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Where would one find good information on the various methods to finishing an aged whiskey (once removed from original white oak) by further aging/finishing in other types of casks? I.E., aging/finishing in port, sherry, rum casks etc... If sourcing barrels used by makers of these other spirits, how soon after they have been used should barrels be repurposed for this reason?

I can't tell if this thread has become epic or super lame. Just step outside your respective distilleries, throw punches, wipe your wounds and drinks some damn whiskey.

Firstly I hope Jeff is recovering well I have read and listened to quite a bit about this event. I think that whiskeytango asked a very important question. To make 190 proof in a simple pot still the charge in the still has to be at almost 190, a very dangerous situation with direct flame heating unless the still is built to extreme safety. Listen to the interview with Alvin, He says he "filters" the vodka through a still. Another hint that he may have just put 190 into the pot. Also he says he uses grains from Europe. I would have thought US grains would be as good if not better, less pollution. I am just guessing here that he imports the "grain" at 190 proof. Even if this still was heated with steam from a remote boiler I am fairly confident it would still have caused a flash fire. Look at the geezer of almost 190 proof, it hits the electric light fitting that look like standard fluoro fittings, not explosion proof. The still was an amateurish piece of junk. See in the video at 1 minute the copper elbow looks as if it is held together with a piece of white tape, so I would be confident that the joint that fell off the top of the boiler was just as bad. We have had the following question several times on this forum "what is the internal pressure of a still?" The answer should be "almost zero" if the still is designed AND RUN properly. Look again at the geezer of alcohol, it contains a lot of liquid. This still was obviously running at quite a high pressure. A little bit of a lesson here for those of you who don't understand the physics of boiling liquids-- As the pressure inside a container increases so does the boiling point of the liquid. For a rough example, high proof alcohol might boil at 78deg C, increase the pressure in the pot and it could go up 80 deg C and then continue boiling steadily, no obvious problem yet. But if suddenly the elbow on top of the still falls off the pressure will suddenly drop, the boiling point is now back to 78 C but the liquid is at 80 C so the whole conents tries to boil instantly causing the hot boiling liquid to eject rather quickly, hitting the electric lights and dropping down onto the propane flame. I am in very little doubt that this is what happened. Please don't get too up-tight about open flame in a distillery using fermented mash in the pot. If the Twister still was charged with wash at 10% abv the exact same geezer could have occurred, but the liquid being ejected would only have been at or below 10% which if it landed in the right place could extinguish the propane flame. (unlikely but possible) On a second run through a pot still (spirit run) it becomes a little more hazardous in the same situation. It is quite possible the vapour could ignite but as long as the still charge was only 30% abv the contents of the pot is relatively safe when compared with 190 proof. Safety is paramount. Don,t let your guard down just because of what I have said in my last paragraph above. Even in the safest looking distillery SHIT CAN HAPPEN.