Bonus % ABV from barrel aging

[Zucker Bee]

Does anyone know from rule-of-thumb how much alcohol I could have gain by aging a beer in Bourbon Barrel?

I got my barrel from Haven Hills through Tom Griffin

When I got my barrels, they were moist but not wet to point I could collect Bourbon out of them. I poured 2-3 liters to prevent cracking. I guess overall they remained empty for month and a half.

They were filled with a 9% beer and left in a 70c environment in our warehouse since last September.


Ben

[REV]

After a month and a half empty, I would guess most if not all alcohol evaporated. Depends on how they were stored, how dry, open, ect....

Unless there was fermentation in the barrel after it was filled, can't see where you would gain any alcohol content?

I could see you losing some through wicking and evaporation, aka "Angels Share", though I imagine it would be minimal within reasonable aging periods.

Haven't done much barrel aging, so only an opinion!

[Zucker Bee]

After a month and a half empty, I would guess most if not all alcohol evaporated. Depends on how they were stored, how dry, open, ect....

Unless there was fermentation in the barrel after it was filled, can't see where you would gain any alcohol content?

I could see you losing some through wicking and evaporation, aka "Angels Share", though I imagine it would be minimal within reasonable aging periods.

Haven't done much barrel aging, so only an opinion!

I'll know for sure after a lab analysis, but it did increased in alcohol content -a lot, if I consider the buzz I got after the 5 ounces that I've drank!

[REV]

Sweet! Let us know, I would be interested to find out!

Did you check gravity going in and coming out? Add any sugars/fermentables? Or do you think it is just residual from the whisky?

[Pompeiisneaks]

That would make me think you may want to get a very accurate measure of abv added, there's some federal reg that states only a certain percentage of alcohol content in beer can come from additions like this. It was discussed on another thread about hand made vanilla or other extract flavors w/ vodka or something like that.

[Zucker Bee]

That would make me think you may want to get a very accurate measure of abv added, there's some federal reg that states only a certain percentage of alcohol content in beer can come from additions like this. It was discussed on another thread about hand made vanilla or other extract flavors w/ vodka or something like that.

Yup. And here (Quebec, Canada) we are now heavily taxed beyond 11,9% under the " New Measure for Imitation Spirits ". It's about 10x the federal tax + 3x the provincial tax.

I'll keep you posted with the scientific results in a couple of days...

...this conversation made me thirsty, so I'm drinking the stuff right now with my brewers. Oh boy!

[REV]

Whoaaa! Thats quite the tax increase!

Would you mind sharing what current federal and provincial tax rates are?

Here in Wshington state we pay $7 per bbl to the feds and $4.78 to the state at our current levels. At that new rate we would be paying $85 per barrel!!!

[Zucker Bee]

The exise taxes for a small producer (<2 000 hectoliters >2.5% abv) are :

Federal : $0,03 / liter
Provincial : $0,21 / liter

= $28 / bbl at current rate

so for us, an imitation spirit (...sigh...) it would come up to $108/bbl

[BrewinLou]

Lets not get excited, (most and I believe Heaven Hill does as well) rinse their barrels with make up water. That water is then taken and used to blend the Bourbon down to the bottling proof. So do not be surprised or upset when you find barrel aging has added nothing or very little to your beer's abv.

[theburden]

Lets not get excited, (most and I believe Heaven Hill does as well) rinse their barrels with make up water. That water is then taken and used to blend the Bourbon down to the bottling proof. So do not be surprised or upset when you find barrel aging has added nothing or very little to your beer's abv.

Heaven Hill might, but the barrels that we get straight from Labrot and Grahm (Woodford Reserve) come to us wet. We are often able to collect a few glass fulls of barrel strength bourbon from them before beer goes in. Wood that has been soaking in bbl strength spirit for 8+ years almost assuredly adds abv to a lower gravity spirit after a year or more of aging.

[Brett0424]

I've seen barrel aged beers tested and gain up to 3% alcohol. This is not from residual booze in the barrel but from evaporation. Not really any good rule of thumb to calculate this because it will depend on how often/if you top off the barrel, the climate where it is stored, etc., etc.

[liammckenna]

We used to get old rye whiskey barrels which were damp but had no liquid in them (in University)

We would add 2 imperial gallons of water into the barrel and then roll it once a day for two weeks.

The liquid thus created, or 'swish' would be filtered before consumption. Typically the alcohol in the 1.5 gallons of resultant liquid was in the range of 23-30% (tested in the lab). Pretty tasty too.

Don't know if this is relevant to your thing Ben.

Pax.

Liam

[Zucker Bee]

the result...

The original beer was at 8.8%
Each barrel were topped off with about 30 liters over the last 6 months, with the original beer (filtered and kegged)

It is now at 12.3%, tested by an ASBC chemist

[REV]

Wow! Big increase! I stand corrected.