Barrel facts for kids

A barrel is a large container, often shaped like a cylinder, used to hold liquids like wine, beer, or oil. Barrels are usually made from wood or metal, but you can also find them made of plastic.

Barrels are very important for aging drinks such as wine, whisky, and beer. Most of these special barrels are made from oak wood, which gives the drinks their unique flavors.

The word "barrel" is also used as a way to measure liquids. For example, one barrel of oil is about 159 litres (or 42 US gallons). This measurement is often shortened to "bbl". This idea of a "barrel" as a measurement started a long time ago in the early oil fields of Pennsylvania, where real wooden barrels were used to store and move oil. By 1866, people in West Virginia officially set the oil barrel measurement to 42 US gallons. This measurement then became a worldwide standard for oil. Even though oil is rarely moved in actual barrels today, the term "barrel" is still used to mean that specific 42-gallon amount.

Sometimes, a barrel can also be used to measure dry things. For example, a barrel of flour usually means 196 pounds (about 89 kilograms) of flour.

Different Barrel Sizes Around the World

The size of a "standard" barrel can be different depending on the country and what's being stored inside.

Barrel Sizes in the United Kingdom

• In the United Kingdom, a standard barrel for beer holds 36 imperial gallons (which is about 164 litres).

Barrel Sizes in the United States

• In the United States, a standard barrel for most liquids is 31.5 US gallons (about 119 litres).
• For beer, the standard barrel in the US is slightly different at 31 US gallons (about 117 litres). This difference is mainly because of tax laws.
• A common metal barrel you might see for oil or chemicals usually holds 55 US gallons (about 208 litres). However, remember that when people talk about a "barrel" of oil as a measurement, they still mean the 42-gallon amount, not the size of the physical container.

History of Barrels

Barrels have been around for a very long time! The first people to start using barrels were the Celts, around 350 BC. The Roman Empire later learned about barrels from trading with the Celts and started using them too. Barrels were a very popular way to ship items for many centuries, right up until the 20th century, when other types of containers became more common.

Images for kids

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  Traditional oak barrels made by Chilean cooperage Tonelería Nacional

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  Modern stainless steel casks and kegs outside the Castle Rock microbrewery in Nottingham, England

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  Wooden wine barrel at an exhibition in Croatia

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  Pyramidal pile of herring barrels in Scheveningen, the Netherlands

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  Wine barrels in Napa Valley, California

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  This Mercier oak barrel with a capacity of 200,000 Champagne bottles was created for the 1889 world exposition in Paris

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  Sherry barrel made with glass barrel head to show the layer of flor floating on top of the aging wine

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  Charred white oak barrels are filled with new bourbon whiskey and resting in a rack house for a period of typically 4 to 9 years (for good-quality bourbon), with the char giving the bourbon its characteristic copper color.

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  Beer barrels at the Munich Oktoberfest

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  The angels' share in the sherry aging produces fungus on the walls.

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  The angels' share fungus, Baudoinia compniacensis on bark, top, with an unaffected sample below

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  blue 55-US gallon (44 imp gal, 200 L) barrel (drum)

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  A half-completed beer barrel; in wine barrel cooperage this set-up is called "mise en rose"

See also

In Spanish: Barril para niños