity and ultrasound in order to age whisky quickly. Can you guys make a video about however this compares to barrel aging and woodchip aging love to learn the difference

[@jameslanning8405]

I guess that's why I enjoy the taste of Evan Williams, "black label." It's a very 'woody,' taste. And after the 3rd round, you barely notice the ethanol burn! They don't use sawdust... But they DO use charcoal filtering.

[@khunpingpong]

thx for sharing the secret recipe for some traditional whisk(e)y out there in the market...lol

[@Macros997]

I wonder... could you start with a toast on the barrel, add whiskey to it and let it sit then progress to each char letting it sit with whiskey inside for a few months so as to get a different flavor in the char later?

[@Vendra209]

i would love to find the song during the credits its really catchy.

[@FightStealDrink]

justin wiggin , DJ quads - Millionaire

[@Vendra209]

You sir are worth your weight in Ardbeg, Thank you.

[@leffapal3082]

@@FightStealDrink thank you sir!

[@JB-pk8vm]

I think that the wood acids reacts with the ethanol in the whiskey to form esters. Esters are are flavorful compounds

[@RydersCove]

Do barrels ever use different charred staves on a barrel to get a mix of flavors?

[@kirkwagner461]

Try charring the saw dust before pouring the whiskey?

[@ChristophfromSchwiiz]

Tommy was quite cool and collected for cutting shotgun noise producing metal bands, and I'm assuming he doesn't regularly use a grinder. Go Tommy :D

[@unspokentruths6416]

Use a guard on that angle grinder. I know a guy who's face was filleted by a wheel that shattered.

[@zerothehero2990]

I came for the Whisky and I stayed for the Pranks, PROST!!!

[@williamsandow3530]

whats the song at 13:30? the end credits

[@greysuit17]

Could you mix charred and uncharred wood in a single barrel?

[@rossfudd256]

I think you've covered this before Daniel, but have there been any successful uses of other wood species for barrel making? The one I'm thinking of that has the most similar properties to oak is hickory, doesn't Jack Daniels use it for their charcoal filtering? But why not apple, birch or aspen. I know you can make a barrel out of red oak, it has something to do with the grain structure being to porous but there has to be some other hardwoods that will work for aging whisky.

[@karl_alan]

If I remember, the primary reason for not using red oak is that it is chemically different and smells/tastes bad. Beyond that, I believe it has been said that there is an american oak mill lobby or something that lobbied for bourbon to legally need to be made in new american oak. I personally would love to try a wood aged in one of the ones you listed, or even a similar tropical hardwood. I think they could do it...they would just need to call it american whiskey instead of bourbon, and a place like MGP probably wouldn't be involved in coopering those barrels, so they would need to do it themselves.

[@wilhooft]

WHAT IS THE SONG AT THE END! can't find it anywhere..

[@sharathbabu6156]

Wilko Kiewiet - I looked it up too lol and got the original kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaiyipWMlLF1nNE The one used in the video seems like a remix

[@WhiskeyTribe]

dj quads - millionaire

[@ryangonzales6236]

I laughed super hard with the rapid aged whiskey so hard

[@rivenmain2175]

rex your idea was good but you didnt do the experiment seriously, you need chips now saw dust and also a neutral spirit like vodka and then maybe you can make something interesting

[@j.o.p.9270]

After its charred can u soak the wood in something to enhance flavor?

[@DeeVeeTee583]

J.O.P. Wine or sherry. Hence wine finished whiskey.

[@makinggreatbread]

Hey guys. You want to test out what you get at each stage of char? Why not start with moonshine, and place blocks of those oak slats into each jar? Let it sit for some weeks/months. Then give results. That would be cool to watch.

[@portpipe99]

Also some cooperages burn pires of hickory or oak and shovel inside the bunghole more loose char left from the fire

[@kompressor740ify]

What barrel did you use to cut up, is it an Eleanor barrel?

[@BradLeclerc]

Now I'm irrationally curious who got the bunghole!

[@robcarson2728]

I thought toasting was accomplished using radiant heat only (i.e. without an open flame). Like with resistive heating wires like toaster elements, or an electric heat gun or something like that...so that you get pyrolysis of the wood sugars without getting any ignition.

[@jeffpiper4374]

Another great video!

[@the-chillian]

I was confident, by 12:30, that the resulting liquid would indeed have a lot of flavor. It was going to be a highly shitty flavor, but there would be a LOT of it.

[@Spiritus_Invictus]

I wonder if it's possible to toast, one stave, char the next, toast the third, char the forth etc. and make a barrel with these. and if so did someone experimented with it?

[@coltonmaxey3730]

Would it be possible to just char half of the inside of the barrel? Might be a dumb question but curious

[@fonzistemista]

Is that the ballistic target from MR?

[@HW1984]

Guys, could you possibly explain what they are talking about when they talk about “rows” in distilling. For example “two row” vs “six row” Barley. Whats the difference, which is better and for what.

[@StillIt]

Basically just different types of barley man. It refers to the way the barley grows. Not better or worse, just different. Some have more enzymes available for example, which is helpful if you are using unmalted grains hat don't have any.

[@joshbaker2105]

I’m no expert but I believe the 2 vs 6 row is how the grain grows on the plant. The 6 row has a lot more enzymes in it after it has been malted to break down starch. So if you had a 80+% corn mash bill. Or any unmalted grain. It would be better to use 6 row malt to convert the starch into sugars for the yeast to do its thing. Im sure someone can explain this better then me but that’s the basics of it. Check out Jesse on Still it. He released a video this week and goes into great detail on this topic.

[@HW1984]

Still It, thanks Jesse! Love the channel and always look forward to your content.

[@HW1984]

thanks for the explanation Josh !

[@vbence12]

Honestly once they charred the wood pieces I was fully expecting them to just pour the whiskey on it and drink of of the wood.

[@MtnBadger]

The way to rapid age with staves (yes... It's a thing) is to cut the chared, clean staves into smaller chunks, a few inches long if you're aging in the jars, and letting the whiskey/shine sit until the desired color and flavor is reached. Often a couple-three weeks. When the whiskey is in the barrel, the single, charred surface is exposed to the whiskey. This is why the barrels must be turned periodically, to get even exposure of the entire contents to the charred surface. A couple of years of aging can be achieved in a couple weeks. When you put the barrel in the whiskey, more surface area is exposed so it takes less time to draw the same color/flavor profile. Rapid aging is actually a common process among smaller, craft distillers who need to turn product over in a shorter time frame. Many producers of moonshine will use this type of aging, as well, to age their product even though they don't have full aging barrels or enough product to fill barrels and let them sit around for several years. Those barrels must be "baby sat" in an aging house, as well, and can't just "sit." Small volume shiners just don't have the time, money, product and facilities to barrel age their whiskey.

[@burkhartkevin]

Grooves bu Ardbeg is worth mentioning in this topic. The char level itself becomes their marketing

[@karl_alan]

Aww. Kinda wanna try that. Also, I'm a woodworker. If you want something for the distillery made from some of your used staves, just let me know. I'd be happy to make something for you using them.

[@joewiener1616]

Rockler sells them

[@karl_alan]

@@joewiener1616 oh yeah. Woodcraft does too. I was more stating that if they wanted something made from their barrels that their whiskey held, for sentimentality, I could do something for them.

[@beawzonk]

Hey when will you guys be getting more challenge coins and glencairn glasses in the whiskey genius store?!

[@WakeUpWolfgang]

What barrel was this? Was it E2?

[@DanielGonzalez-ew9md]

What if you use both hickory and oak on a barrel

[@ceka50]

Are barrels ever used that have multiple woods and char levels in one barrel

[@danielh750]

How was barrel charring started? Where did that idea come from?

[@shakeyfly]

this might be my favorite episode, and easily the BEST ending ever.

[@marfnl2]

I wonder what flavor you would get if you would smoke the grain with old used Whisk(e)y Barrels. circle of life idea maybe?

[@DeeVeeTee583]

Boys, there is no way to guarantee that that shenanigan was alcohol free.

[@perilouspancake5510]

Wow I caught an episode drop for the first time.

[@effingosprey9434]

Ralfy has done something similar, just more professional. He tosted a small piece of oak, tied a string to one end, and put it in a bottle to sit for a few days. Not sure of the episode number though.

[@StillIt]

I have not seen that will need to check it out

[@jacoblepter7757]

Where do the idea to char barrels come from?

[@cream_soda]

Do any companies "rapid age" their whiskeys with wood chips? The sawdust was obviously goofs, but using oak chips is definitely a thing in mass market chardonnay.

[@bretthallgren486]

Some distillers do, yes, but it has to go in a barrel for the alcohol to be called whisk(e)y. I've seen gin and vodka labeled as having used wood chips, and many hobbyists use chips at home.

[@jonclark2234]

Does moving a barrel during aging affect the flavor or anything? Just curious if whiskey makers are careful to not touch the barrels at all, or if it doesn’t really matter?

[@SilentEcho16]

It's important to rotate the barrels every now and then, so one side doesn't dry out and crack

[@vigchand8849]

Richard Patearson stands no chance to Rex's distilling!

[@leonidesmadrilejo]

What will happen if the saw dust was burned first before pouring the whisky :)

[@Spiritus_Invictus]

Hi guys, we know that ice or cold breaks down the flavor of the whisky. But does the opposite also applies? Does warming your whisky up enhances the flavor?

[@Its_KRO]

Yes, ive seen people palm a cup of whisky to heat it up with there body heat.

[@JamesKintner]

I don't usually listen on headphones, and i don't know if this is still where Rex is editing primarily, but the music mix on this is on point.

[@zacharyclements6823]

What about cedar barrels