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Capn Jimbo's Rum Project Forum
Rum Appreciation by and for the Compleat Idiot
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Capn Jimbo
Rum Evangelisti and Compleat Idiot
Joined: 11 Dec 2006
Posts: 1373
Location: Paradise: Fort Lauderdale of course...
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 Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 4:51 am Post subject: Barrels: Sizes and Names |
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Found on the net...
| Quote: | Scotch Addict:
* Firkin – 9 Imperial gallons
* Kilderkin – 18 gallons
* Barrel – 36 gallons
* Hogshead – 54 gallons
* Butt – 108 gallons
* Tun – 216 gallons
* Firkin - 11 US gallons
* Kilderkin - 22 gallons
* Barrel - 43 gallons
* Hogshead - 65 gallons
* Butt - 130 gallons
* Tun - 260 gallons
Firkin – It’s an old English term derived from a Middle Dutch word vierdekijn, which means fourth. It’s appropriate because a firkin is a fourth of a barrel in volume.
Kilderkin – Again an old English term derived from Dutch but it doesn’t mean half, it just means small cask, but it is a half barrel.
Hogshead – I wasn’t able to find the origin of the term but it was standardized as 54 gallons by an act of Parliament in 1423.
Butt – This size in wine is called a pipe, so when The Balvenie Portwood Finish 21 states it was finished in Port pipes, it means barrels of this size.
Tun – It sounds like ton because it shares the same origin though the latter refers only to mass/weight. |
It would appear that most barrels used for aging rum are "hogsheads" (65 US gallons) not "barrels" (43 US gallons). So the next time some idiot holds forth about "barrel aging", you can tell em to go shove it up their "butt"...
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Capn Jimbo
Rum Evangelisti and Compleat Idiot
Joined: 11 Dec 2006
Posts: 1373
Location: Paradise: Fort Lauderdale of course...
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| Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 4:05 am Post subject: Barrels sizes used in whisky aging... |
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Barrels sizes used in whisky aging...
Whiskyforeveryone.com listed ten most used barrels for whisky aging...
| Quote: | * Gorda (capacity 700 litres)
A huge barrel used originally in the American whiskey industry. Made from American oak, they are occasionally used for maturing whisky but mostly for the marrying of different whiskies for blended or vatted whisky production.
* Madeira Drum (650 litres)
A short, fat, dumpy barrel with a very wide diameter, made from very thick staves of French oak. As the name suggests, these drums are used in the Madeira wine industry and are occasionally used for finishing some whiskies.
* Port Pipe (650 litres)
This is a tall, thin barrel made from thick staves of European oak. It looks like a regular barrel that has been stretched from each end. They are used to mature Port wine and are used in the whisky industry for finishing.
* Butt (500 litres)
A tall, narrow cask made from thick staves of European oak and they are widely used throughout the sherry industry in Spain. Butts are the most common type of sherry casks used by the whisky industry.
* Puncheon (500 litres)
There are two styles of puncheon cask. The most common is the ‘machine puncheon’, which is short, fat and made from thick staves of American oak. The second is the ‘sherry shape puncheon’, which is more elongated and made with thinner staves of Spanish oak. They are used in the rum and sherry industries respectively and are mostly used to finish whisky.
* Barrique (300 litres)
These are the casks that are widely used throughout the wine industry. They differ from many other types of casks or barrels as they are bound with wood strips rather than the regular metal hoops. Used to give whisky a ‘wine cask finish’.
* Hogshead (225 litres)
The word hogshead derives from the 15th century English term ‘hogges hede’, which referred to a unit of measurement equivalent to 63 gallons. Now made from American white oak, hogsheads are widely used for maturing bourbon and then sent to Scotland and Ireland. They are one of the most common types of cask used for maturing whisky.
* ASB (200 litres)
The ASB (American Standard Barrel) is derived from the hogshead with the capacity rounded down to 200 litres for modern ease of use. Made from American white oak, they are widely used in the bourbon industry and then are very commonly used in Scottish and Irish whisky maturation. If you have a bourbon cask matured whisky, it will almost certainly have been matured in a hogshead or ASB.
* Quarter Cask (50 litres)
A cask made to be a quarter of the size of an ASB, while remaining in proportion. Highly reactive with spirits as there is so much contact between the spirit and the wood. Used to give whisky flavour quickly. Also known as a ‘firkin’ by brewers.
* Blood tub (40 litres)
A small cask used mostly in brewing beer, but very occasionally used by distilleries to mature special runs of whisky. They have an elongated oval shape that was designed to make them easy to carry on horseback. |
Please note that the most commonly used container to age whisky is the "hogshead", not the "barrel". Thanks to (Whiskeyforeveryone.com)! Visit this site...
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