New barrel

[Maheesh]

Hi all , just got my 13 gal vadai barrel, I've been too scared to try one till now....all stainless vc tanks. So can anyone tell me, do I have to do all this hot water swelling, or is cold enough? And, I'm not a fan of a lot of oak taste, how long would you leave a pinot noir? I have no neutral barrels, so I guess it goes back in a stainless tank after? Thx all

 

[LeChat]

If you don't want a leaky barrel, best follow the swelling instructions (i.e., hot water please). Though I hear that larger barrels are less susceptible to leaks than smaller sizes.

A fresh barrel will likely impart a significant amount of oak in as little as 3-4 weeks (size dependent). It will continue imparting oak flavor for as much as several months, even years.

Do you have something else than a pinot noir to oak first? I would go with a varietal that can take the oak first so that I could leave the pinot longer in the barrel and get the other benefits of a barrel without (too much) oaking.

 

[Boatboy24]

I think the barrel prep is definitely worth the trouble. You don't want to dump 13 gallons of wine into that thing, only to have it leak out. I agree with LeChat. I would not put a Pinot through first.

 

[JohnT]

Hot water will swell the wood faster. You can use cold water, but you are going to need to be very patient and make sure that your barrel is tight and leak free before you add any wine. In many cases, this could take days or even as much as a week.

As I have said on several other threads, the rule of thumb for barrel aging is 1 week per gallon of volume. for a 13 gal barrel, a rule of thumb is 13 weeks. since you are oaking a pinot and are not a big fan of oak (I want to ask "if not a fan of oak, why barrel at all?") you may want to cut this in half to, say, 6 weeks. Be sure to check the wine every week and definitely de-barrel the wine when you feel it is right.

 

[Maheesh]

Barrel

I only have the pinot at this point, is there anything else I could put in to pull some of the oak out? I finally got the barrel because I read so much of the benefits of micro oxidation...if I could find a 13 gallon neutral barrel, I would use that.any ideas?

 

[LeChat]

You can always just use water but you will be wasting all that good oakyness?

How about barrel fermenting a chardonnay? If you want to try a white wine, now is your chance. Henceforth anything coming out will be rose.

What were you planning to put in the barrel after the pinot? You have to keep the barrel full all the time to prevent shrinkage and other spoilage.

 

[Maheesh]

Barrel

I just have a small vineyard, and only have pinot noir and pinot Gris at this point, this fall ill have Syrah as well, so after the pinot noir, I would have to store the barrel till harvest.....I only have about 15 gallons of pinot noir, maybe I should have gotten a smaller barrel and cycled it thru in batches? I was of the thought I could do it in stainless tanks, but I read about all the benefits of concentration from the barrel. I can't lay my hands on 13 gallons of wine anywhere....there must be a way

 

[sour_grapes]

I can't lay my hands on 13 gallons of wine anywhere....there must be a way

There is! It is called "kits"! Why not make a couple of double batches (or even triple batches) of kit wine. (Or, for that matter, wine from frozen buckets of must.) You could get a batch ready to put in a barrel in a couple of months.

 

[Boatboy24]

There is! It is called "kits"! Why not make a couple of double batches (or even triple batches) of kit wine. (Or, for that matter, wine from frozen buckets of must.) You could get a batch ready to put in a barrel in a couple of months.

Caveat: you don't want to put a kit through a barrel that has had malolactic bacteria in it. That will ruin it. However, Chilean harvest is rapidly approaching and a few juice buckets would be a cheap way to get another batch of wine through that barrel. Still about a month away though.

 

[Treeman]

Caveat: you don't want to put a kit through a barrel that has had malolactic bacteria in it. That will ruin it. However, Chilean harvest is rapidly approaching and a few juice buckets would be a cheap way to get another batch of wine through that barrel. Still about a month away though.

I'm not quite convinced this is "always" the case. If you make a kit and want to put in barrel DO NOT add the potassium sorbate. As long as there is no sorbate in the kit, you won't have to worry about geranium flavors from MLF bacteria in the wood of your barrel. You don't want to do MLF on kits, and from what I've read, it is hard to get started in a kit anyway, also, if you keep the sulfite levels up in barrel the MLF bacteria should not start up.

 

[JohnT]

Have you put any thought into simply adding toasted oak to your wine and then continue to age in SSVC tank? It will be a lot less expensive and you will not have the problem of storing a barrel while not in use.