Small Oak Barrels - opinions

Do you top up after dispensing? It not, you may want to consider doing that to prevent the vinegar problem you have experienced.

You won't know till you try. Personally, I would not unless most of the oak in the barrels is spent - but to each his own. Since you seem to have an abundance of blackberries, try it both ways.

we usually go through the batch.. the whole 20L in about 2 weeks so I find an ordinary trap in the bung hole in the top works fine. it works in reverse letting air in as I dispense.

Ok... this fall I will give it a try with the first batch and let you know here.

cheers Marv

2 weeks is an awfully long time for wine to be sitting exposed to air -- and your wine is exposed.--- every time you draw off a jug of wine you are adding a jug full of air to the barrel. No wonder you had a vinegar problem last year. Topping up is absolutely essential is you are to have any chance of retaining some quality to your wine whether you are dispensing from an oak barrel or a glass carboy!

I'm certainly not the only one. At least one cooperage is offering barrels with a combination of American and French oaks in the same barrel. IIRC, the heads are one and the bilge is the other.

My experiment is going something like this. 1 Gibbs Bros 10g

Probably so. After all, only water and alcohol escape through the staves. Water leaves preferentially in a dry cellar; alcohol in a damp cellar.

In the case of Zin, Merlot and Cabernet I agree. I'm not so sure about Syrah or other Rhone reds, but I strongly _disagree_ in the case of Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir requires European oak only.

Tom S

As a middle-aged amateur winemaker, I find that my sense of taste is not as acute as my younger colleagues...and I love my small barrels. I have one that's about 8 gallons, and another that's closer to about 7 gallons. For years, I've used Stavin cubes, and the results are relatively subtle. But my first Pinot in new French oak for about 6 months has a rich vanilla flavor that even I can taste.

The added advantage is that your cellar actually smells like you know what you're going.

I can't wait to order my next barrel. Even if I over-oak, I figure that it'll age out over time.

Lee

{snip}

Paul knows that I like a well oaked wine. But I have not cared for the fruit wines that I tried to oak. I was sure that Cherry would take oak well but I did not care for it at all. This does not mean that you would not like it.

I would suggest that you draw off a gallon of a particular type of wine and oak it with beans. Give it a couple of months. If you like the result, then put the whole batch in your barrel. If not, you have saved your wine.

Ray

I guess when the oak flavor from your barrel is "used up", these beans or staves could come in good use. Your wine will still get the barrel "climate", and you even get to share your top up wine with your barrel ;)

---snip

Just blend out any over oaked wine, no need to wait.

SG Brix

Frankly, I don't find Country Wines take well to oak, for the most part. Sure, you might find an Olallieberry (sp?) that likes a bit of French oak, but my primo candidate for oaking is Blackberry.

Tom S

Paul Please explain what you mean by topping up?? I am missing something here.!!

cheers Marv

No, no, _no_! You're supposed to drink from the _barrel_ - not the topping bottle. Otherwise you're monitoring the progress of the _topping_ wine - and not the barrel.

Let's say you lose 250 ml of wine per week from a typical barrel. Assuming that you top weekly, pull out a few tastes (after sniffing the bunghole and checking out the surface of the wine for floating "mung"). Taste from the top of the barrel; then taste from farther down and compare the two. If they're similar, you're OK.

Pull out at least a 750 ml sample from the barrel. Then top the barrel to the brim from a 1 liter bottle of unoaked wine. If you run out from the liter bottle, pour back from the sample bottle to fill the barrel. Then drink whatever's left over, while mulling what's right and wrong with the wine.

Forget about your troubles, the Mysteries of Life - _whatever_. Just focus on the wine. Think about what it seems to need, and imagine what you _could_ do to improve it. Then try that on a sample. If that works, consider treating _all_ the wine that way. Try an adjustment of what you did before. Maybe that'll be better. Or not.

After awhile, you'll develop a feel for what's best for a given wine.

It's all a learning experience, and all about the art. This is the most interesting part of winemaking IMO.

Tom S

Topping up is the process of filling your barrel with wine so there is little or no air space on top of the wine. Spoilage organisms love air so keep your barrel as full as possible.

Also, when topping up, shine a light in your barrel to see if you have a white film on top of the wine. If you check often and you catch it early enough, this can usually be solved by overflowing the barrel with top up wine and floating it out. You may also have to add some SO2 and or adjust your pH to a lower value. Do NOT top up your barrels with an inferior wine. I always use as good as or better wine than what is in the barrel.

As an example, I have a 10 gallon barrel. I check for full every two weeks. I always first look at the surface in the barrel to see if there is any white film on top. I then smell the wine. I then taste a small sample from the barrel. Usually I will have to add slightly less than half a bottle every two weeks to keep the barrel topped up to the top of the bung. This is slightly less than a bottle a month for a 10 gallon barrel. I bottle some of my wine in splits for this purpose. It depends on the temperature and humidity how fast you loose volume. When you barrel a wine always have planned what you are going to use for top up wine and have it handy. If you do not need a full bottle or even half a bottle - just drink the rest.

- Oh, by the way, it is always best to taste and smell your top up wine before adding also. I have had my barrel for four years now and have never had a problem. The barrel has never been empty for more than about 30 minutes.

Does anyone have dimensions of typical barrels of given volumes, large and small?. Length, diameter on the end, diameter in the middle, volume.