I have read that an oak barrel may be the best thing you can get to improve kit wines, and that sounds like a good thing. But looking into it more reveals there are a number of considerations.
1. Barrel aging not only micro oxygenates the wine and concentrates it somewhat due to water evaporation, but also imparts oak flavor. I don't care for strong oak so what I am really looking for is the first two effects. Unfortunately these look impossible to acheve on a new oak barrel as the oak flavor may become excessive after just a few weeks of aging.
2. The barrel needs to remain topped up, much like a carboy. This is an issue if barrels aren't available in the correct size for kits (5-6 gal/19-23 L) -- and many are not.
3. The barrel needs to be constantly filled with wine or "burned" for longer term storage if left empty. Otherwise it will go moldy and be ruined. This is a bit of a problem for me as most of my kits are already in bottles, some now with less than 19 L total volume thus unable to fill the barrel even if I uncorked each batch. Also, due to limited space I am only planning on making two more red wines in the next year or so.
So what can be done about the above? Should I just forget about a barrel for now and rely on bottle aging? Any other suggestions?
1. Barrel aging not only micro oxygenates the wine and concentrates it somewhat due to water evaporation, but also imparts oak flavor. I don't care for strong oak so what I am really looking for is the first two effects. Unfortunately these look impossible to acheve on a new oak barrel as the oak flavor may become excessive after just a few weeks of aging.
2. The barrel needs to remain topped up, much like a carboy. This is an issue if barrels aren't available in the correct size for kits (5-6 gal/19-23 L) -- and many are not.
3. The barrel needs to be constantly filled with wine or "burned" for longer term storage if left empty. Otherwise it will go moldy and be ruined. This is a bit of a problem for me as most of my kits are already in bottles, some now with less than 19 L total volume thus unable to fill the barrel even if I uncorked each batch. Also, due to limited space I am only planning on making two more red wines in the next year or so.
So what can be done about the above? Should I just forget about a barrel for now and rely on bottle aging? Any other suggestions?