New barrel seeping wine
 

I purchased a new 30gal french oak barrel in Dec. When I filled it
with water, it sealed very quickly and only leaked around a couple
quarts before entirely sealing. I topped it off and left it for 2
weeks, then conditioned and sterilized it with a sodium
bisulfite/citric solution. All this happened in my garage which is
~55-60F. I had no problems with any leaking from the barrel, which was
in sharp contrast with the new american oak barrel I replaced it with
(under warranty from my local wine-making supply shop).

As I do not have good temperature control in the garage, I moved the
barrel into a quiet spot in my house and filled it with my merlot.
Aside from slightly overfilling to the bottom of the bung, I have had
no trouble with drips. Now that I have red wine in the barrel, I can
clearly see where it is seeping between the staves. No real problems
however, except at the very end of the barrel where I am seeing a small
seeping occurring between a few stave-ends. It is mostly just
moistening the end of the barrel staves and has only dripped 5ml or
so. This only happened a week or so after transferring the wine.

My question is whether this is an unexpected breaking in of the barrel?
It had been sealed tight with water at 10F cooler temp. Thanks in
advance.

Cheers.
-Greg

New barrel seeping wine
 

> I can
> clearly see where it is seeping between the staves. No real problems
> however, except at the very end of the barrel where I am seeing a small
> seeping occurring between a few stave-ends. It is mostly just
> moistening the end of the barrel staves and has only dripped 5ml or
> so. This only happened a week or so after transferring the wine.
>
> My question is whether this is an unexpected breaking in of the barrel?
> It had been sealed tight with water at 10F cooler temp. Thanks in
> advance.

I wouldn't call it normal but I wouldn't say it's unusual either. I
keep a sulfite solution in a spray bottle and what I do is just spritz
those areas to make sure it's not still leaking. If so just try
tightening the hoops (carefully, don't wig out with a sledge with wine
in a barrel).
:)
I have a hoop tool but all you really need is something with a flat
end you can drive against the hoop. I only do that if I can see a
little 'crack' between staves where it's leaking.

That's all it ever took for me, I have seen my barrel leak when the
temperature changes. Another way to seal them is barrel wax, just
rotate the barrel to put the leak at the top and wash it out, once dry
push it in like caulking.

If you ever get leaking out of the end of a stave Tom S mentioned
pounding a match stick into the hole, it's ingenious.

Joe

New barrel seeping wine
 

Greg,

2 or 3 days is usually recommended as the maximun time for swelling.
Longer than that can allow things to grow in stagnant water. Also, a
new barrel should not need to be sterilized. Indeed, you'll find many
on this NG (myself included) who feel 'conditioning' new barrels is
really wasting some of that Oak flavor you paid so dearly
for...particularly for French Oak barrels.

I would not assume you problem is normal. You should try to identify
the source of the leak. It's not always easy with red wine staining
the region but it is important. If you have a leaky sieve tube on the
end of a stave, it can be fixed with a tank spile. As Joe mentioned,
Tom S has posted helpful info on this. Also, there's a nice
illustrated step-by-step solution at Bouchard Cooperages in the barrel
care/repair section of their website (www.bouchardcooperages.com).
You may have two other options: a.) parafin wax b.) food-grade epoxy
(Presque Isle carries stuff specifically for sealing barrels).

Something similar happened to me last year, I observed no problems
until my red wine was added. (I suspect the problem was always there
but just not readily visible with water.) One of my French Oak barrels
had a small, seepage leak just enough to wet the end of the barrel. My
leak was at the croze, however, which is not easily repaired. Bouchard
replaced my barrel. Good thing, too, because it slowly got worse with
time. Every top-up and re-bunging created additional pressure and
continued to weaken the area. Since they did not want me to return the
old barrel, I had the opportunity to try fixing the leak with parrafin
and then epoxy - both failed.

I would contact the place you bought it or the manufacturer and see if
they can assist. Hope this helps.

RD

New barrel seeping wine
 

I don't use barrels, so I'm asking this question from the standpoint of
pure ignorance - during the swelling process, would it make sense to
add food coloring to the water, to perhaps make the leaks more visible?


Rob

New barrel seeping wine
 

Probably not a good idea if you're making Chardonnay unless you intend
to give it color. Maybe for St. Patrick's Day...

RD

New barrel seeping wine
 

> Probably not a good idea if you're making Chardonnay unless you intend
> to give it color. Maybe for St. Patrick's Day...

True, true...

New barrel seeping wine
 

RD wrote:
> Greg,
>
> 2 or 3 days is usually recommended as the maximun time for swelling.
> Longer than that can allow things to grow in stagnant water. Also, a
> new barrel should not need to be sterilized. Indeed, you'll find many
> on this NG (myself included) who feel 'conditioning' new barrels is
> really wasting some of that Oak flavor you paid so dearly
> for...particularly for French Oak barrels.
>
> I would not assume you problem is normal. You should try to identify
> the source of the leak. It's not always easy with red wine staining
> the region but it is important. If you have a leaky sieve tube on the
> end of a stave, it can be fixed with a tank spile. As Joe mentioned,
> Tom S has posted helpful info on this. Also, there's a nice
> illustrated step-by-step solution at Bouchard Cooperages in the barrel
> care/repair section of their website (www.bouchardcooperages.com).
> You may have two other options: a.) parafin wax b.) food-grade epoxy
> (Presque Isle carries stuff specifically for sealing barrels).
>
> Something similar happened to me last year, I observed no problems
> until my red wine was added. (I suspect the problem was always there
> but just not readily visible with water.) One of my French Oak barrels
> had a small, seepage leak just enough to wet the end of the barrel. My
> leak was at the croze, however, which is not easily repaired. Bouchard
> replaced my barrel. Good thing, too, because it slowly got worse with
> time. Every top-up and re-bunging created additional pressure and
> continued to weaken the area. Since they did not want me to return the
> old barrel, I had the opportunity to try fixing the leak with parrafin
> and then epoxy - both failed.
>
> I would contact the place you bought it or the manufacturer and see if
> they can assist. Hope this helps.
>
> RD

Here is a picture of the seeping barrel. The actual quantity of wine
that has seeped out and dripped to the floor is maybe 15 drops. The
strange thing is that it took a week after I put the wine in before
this seeping began.

http://home.comcast.net/~jgmillr11/images/barrel.jpg

-Greg

New barrel seeping wine
 

> strange thing is that it took a week after I put the wine in before
> this seeping began.

That looks like your hoops just need snugged on that end. Wash all of
that off so it doesn't turn to vinegar if it's an active leak; although
that isn't a huge risk. Look for gaps between staves, if you see them
it may just need snugged up.

You work from the center out and it's best to do it empty. Set the
barrel on end and get a flat piece of steel and hammer, just tighten
that second hoop if the middle of the barrel has no gaps. Work your
way around. Then see if the top one has any room to move.

It looks like a good barrel so you may just want to contact the vendor
and ask them for the next step.

As a heads up I took mine apart after Tom S told me it was no big deal
and I put it back together with no issues. All I did was mark each
stave with a number to get it back the same way it came apart and match
marked the heads. It wasn't hard at all. I'm only telling you that in
case you are told it's your problem and end up at at that point. It
doesn't look like you need to do that at all. My heads were glued and
warped a bit but I still got it together, I took it apart to toast it.

Joe