Barrel Question

I just bought a reconditioned 30 gallon barrel today. I looks and smells great. It smells like french oak.

I seem to be having some problems with reductive ferments this year. So far, I have been able to control by racking off gross lees a day or two after pressing and using a lot of areation on racking. I would like to wait several months before transferring wine from glass carboys to barrel so hopefully I can rack the carboys as necessary and put relatively clean wine in the new barrel.

I would appreciate suggestions on what to do with the barrel until I fill it. I was thinking of filling with water to expand and then draining and storing dry and burn a sulphur disk each month until I am ready to fill it with wine at which time I would again fill with water to expand and drain the water and then fill it with wine. Anyone else have any other recommendations?

Reply to
Paul E. Lehmann
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Fill it with cold water to make sure it's tight. Then empty and gas it until you are ready to put wine into it. Just before filling it with wine, rinse it with cold water to eliminate most of the SO2.

Once a barrel is tight, it'll remain so for quite awhile (months, at least) unless the weather is hot for a long time. Don't bother with monthly sulfur candling. That's not necessary.

Tom S

Reply to
Tom S

When I bought my barrels brand new several years back 2 X 5 gal and 1 X 10 gal... The shop recommended loading them with water and a lite sulfite mix for several weeks to seal them. I actually set them out in the back yard in the sun.. they weathered really well and now look like they been in the celler for a century.

I recently had a batch of vinigar tale off in one of my oak barels. I loaded it with a meta bisulfite mix and let it sit for a week....rinced it out thoughly then tried a cheep winekit through it... it worked fine.

cheers Marv

Reply to
islander

Personally, I prefer the look of a spanking new barrel vs that rustic look. Also, it's not particularly advisable to leave barrels outdoors where insects like borers (earwigs) can easily get at them. Those suckers will bore right down into the croze and turn a good barrel into a leaker.

Sulfite isn't a cure for acetobacter. You may have knocked down the population enough to get it below your sensory threshold, but you can be sure it's still waiting in that barrel for you to either neglect topping up for a little while or letting your free SO2 drop too low. Be sure to check that barrel carefully with your nose every time you pull the bung.

Tom S

Reply to
Tom S

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