Brian Lundeen wrote:

Now that I've decided to get a barrel, likely a 50 liter Hungarian oak, a
couple of questions come to mind....

Follow Tom's advice... it worked great for me and my recently acquired
barrels. I do wonder where the idea of filling barrels with SO2 solution
came from anyway...

--
charles

"Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were
forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."
- W.C. Fields

Charles H wrote "I do wonder where the idea of filling barrels with SO2
solution
came from anyway..."

Maybe from "From Vines to Wines" written by Jeff Cox. I have a 5 gallon
barrel that I don't use all the time and I do keep sulfite solution in the
barrel between wines. I would rather use sulfur strips but have no
experience doing so. I bought an 8-inch strip from the homebrew/winemaking
shop. How large a barrel would this strip treat? How do you prevent sulfur
from dripping into the barrel? Thanks.

Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas

William Frazier wrote:

I bought an 8-inch strip from the homebrew/winemaking
shop. How large a barrel would this strip treat? How do you prevent sulfur
from dripping into the barrel? Thanks.

I turn the barrel so that the bunghole is facing down.... my large
barrels are usually on pallets or some sort of rack type thing. I have
this little note clip thing I use to hold the sulphur strip... that way,
none of the sulfur drips in the barrel. When it's done burning, I bung
it up tight and leave it be... I suppose for a smaller barrel you could
burn part of the stick. I've never tried to extinguish one of them
before though. It's probably a good idea to do the whole affair outside
too. HTH

--
charles

"Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were
forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."
- W.C. Fields

I have a 5 gal American Oak barrel that I treated with sulfur wicks over
the summer. My practice was this: I washed out the barrel real good
after the wine was out. Then I burned half a sulfur wick (about 4 "
worth) hanging from a modified wire clothes hanger. I would bung it as
tight as possible while the wick was burning. Pull out the hanger,
making sure you do not drop the burned wick in there. Bung it and seal
the bung/barrel interface with barrel wax. Put it in a glad bag and
cinch it tight to keep as much remaining moisture in the wood. Repeat
every 1.5 months or so. When you are ready for wine again, just follow
the new barrel procedures with hot water, etc. Fill with wine!

BE CAREFUL WITH SO2 WICK FUMES! If inhaled they can combine with mucous
to form sulfuric acid.

HTH,
Joe

"Tom S" wrote in message
om...

Over time, the barrel will dry out and loosen unless you rinse it every
couple of months to keep the wood swollen. Then you have to repeat the
gassing, of course.

I expect I will stick with sulfur burning, instead of an SO2 solution.

What do you think of the idea of wrapping the barrel in plastic sheeting to
maintain moisture?

Brian

Charles H wrote:

William Frazier wrote:

I bought an 8-inch strip from the homebrew/winemaking
shop. How large a barrel would this strip treat? How do you prevent sulfur
from dripping into the barrel? Thanks.

I'd just like to append my other recommendation and say that a small
amount of your wick should be burnt... I've read a few pages recently
that say 1/2 or 1/3 of a stick for a 60 gallon barrel... so for your
little one I don't think too much would be needed at all.
http://www.barrelbuilders.com/pg7.htm

--
charles

"Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were
forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."
- W.C. Fields

Brian Lundeen wrote:

What do you think of the idea of wrapping the barrel in plastic sheeting to
maintain moisture?

I think it's a good idea, and it should be noted that new barrels
usually come wrapped in plastic.

--
charles

"Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were
forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."
- W.C. Fields

Storing barrels filled with SO2/water is quite common in wineries.

In reality there is no truly correct way to store used empty barrels, the
best solution is to always have something ready to go back in them, which of
course isn't always possible.

Make sure your barrel is really well cleaned before you SO2 it up otherwise
the SO2 will do very little

Rob L


"Joe Giller" wrote in message
...
I have a 5 gal American Oak barrel that I treated with sulfur wicks over
the summer. My practice was this: I washed out the barrel real good
after the wine was out. Then I burned half a sulfur wick (about 4 "
worth) hanging from a modified wire clothes hanger. I would bung it as
tight as possible while the wick was burning. Pull out the hanger,
making sure you do not drop the burned wick in there. Bung it and seal
the bung/barrel interface with barrel wax. Put it in a glad bag and
cinch it tight to keep as much remaining moisture in the wood. Repeat
every 1.5 months or so. When you are ready for wine again, just follow
the new barrel procedures with hot water, etc. Fill with wine!

BE CAREFUL WITH SO2 WICK FUMES! If inhaled they can combine with mucous
to form sulfuric acid.

HTH,
Joe

"Brian Lundeen" wrote in message
...
What do you think of the idea of wrapping the barrel in plastic sheeting
to
maintain moisture?

Good idea. New barrels come wrapped in plastic to keep them tight while in
transit. Be sure that the outside is dry though before wrapping or you may
get mold or mildew growing on it.

Tom S

"Charles H" wrote in message
...

I'd just like to append my other recommendation and say that a small
amount of your wick should be burnt... I've read a few pages recently
that say 1/2 or 1/3 of a stick for a 60 gallon barrel... so for your
little one I don't think too much would be needed at all.
http://www.barrelbuilders.com/pg7.htm

I've seen this, too. Is it that you can have too high a sulfur concentration
in there that could be detrimental to the barrel or future contents, or is
it just that it is a waste because ti is overkill? Personally, given the
cost of sulfur wicks or disks, I can't say I'd be worried about waste, but I
don't want to harm the barrel.

Brian

Brian Lundeen wrote:

I've seen this, too. Is it that you can have too high a sulfur concentration
in there that could be detrimental to the barrel or future contents, or is
it just that it is a waste because ti is overkill? Personally, given the
cost of sulfur wicks or disks, I can't say I'd be worried about waste, but I
don't want to harm the barrel.

I'd wager it would just be overkill... but I'm not an expert by any
means :^)

--
charles

"Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were
forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."
- W.C. Fields

"Brian Lundeen" wrote in message
...

"Charles H" wrote in message
...

I'd just like to append my other recommendation and say that a small
amount of your wick should be burnt... I've read a few pages recently
that say 1/2 or 1/3 of a stick for a 60 gallon barrel... so for your
little one I don't think too much would be needed at all.
http://www.barrelbuilders.com/pg7.htm

I've seen this, too. Is it that you can have too high a sulfur
concentration
in there that could be detrimental to the barrel or future contents, or is
it just that it is a waste because ti is overkill? Personally, given the
cost of sulfur wicks or disks, I can't say I'd be worried about waste, but
I
don't want to harm the barrel.

An excess of SO2 won't hurt the barrel, and you couldn't get that from
burning a disk in it anyway. Once the oxygen is gone, it would stop
burning.

BTW, if you're using a silicone bung in the barrel (which you should), wrap
it with Saran Wrap before jamming it into a sulfited barrel. That helps
protect the bung from damage by the SO2.

Silicone _hates_ SO2 gas.

Tom S