Green barrel schedule

[spaniel]

So I've lucked out and a beer making friend is willing to buy me a new 5gal barrel to age my wine in, so that he can subsequently age beer in the wine-conditioned barrel. Yay me!

I have no experience with barrels. With a new Hungarian barrel, how long should a medium-body (Marachel Foch) wine age? This particular vintage is also high in TA, long story but at this point I don't think there is anything to be done about it other than to handle future batches of high pH, high TA must differently from the get-go.

 

[TonyR]

As far as high TA, this is the time of year to cold stabilize your wine. If you live in the north and your wine is still in a carboy put it outside in a shed or unheated garage for a month or so, this will drop the TA noticeably. No idea about the barrel other than for a new one I don't think the time inside will be long.

 

[Johnd]

Spaniel:
There's another thread called "And then there were three" with the info you're looking for, but here's the short and skinny:

Paraphrasing comments from Boatboy24 and ibglowin, "A good time schedule for a new barrel, in weeks, is to age wines progressively longer as the barrel imparts less oak as it is used, 4-8-12-16-24 weeks. First wine for 4 weeks, second for 8 and so on. Of course, taste it along the way to get the oak to your liking. Watch your SO2 levels, they drop like a rock in a small barrel.

Barrel aging in small barrels, once your barrel is neutral, should be limited to 6 or 7 months total, as the micro oxygenation of your wine can lead to oxidation."

 

[JohnT]

So I've lucked out and a beer making friend is willing to buy me a new 5gal barrel to age my wine in, so that he can subsequently age beer in the wine-conditioned barrel. Yay me!

I have no experience with barrels. With a new Hungarian barrel, how long should a medium-body (Marachel Foch) wine age? This particular vintage is also high in TA, long story but at this point I don't think there is anything to be done about it other than to handle future batches of high pH, high TA must differently from the get-go.

As a rule of thumb, 1 week per gallon.

With barrel ageing, it is all about the ratio of total surface area of the barrel (that is in contact with the wine) and the total volume of wine in the barrel.

Interestingly, the SMALLER the barrel the HIGHER this ratio becomes. So for a 50 gallon barrel, I would expect to age 50 weeks. For a 5 gallon barrel, I would expect to age 5 weeks.

Please note that this is a rule of thumb and NOT an absolute. I would recommend that you taste your wine after 3 weeks and every week thereafter and debarrel your wine when you achieve the level of oak you desire.

 

[Boatboy24]

I'm typically around 4-5 weeks for my first wine in. That is on a 6 gallon barrel. On a 5 gallon, I'd expect 3-4. But taste along the way to be sure.