Aging Wine In An Oak Barrel

You will notice the difference as soon as you taste the result from aging wine in an oak barrel. The liquid is smoother on your palate and has a robust taste. There are now multiple levels of flavor for you to explore and you will be satisfied with the results. Now that you know how to age wine in a barrel successfully you will want to know what to do next. Obviously, you will enjoy drinking the wine. What do you do with the barrel? You need to clean it and store it properly, so you can make another batch, which will likely be even better now that you have experience.

You must clean the barrel right away. Before cleaning, the inside provides an environment that is ideal for the growth of spoilage organisms. These organisms are bacteria that will produce noxious smells as they grow on the wood. Cleaning the barrel will prevent the growth of these organisms.

The first step is to boil some water. You will need an amount of water that exceeds the capacity of the barrel. You can use up to three times as much water as the barrel can hold.

Poor the wine into bottles and seal it. Start filling the barrel with the boiling water. Stop when the barrel is half-full, slosh the water around and drain it out. Keep repeating these steps until the water coming out of the barrel is clear. This removes any wine residue from the inside of the barrel.

The water you rinse with must be hot because you want the wood to expand. This opens the pores and rinses out all traces of the wine. The barrel will swell in the process. The next step is to rinse the vessel with cold water so the wood contracts and forms a seal that traps any remaining organisms inside the wood.

The final step is to leave the bung open and let the barrel dry out completely. If you do not want to use the barrel again immediately, you will need to prepare it for proper storage. You should purchase a sulfur stick, light it, lower it inside the barrel and let it burn. If you are not ready to store the barrel, you can fill it back up with wine as soon as it has had time to completely dry out and begin aging another batch to perfection.