gene wrote:

Paul E. Lehmann wrote:
Joe Sallustio wrote:

I've got a wine in there now that isn't too
bad. Lots of tannin, no
off flavors, looks clear and clean. Tastes
like it will age very well.

The barrel has never been empty after the
first
batch. I've been pretty of top of sulfite,
needs a little now but close to bottling,
I'll do it then.

Thanks for your comments, I think I'm in good
shape. My fourth wine
will go in next week. How long to barrels
last? This is a small
barrel, I might need to add chips. If so, is
the hassle of barrel
aging worth it? Carbouys are pretty easy!

Dan
It all depends on what you want to get out to
the barrel aging. You probably don't get much
in the way of oak flavor after 2 to 3 years
but that isn't the only things barrels do.
There are theories about micro oxygenation
which helps reds; more than that you can get
some concentration of flavors and that is
rarely a
bad thing. A barrels
life is technically as long as you are willing
to deal with it. You can add chips or beans
to get the oak flavors once that peters out,
or
leave it in longer. It's not the same but
it's all relative to a point; if you put
mediocre wine into a big money French barrel
what you will get is mediocre wine with French
oak
notes. If you put great wine into a poorly
built or maintained barrel you will ruin it.
Barrels are work but if they weren't worth it
no one would put up with them, they are one
step below corks on the winemakers aggravation
spectrum...

Carboys are easy, agreed. I only have one
barrel and it's not much to
talk about. It was badly made; never toasted.
Don't EVER put good wine in an un-toasted
barrel; I'm still recovering from that fiasco.
It's full of sulfited acidulated water now. I
may give it one more shot on a second wine I
made or may use it for a sherry from French
Colombard.

Joe

The only thing I would add from Joe's advice is
that if you want to extend the life of a
barrel, consider putting "clean" wine into the
barrel.

I do not barrel my wine until around May. By
that time most of the tartrates will have
already precipitated out in the carboys
(providing you have a cool cellar or
equivalent).

Tartarates from "new" wine coat the inside of
the barrel and do not afford the wine a chance
to come into contact with the oak.

Hmmmm... and I thought the early oak contact was
advantageous to sooner
aging. By waiting until spring for first oak
contact, doesn't that mean you've added another
6 months to the aging protocol to account for
the 'oak integration' time?

Yes


What about removing the deposited tartrates in
the spring after the cold stabilization is
complete? You can rack the wine to another
container, rinse the barrel to remove settled
lees and 'loose tartrates', then fill it with
130F-160F hot water, soak for 15 minutes or so,
followed by a good rinsing with cold water. Let
the barrel drip dry, then refill it with
sulfite-adjusted
wine. The hot water short-soak seems to
dissolve the precipitated tartrates coating
pretty well for me.

If it works well for you then I would continue.

I think the water heater of most home wine makers
would not have water in that temperature range.


How much of the barrel oakiness do I lose each
time I do the hot water
soak cleaning cycle? Commercial wineries do a
hot water spray cleaning
of the inside of the barrels at each racking.

Not the one I worked at.


Are they noticeably shortening the useful
oak-enhancing lifetime of the barrel when they
do that cleaning?

Probably so but I am no expert.


Gene