Everything about Barrel totally explained
A
barrel or
cask is a hollow
cylindrical container, traditionally made of
wood staves and bound with
iron hoops. Someone who makes such barrels is known as a
cooper. Contemporary barrels are also made of aluminium and plastic.
Barrels often have a convex shape, bulging at the middle. This constant bulge makes it relatively easy to roll a well-built wooden barrel on its side, changing directions with little friction. It also helps to distribute
stress evenly in the material by making the container more spherical.
Casks used for
ale or
beer have
shives,
spiles and
keystones in their openings.
The "chime hoop" is the iron hoop nearest the end of a wooden barrel, the "bilge hoops" those nearest the bulge, or centre.
The stopper used to seal the hole in a barrel is called the
bung.
History
In
Europe in ancient times liquids like
oil and
wine were carried in vessels, for instance
amphora, sealed with
pine resin. The
Romans began to use barrels in the 3rd century
AD, as a result of their commercial and military contacts with the
Gauls, who had been making barrels for several centuries.
For nearly 2,000 years barrels were the most convenient form of shipping or storage container for those who could afford the superior price. All kinds of bulk goods, from
nails to
gold coins, were stored in them. Bags and most crates were cheaper, but they were not as sturdy and they were more difficult to manhandle for the same weight. Barrels slowly lost their importance in the 20th century, with the introduction of
pallet-based logistics and
containerization.
In the mid 20th century,
55-gallon steel drums began to be used for the storage and transport of fluids such as
water,
oils and
hazardous waste. Empty drums occasionally became musical instruments in a
steel pan band.
Aging in barrels
The term "barrel" typically refers to wooden vessels that are small enough to be moved by hand, up to
puncheon size (see below). Barrels are used for the storage of liquids, to
ferment wine, to age
wine (notably
brandy,
sherry and
port) and
whiskey.
Some wine is fermented "in barrel," as opposed to a neutral container such as a steel or concrete tank. Wine can also be fermented in large wooden tanks, often called "open-tops" because they're open to the atmosphere. Other wooden cooperage for storing wine or spirits are called "casks", and they're large (up to thousands of gallons) with either
elliptical or round heads.
Beer "Barrels"
Although it's common to refer to
draught beer containers of any size as barrels, in the
UK this is strictly correct only if the container holds 36
imperial gallons. The terms "
keg" and "
cask" refer to containers of any size, the distinction being that kegs are used for
beers intended to be served using external gas cylinders.
Cask ales undergo part of their fermentation process in their containers, called casks.
Casks are available in several sizes, and it's common to refer to "a
firkin" or "a kil" (
kilderkin) instead of a cask.
In the United States, the term "
keg" commonly means a 'half barrel' size container.
Sizes
English traditional, wine
Pre-1824 definitions continued to be used in the US, the wine gallon of 231 cubic inches being the standard
gallon for liquids (the corn gallon of 268.8 cubic inches for solids). In
Britain that gallon was replaced by the
Imperial gallon.
The
tierce later became the petrol barrel.
The
tun was originally 256
gallons, which explains where the
quarter, 8
bushels or 64 (wine) gallons, comes from.
English traditional, beer and ale
The US beer barrel is 31 US gallons (116.34777 litres), half a gallon less than the traditional wine barrel. (26 U.S.C. §5051
(External Link
))
Oil barrel
The standard
barrel of
crude oil or other
petroleum product (abbreviated
bbl) is 42 US
gallons (34.972 Imperial gallons or 158.987
L). This measurement originated in the early
Pennsylvania oil fields, and permitted both British and American merchants to refer to the same unit, based on the old English wine measure, the
tierce.
Earlier, another size of
whiskey barrel was the most common size; this was the barrel for proof spirits, which was of the same volume as 5 US bushels. However, by 1866 the oil barrel was standardized at 42 US gallons.
Oil hasn't actually been shipped in barrels
(External Link) since the introduction of
oil tankers, but the 42-US-gallon size is still used as a unit for measurement, pricing, and in tax and regulatory codes. Each barrel is refined into about 19½ gallons of
gasoline, the rest becoming other products such as jet fuel and heating oil.
The current standard volume for barrels for chemicals and food is .
Dry goods
A barrel is standardized for other products:
Other uses
Due to the traditional barrel's distinctive shape and construction method, the term has been used to describe a variety of largely unrelated objects, such as the
gun barrel and
barrel organ.
The English
idiom over a barrel means to be in a predicament or helpless in a situation where others are in control:
"I have no choice in the matter — my creditors have me over a barrel." The phrase is said to originate from two 19th century practices: rolling
drowning victims over a barrel to clear their lungs of water, or
flogging someone who is bent over a barrel.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Barrel'.
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