Removing Whiskey From Barrel

[Ayo_SDI]

So I'm finishing up my first batch of whiskey, aged for a year and I haven't really thought about how to get the whiskey out of the barrel. 

So I'm curious as to what techniques you use to get your whiskey out of a barrel and back into a tank or container? 

My first instinct was to use my diaphragm pump but Im interested to hear what the other options are. 

[Huffy2k]

We've been using this little pump for years!

https://www.tcwequipment.com/products/flojet-g70-explosion-proof-air-diaphragm-pump

[Falling Rock]

GRAVITY...siphon to SS Vessel.

[bconley]

For emptying barrels, we've used everything from a pump (most common), to a siphon (less common and slow, but it works for certain situations), to loading barrels up on a forklift and dumping into an open tank with some wire mesh over it to catch char (Makes dumping 5-10 barrels go very quickly).

[SlickFloss]

How big of a barrel?

 

[TommyTacos]

On 7/23/2020 at 1:39 PM, bconley said:

For emptying barrels, we've used everything from a pump (most common), to a siphon (less common and slow, but it works for certain situations), to loading barrels up on a forklift and dumping into an open tank with some wire mesh over it to catch char (Makes dumping 5-10 barrels go very quickly).

So what do you attach to the pump to pull the whiskey from the barrel? Do you just drop a hose and hope you get all the liquid? or do you have a "wand" of sorts? If so, where do you filter the char out? I'm trying to upgrade my boss's system, it's not the most user friendly. He has a plastic pipe attached to a triclamp hose barb with a bit of mesh wired to the end. It's not perfect but it has worked okay enough.

[Foreshot]

I made an "extractor". I put cams on it so it hooks up quickly. It's ~4' long so we can put it in a side or top bung barrel. We use a flowjet to power it. It's not super fast but gets most of everything out. At that point we flip the barrel and dump whatever is left. It's usually less than a cup. Put a filter in between the extractor and pump or else you'll destroy the pump when a piece of char gets in it. And yes I know that from experience. 👎