Barrel evaporation

[ehammonds]

Fairly newbie question here. Wine Angels seem to be taking a lot of my cab that's been in the barrel (first round) for three weeks. I seem to have to top up quite a bit every several days. Is this rate of evaporation common? Should I worry about headspace much while in the barrel, or is it generally ok? Will evap rate slow over time as the barrel ages? Since the barrel is brand new, I plan to rack the cab out of the barrel this weekend and replace with some amarone, which will likely stay for about 6-8 weeks.

Thanks

 

[salcoco]

part of the Angel share is the new oak soaking up the wine and not evaporation.

 

[David219]

Just a side note, but everyone's taste for oak is different. My first kit I ran throughout the barrel (WE Selection Shiraz) was planned for four weeks. Tasted at three weeks and POW...all I could taste was wood. The oak supposedly will fade with time, but this particular kit is still really oaky at 17 months in the bottle.

Make sure to have enough kits in the pipeline to allow for you to move wine out of the barrel earlier than you might have planned. I had planned a 4-8-12-16 week schedule. By taste, it worked out to be 3-6-8-12. I now keep my kits in for 3-4 months, topping and testing for SO2 periodically. My barrel doesn't seem to chew up the SO2 like some have found. I'm not sure if that's good or bad...it just is.

Good luck!

 

[ehammonds]

Thanks! Just removed from the barrel. You're right, three weeks was plenty. I may run this cab through after my next two batches on standby, but will see.