That's the Oak Barrel my boy got me for Christmas. The first batch of cider to go in the Barrel has been about 2 weeks, and I had to sneek a small taste. It's starting to get the smokey oak flavor of a quality whiskey but since it is a Hard Cider it's not nearly as strong and much smoother. The cider I'm aging is of the standard recipe for beginners, 5 gallons of apple juice, 2 pounds of light brown sugar, and pitched with Red Star Campaign yeast, fermented till the bubbling stopped (2 weeks), then 3 gallons of that was siphoned off the top and put into a a glass carboy with 1/4 tsp dissolved gelatin to aid in clarification.
After a week of clarifying 2.6 gallons of the perfectly clear amber liquid was put into the barrel and the bung was inserted. This is a small oak barrel with medium charring, at 10L (2.6 gal) it has a much larger surface to volume area so ages spirits much faster than 55 gallon barrels do. The manufacturer recommends 2 to 3 months of aging. If 15 days was any indicator 2 months will make a fine mellow dry cider.
I'll keep you up to date
