Barrel thoughts

[Boatboy24]

That’s a good question. I’m Not partial. My plan was to just let my available open vessels determine that- but after seeing your question and now looking at the my carboy/demijohn situation I could do either.
The 34L demi I got to compliment the barrel came in handy-
I’ll probably just blend all right away. But would like the knowledge so going to try and keep a couple 5L jugs of oak/noOak to see the differences in time.

AJ: You may want to wait to blend. What may be a perfect oak balance today could be too little after the oak falls off. If you wait a couple months, you'd have a better idea. Of course, you could blend now, and add more oak later, if needed.

 

[Ajmassa]

AJ: You may want to wait to blend. What may be a perfect oak balance today could be too little after the oak falls off. If you wait a couple months, you'd have a better idea. Of course, you could blend now, and add more oak later, if needed.

Thanks man. Your second thought is exactly what I had just planned. .
Even if the oak falls back into place I’d still be left 12 needing barrel time. And while I wait to find out I need to keep the barrel filled.
So I would either barrel another 8 running the risk of being unable to blend it down enough
Or
Blend now and worst case scenario just needs some more later.
Or
Remove and fill barrel with something else and keeping all separated to decide later on

One of the driving factors here for me is that wine stands extremely well on its own. Maybe I don’t blend the whole lot. I could fill a demijohn and keep a 6 gal carboy unoaked. (I do plan to keep a carboy in bulk for long term for future multivintage blending. Keeping unoaked allows me to do that future blend in a barrel)
Arrrrg! Jim—- I have no idea what I’m doing! But I sure do love it.

 

[Ajmassa]

Decided to stop overthinking it and kept everything separate for now. Racked and sulphited all the Malbec.
Ended up with slightly less than anticipated requiring re-racks. Had to put a 6 gal into a 5 gal. But no 5’s open. Used one of my Better Bottles I bought but had yet to use.
Decided to risk it and rack with the AIO- because I’m stubborn and thought “it’s probably fine- just a liability for extreme situations.”
But I’ll be damned. Story checks out. After collapsing and shutting off motor it at least started a nice steady siphon for me lol.
It was late so I just rinsed the barrel and plugged it- filling today with some of the Muscat Alicante Family Blend.

 

[baron4406]

I think overoaking your wine is more pronounced with a more aggressive oak like american oak. The 6.75G barrel I got from Fred at the meetup has a Syrah in it that I termed as a "break in" wine due to the fact that it was partly juice. Well my plan was at just got 6 weeks since that's the rule of thumb- but ended up at 10 weeks due to me not having the time to get it our of there. The wine doesn't have a hint of oak out of the barrel probably since it a milder oak(Hungarian). My next batch in it was an all grape Petit Syrah and I'm going to leave it is for 12 weeks and then just got to 6 months for the next wine. Even if you over oak the wine you can let it in the bttole for a year and the oak will be totally gone by then.

 

[Ajmassa]

Not sure if you guys add anything to the outside of your barrels for protection, but I just did and it made a nice difference.
I had previously coated the heads with beeswax because of leaks (not 100% effective but definitely helped) but was annoying to get beeswax on my hands every time I handled it. So after removing the 1st run I cleaned it up and coated whole barrel with cutting board oil.
First 12 weeks I couldn’t go more than a couple days without seeing seepage, and now bone dry after 1 wk.
I loaded it on extremely generously, and probably coulda have even benefitted from a 2nd coat.
Anyone else treating their barrels with oil, conditioner, mildecide, or something like that?

 

[Johnd]

Not sure if you guys add anything to the outside of your barrels for protection, but I just did and it made a nice difference.
I had previously coated the heads with beeswax because of leaks (not 100% effective but definitely helped) but was annoying to get beeswax on my hands every time I handled it. So after removing the 1st run I cleaned it up and coated whole barrel with cutting board oil.
First 12 weeks I couldn’t go more than a couple days without seeing seepage, and now bone dry after 1 wk.
I loaded it on extremely generously, and probably coulda have even benefitted from a 2nd coat.
Anyone else treating their barrels with oil, conditioner, mildecide, or something like that?

I don’t do anything to the exterior of mine, other than the occasional Kmeta spritzing / wiping of wine stains. I do spray the exterior around the bung hole before and after opening and closing the bunghole. Cant be too careful keeping your bunghole clean......

 

[pgentile]

So far I do nothing to the outside other than spritz with kmeta. Does coating or treating the exterior of the barrel inhibit or affect micro-ox in anyway?

Just tasted the carmenere/malbec in barrel for six weeks, can smell the oak pretty strongly, but it does not taste over oaked at this point. Could handle some more. Going to check in 2-4 weeks and then this years zin goes in for the long haul. I have enough zin to do almost half oaked and half un-oaked.

Also not experiencing quite as much evaporation as I thought I would. Maybe a glass of wine in 6 weeks.

 

[Ajmassa]

So far I do nothing to the outside other than spritz with kmeta. Does coating or treating the exterior of the barrel inhibit or affect micro-ox in anyway?

I’m sure it does to a degree but not enough for me to be concerned about it. Hard to compare before/after since the wine in the barrel, humidity, temp, aren’t the same.
Wax obviously would bigtime, but so far with the oil it seems to be the same rate. Another couple weeks I’ll top and compare my notes.

 

[mainshipfred]

Paul, this is supposed to be breathable but a winemaker told me it does slow down micro oxy so he only coats parts of the barrel the belly especially to keep them looking clean. I've been considering it for both the barrels and press. I'm experiencing the same with the barrels in the wine can (should) stay in longer than others have indicated.

https://www.piwine.com/mildewcide-coating-x650-gallon.html

 

[pgentile]

Paul, this is supposed to be breathable but a winemaker told me it does slow down micro oxy so he only coats parts of the barrel the belly especially to keep them looking clean. I've been considering it for both the barrels and press. I'm experiencing the same with the barrels in the wine can (should) stay in longer than others have indicated.

https://www.piwine.com/mildewcide-coating-x650-gallon.html

Thanks, press too? I think I did look at this right before I got the barrel.

 

[mainshipfred]

Thanks, press too? I think I did look at this right before I got the barrel.

Someone posted somewhere that they use it on their press. I thought it was a good idea.

 

[Boatboy24]

I've seen EZ-Do recommended for press wood.

 

[FTC Wines]

I coated my press with Ez Do 4 years ago when I built it. It has remained in pristine condition, we use it as a decoration in our hallway. We press 8-12 lugs of red grapes each year. Roy

 

[ibglowin]

WTF? They recommend bleaching your barrel to clean it up before hand! That's pure idiocracy......

"Use: Two coats, applied 24 hours apart are recommended. If applied to used barrels, clean the outside of the barrel with soda ash and hot water, then apply sodium hypochlorite (clorox) solution to kill any mold and to brighten the wood."

Paul, this is supposed to be breathable but a winemaker told me it does slow down micro oxy so he only coats parts of the barrel the belly especially to keep them looking clean. I've been considering it for both the barrels and press. I'm experiencing the same with the barrels in the wine can (should) stay in longer than others have indicated.

https://www.piwine.com/mildewcide-coating-x650-gallon.html

 

[mainshipfred]

WTF? They recommend bleaching your barrel to clean it up before hand! That's pure idiocracy......

"Use: Two coats, applied 24 hours apart are recommended. If applied to used barrels, clean the outside of the barrel with soda ash and hot water, then apply sodium hypochlorite (clorox) solution to kill any mold and to brighten the wood."

That is one step in the process that will be skipped, good catch. You would think O'Sullivan would know better.

 

[Ajmassa]

WTF? They recommend bleaching your barrel to clean it up before hand! That's pure idiocracy......

"Use: Two coats, applied 24 hours apart are recommended. If applied to used barrels, clean the outside of the barrel with soda ash and hot water, then apply sodium hypochlorite (clorox) solution to kill any mold and to brighten the wood."

I looked into this product initially. When I read about the Clorox I assumed it referred to protecting used barrels- retired from holding wine and repurposed.