Eli5: how is it possible that a wooden barrel, which is used for aging alcohol, does not rot away.

Question

Or how do they prevent it from rotting for such a long period of time.

I cant imagine that they use multiple wooden barrels during an aging proces of 30 years or so. Because it would interupt the proces, I geuss?

In: 71

Answer 1

Barrels are rotted by microorganisms, which cannot survive in alcohol, especially on in the concentrations of any alcohol you would want to age. Take whiskey for instance. Whiskey can be as much as 60% or 70% alcohol while it’s aging, which is plenty to kill any microbe.