$30 Goose Island Barrels this saturday

I just got this message from the Chicago Beer Society and thought I would pass it on.

"Hello CBS!

Goose Island Beer Company will be selling recently emptied bourbon and rye
barrels that were previously used for aging BCS and Bramble Rye BCS. The
barrel sale is this Saturday (Dec. 3rd.) at the barrel warehouse from 10am-2pm, and
barrels are only $30 each. See below for details.

Happy homebrewing!

Ian

**
*Welcome to the Barrel House Sale!!
**
Goose Island Beer Company’s Fulton brewing team is excited to make our
spent oak bourbon barrels available to the public.
The remaining barrels, and anything that comes available in the next week,
will be on sale at 10am on Dec. 3rd.

Please read the specifics below very carefully.

* * What:* Used Bourbon County Stout Barrels (Heaven Hill Bourbon)
**Barrels will not be rinsed
Used Bramble Rye Barrels (Heaven Hill Rye)
**Barrels will not be rinsed and may contain fruit
pulp
*$30 each – cash/check – and carry (no shipping!)
*
* Where:* Goose Island Fulton Brewery
Barrel House (across from the brewery)
1800 West Fulton Street
Chicago – 60612

* When:* December 3rd, 2011
10am – 2pm
**First come first serve

*Who: *Please reach out to
*[email protected]<outbind://666-00000000FD785841A9C22A43848EB8A043EA0A4A0700BAF0DC1C7E5DEA44B9129FA6A9292B170000038F0FD80000BAF0DC1C7E5DEA44B9129FA6A9292B17000004C380350000/[email protected]>
* with all questions

** Customer agrees to indemnify and hold free and harmless Fulton Street
Brewery. from and against all manner of loss, damage and liability
(including court costs and attorney's fees) arising from any claim made
against Fulton Street Brewery or loss incurred by Fulton Street Brewery as
a result of or in any way arising from, relating to, or connected with
usage of spent barrel(s). Barrels are purchased as is with no guaranteed
potential for future use. Barrels may not be returned or exchanged."

Dang that is an awesome deal. Too bad they won't ship. Somebody could definitely make a lot of money by buying up several of those, cleaning and preparing them and then selling them off with the option to ship.

FYI, these are 53 gallon barrels. I checked with Goose Island on that. I really kind of want one, but I'm not sure that I can really use it, since I can't brew a batch anywhere near that large...

^ Get 9.6 friends together and you can all brew the same 5 gallon batch and group age it in the barrel

A number of years ago some buddies and I bought 120 whiskey barrels dirt cheap from the Diageo distillery in Gimli, Manitoba. Wasn't into brewing at the time. Still have a handful left, but they're too big to be of much practical use to me for brewing.

I would think if you cut the barrels up and dropped pieces into the fermenter it would work like the wood chips you buy & soak. Not sure, just guessing.

For non beer use, you could cut the barrels up and mix the chunks in with charcoal for barbequing. We had a bag of Kingsford coals that had Jack Daniels barrel chunks in them and it made great steak barbeque!