Stablizing an Oak Barrel

[Bruce67]

Morning All; I have a 23 gallon oak barrel that will set empty for 6 months. I've read about critic acid and meta added to water in the barrel but I don't know how much of each per gallon.

Thanks
Bruce

 

[Johnd]

Same as for wine, or heavier, 1/4 tsp / gallon SO2 powder, citric is just to drop the pH of the solution, I’d shoot for 3.0. That how you could store a neutral barrel.

If your barrel still has oak to give, don’t give it to sulfite water, give it to wine. You can burn a sulfur stick in the barrel and put the bung in, trapping the gas, every few months. Clean er up when you are ready, and she’ll be ready to oak some more.

 

[Bruce67]

Thanks John. The barrel will have to set empty because I don't have anything to fill it yet. Possibly a year away before anything from 2018 is ready to barrel.

Bruce in Dayton Ohio

 

[Ajmassa]

Thanks John. The barrel will have to set empty because I don't have anything to fill it yet. Possibly a year away before anything from 2018 is ready to barrel.

Bruce in Dayton Ohio

How new is the barrel? Is it brand new, old and neutral, or in between?

 

[Bruce67]

23 gallon barrel. Has had 3 runs of red over the last two years. I'm wondering if the barrel sets w/o wine for a year should I simply clean as best I can and allow to dry with periodic sulphur burns.

 

[Johnd]

Two years old? It’s probably given up it’s goods, easiest thing if that’s the case is to fill w sulfite water, keep it topped and sulfited as if it were wine. As mentioned, adding acid will lower the pH, increasing the effectiveness of the solution.

 

[stickman]

Using barrels is another one of those topics where procedures vary considerably. The below link is a good read for anyone using barrels.
http://www.knoxbarrels.com/Barrel-Maintenance.html

 

[Boatboy24]

If in use 2+ years, it is probably neutral. You can fill w/ a citric/KMeta solution. The recommendation from MoreWine is 1g of citric and 2g of KMeta per gallon.