tonyhibbett
Landlord.
For many years I've considered oak barrels for maturing wine. Last year I picked a 10 gallon barrel for a few quid, but it needed a lot of work and some money to make it fit for storing wine. This size is considered small, but when full, it's a 2 man job to handle safely. This year, there wasn't enough wine from the grape harvest to fill it, so I had to top it up with other wine to avoid air space.
I have found a UK supplier of new oak barrels, starting from 5 litre capacity, so I bought one this size. At £64 including delivery, bung, tap and stand, this is relatively expensive, considering a 20 litre one would cost a mere extra £10, but a very small cask has the advantage of maturing the wine much faster, due to the higher proportion of oak in contact with the wine. Weeks rather than months.
The only instructions supplied were: soak overnight with water before use. The tiny wooden tap supplied leaked both at the barrel joint and the body. I consulted the bible (C J J Berry): Avoid taps, they always leak and drip. After soaking with water for at least 2 days, a new cask should be filled with a hot soda solution, rinsed with sulphite solution plus citric acid and again with water before use.
Soda crystals were suprisingly easy to find and when I poured the solution out of the cask, it was a dirty brown liquid with bits of debris. By the time I had finished, the tap no longer leaked.
I have found a UK supplier of new oak barrels, starting from 5 litre capacity, so I bought one this size. At £64 including delivery, bung, tap and stand, this is relatively expensive, considering a 20 litre one would cost a mere extra £10, but a very small cask has the advantage of maturing the wine much faster, due to the higher proportion of oak in contact with the wine. Weeks rather than months.
The only instructions supplied were: soak overnight with water before use. The tiny wooden tap supplied leaked both at the barrel joint and the body. I consulted the bible (C J J Berry): Avoid taps, they always leak and drip. After soaking with water for at least 2 days, a new cask should be filled with a hot soda solution, rinsed with sulphite solution plus citric acid and again with water before use.
Soda crystals were suprisingly easy to find and when I poured the solution out of the cask, it was a dirty brown liquid with bits of debris. By the time I had finished, the tap no longer leaked.