I have a 5 gallon untoasted oak barrel, I'm uncertain whether to just use it as is or whether to attempt to toast it a bit. Realzing what a fiasco that could be, does anyone have any experience with untoasted barrels?
I'm thinking the safe play would be to ferment a white in it initially and then just keep cycling reds through, but I'm accustomed to a medium to medium heavy toast from beans or chips. I will use this barrel regardless as it was a gift.
I do have a turbo-torch, so if unheading and toasting is not a stupid as it looks to me right now and is an option, I'm willing to give it a shot. I just don't want to destroy a gift.
It is my understanding, and I may be wrong, that the function of toasting is to LESSEN or soften the oak flavor. That is, a non-toasted barrel will impart more harsh oakiness more quickly than a medium toasted barrel, and that a heavily toasted barrel will even take longer.
I have re-toasted a 59 gallon barrel . I de-headed it , ground out 1/4" of the old wood , then used a weed burner to toast it . Put the heads back on , and all was well . Can it be done , yes !!!!! Was it worth it ? Hell no !!!!! Never again !!!!!!
But I had to try it or I would always wonder about it .
I have no direct experience, but if you live near a winemaking area, there most likely is a cooper in the area, and he could disassemble your barrel and toast it properly, and reassemble the barrel so it wouldn't leak when filled.
Assuming that this is not a waxed barrel, popping the heads out and toasting it is a viable thing, but if you've never taken apart a barrel before there are a few tricks.
First off, barrels are a lot easier to work with when they're soaked tight. The wood is more pliable and not as apt to scorch or outright catch on fire as when the wood is dry.
Before taking apart a barrel, mark the staves and head so that you can tell which way the head was oriented before you disassembled the barrel. Drive a short, threaded eyelet into the center of one of the heads. Remove all the hoops on that same end of the barrel (a drift punch and small sledge hammer works well for knocking off the hoops), and _loosen_ the hoops on the other end. That will allow you to remove the head on the hoopless end by hooking the eyelet with a coathanger (or equivalent) and spreading the staves to free the head. After removing the head put one or two of the hoops back on to keep the barrel together. You _always_ want the staves to stay together, in order.
At this point, you might be able to toast the inside of the barrel without removing the other head. (If necessary you can remove the other head by the same method as the first.) If the wood begins to char while you're toasting it, swab or squirt it down with water. The idea is to caramelize the sugars in the wood - not to make briquets.
When you're satisfied with the toasting, put the head(s) back in (aligned correctly), replace the hoops and tighten them using the drift punch and sledge hammer. Tighten the bilge hoops first (farthest from the heads) and work toward the chime (near the ends). When the barrel is tight, tapping the head will give you a ringing sound (as opposed to a dull "thunk"). If you do this right the barrel shouldn't leak when you're finished.
It's un-waxed and will be toasted! Thanks for the details, I really want to toast this barrel but know there is art and science intermixed here and did not want to bugger it up. Best way to learn is to do. Best regards, Joe
If you ever burned a dry piece of oak in a fireplace you will first see the sap heat up. There is a point to what Tom S is saying in "The idea is to caramelize the sugars in the wood". Just by burning/charring the inside you will not achieve the same thing.
One of my friends that own Croft's in Oporto Portugal, who makes their own barrels on the property, emailed me back and confirmed this for me. Actually he claimed it also harden any residual (I think he means sap) inside the oak of the barrels so in a way create a seal in the wood. Giving a different breathing property to the barrel. I know that the wood used is usually sap clear, but I guess there must be some left.
I was also sent a SC barrel by mistake last year and realize that it was not a toasted barrel when I went to use it. I have since been using it for whites with toasted oak dumped into it when needed.
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