Shelf life of wine in oak barrels. How to make your own wine in a wooden barrel. Proper preparation of containers

Cooking at home grape wine

Perhaps no drinks made industrially can compare with drinks made at home from your own fruits and berries. Homemade wine will not only cost less, but will also not be inferior to industrial wine in quality, subject to careful adherence to traditional manufacturing technology. Moreover, today no one even doubts that in the store you can buy “wine” prepared using flavorings, alcohol and water. This article describes the secrets and technologies for preparing grape wines.

LEAVEN

Before preparing the starter, you need to decide on its quantity. For table wines you need 1-2% of the total amount of fermented must, and for dessert wines - 2-3% of the starter.

In dry weather, a week before the grape harvest, the ripest berries are collected. The berries are not washed, placed in a linen bag and the juice is squeezed out at a room temperature of 20-24C. You need to fill the bottle ¾ of the volume with juice, close it with a cotton plug and leave it in a dark room at a temperature of 20-24C. After 2-3 days the juice will begin to ferment. On the sixth day, during rapid fermentation, the starter can be used. You should not store the starter for more than 10 days.

Subsequently, the sediment of actively fermenting wine is used as a starter.

In central Russia, it is permissible to use the sediment of fermenting fruit wine as a starter for grape wine, or to prepare it from berries that ripen 10 days earlier than the grapes.

PREPARATION OF RAW MATERIALS

Wine can be made from most grape varieties, but wine varieties are more juicy and sugary.

Chemical composition of grape varieties.

VARIETY CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF GRAPE

SUGAR CONTENT,% ACIDITY (in% of tartaric acid) WINE FOR WHICH

SUITABLE VARIETY

KOKUR WHITE 18 9 DINING ROOM

CABERNET 21.5 6.3 TABLE AND DESSERT

ALEATIKO 23.6 DESSERT

WHITE MUSCAT OVERRIPE up to 40 DESSERT

WHITE MUSCAT up to 25 6 DESSERT

PINK MUSCAT 21.5 5.3 DESSERT

CHASLOAS 13.6-14.2 7.8-8 TABLE AND DESSERT

ALIGOTE 15.2-17.8 10.3-13.8 TABLE AND DESSERT

The quality of the wine depends on the timing of the grape harvest. The best wine comes from grapes when they have the right amount of sugar and acid to produce the desired wine.

The best grape varieties when harvested for different wines

Type of wine Chemical composition of grapes

Sugar content,% Acidity,% (tartaric acid)

Table white 16-18 7-9

Table red 17-19 7-8

Dessert 21 and more 6-7

Semi-sweet 22 and more 7-8

If it is not possible to do a chemical analysis, you should use grapes for table wine that are less sugary and more sour than for dessert wine. But you should not pick unripe grapes; the wine will have an unpleasant herbaceous aftertaste. It should be borne in mind that in the southern regions grapes quickly lose acidity. Therefore, for dessert and semi-sweet wines, it is better to collect overripe berries; they will be less sour and contain more sugar. In addition, overripe grapes of some varieties give the wine a pleasant raisin aroma.

Harvesting is carried out in dry weather; it cannot be collected after rain or heavy dew. Only good-quality, ripe grapes are selected for wine, carefully excluding rotten, moldy, unripe and damaged berries. Even a few moldy berries will give the wine a strong musty smell.

The harvested grapes are not stored, but processed immediately. If the technology does not provide otherwise, the berries are separated from the ridges using a grater or by hand. The grater is a lattice made of oak slats with a cell size of 1.5 cm. A grater is used to cover an oak tub in which individual berries will be collected. Then the berries are crushed with a roller or masher in a wooden trough, or a crusher with a wooden (usually oak) drum is used. The resulting pulp is poured into a press and the juice is separated. The squeezed pulp is placed 2 more times in an enamel or oak bowl, mixed and squeezed again. All the resulting juice is mixed.

If there is no press, then use a colander, and then squeeze the pulp with your hands in a linen bag.

In some cases described below, the pulp is fermented or infused before pressing.

PREPARATION OF DRY WINE

For a good table wine, you should choose white varieties with a light delicate aroma, with pleasant acidity, without a sharp taste. Riesling, Aligote, Mtsvane and others are suitable. Varieties with a strong pleasant aroma, such as Isabella and Muscat, are not suitable for table wine. If the sugar content of the berries is insufficient, then at the beginning of fermentation it is necessary to add sugar up to 18%.

WHITE DINING ROOM

To make high-quality wine, the wort is not immediately fermented, but is first allowed to settle. The dregs, pieces of berries and most of the microbes will settle to the bottom. To prevent premature fermentation during settling, the wort is sulfated - fumigated with sulfur wicks. The number of sulfur wicks is determined depending on the temperature of the surrounding air and the grapes. If, for example, the temperature is 20C with intact grapes, then for every 10 liters of must, burn 0.5 - 1 g of wicks. To do this, measure out the required number of wicks and divide them into three parts. A third of the wicks are twisted, placed in a special smoker, set on fire and lowered into a fermentation container (oak barrel or glass bottle) to half the height. Make sure that the burning sulfur does not touch the walls of the cylinder, otherwise the glass may burst. When the wick burns, the smoker is quickly removed and a third of the wort is poured into the container. The cylinder must be closed and, rocking several times, dissolve the sulfur dioxide. After this, another third of the wicks are burned in the balloon and this is repeated until the balloon is full. A full cylinder or barrel is closed with a stopper and left to settle in a cool place. The cooler the better. If the room temperature is elevated, the wort may ferment. Then the settling is interrupted. The settled wort is drained from the sediment using a hose. The sediment after removing the wort is used for fermentation as a starter for grade 2 wine.

Then the wort is poured for fermentation into barrels or cylinders to three-quarters of the volume and 2% of a four-day wine-yeast starter is immediately added. In non-sulfated wort, 2 times less is sufficient. The container is closed with a fermentation tongue or simply cotton wool. The optimal temperature for fermentation is 18-24C. This is an important factor for good wine. A sharp cold snap stops fermentation, even if there is sugar in the wort. But the yeast remains alive. As the temperature rises, fermentation will continue, just stir the settled yeast.

High temperatures can kill the yeast or greatly weaken it. Then the wort is removed from the sediment with a hose, fresh starter or grounds from a container are added, with successful fermentation and placed in a room with a temperature of about 20C.

Violent foamy fermentation at normal temperatures lasts 5-8 days. At the end of the stormy period, the bottle is topped up with wine of the same variety and the level is monitored, topping up every two days. After 3-4 weeks of quiet fermentation, the wine is tasted for sugar. If sugar remains, the tightly closed container may burst from fermentation gases. If the sweetness is not felt, the barrel, instead of a fermentation tongue, is plugged with a regular stopper for 2 weeks to settle. During this time, the wine will settle and clarify. It must be removed from the sediment and stored at a temperature not exceeding 15C. This wine is ready to drink. You should not overexpose wine with sediment, the yeast is destroyed, and the wine turns out with an unpleasant odor and taste of yeast.

Wine that will be consumed in winter and spring is stored in a container (barrel) for another two months, again removed from the sediment and bottled. The bottles are filled with wine up to half the neck, sealed with steamed corks and, as a rule, filled with sealing wax.

DRY RED WINE

To prepare red table wine, grapes are taken from black and dark red varieties of Cinsault, Matras, Saperavi, Cabernet, etc. The requirements for grapes are almost the same as for the production of dry white wine. The difference is that for dry red wine, the varieties can be sweeter and less sour. Almost all of these grape varieties (except Saperavi) have uncolored pulp and juice. Therefore, the difference in manufacturing technology is aimed at preparing wine with a thick, dark color and the necessary astringency. Fermentation is carried out together with the pulp - the skin and seeds contain tannins that impart astringency. During fermentation, dying skin cells transfer coloring matter and tannin into the wort.

To prepare the wort, fill an oak vat, tub or enamel container three-quarters full with pulp and immediately add 2% of the wine starter and mix. During fermentation, the pulp floats to the top, and the temperature of the wort rises. In the upper layers of the “cap”, coloring substances oxidize in air and turn brown. The pulp is stirred several times a day. Otherwise, aerobic bacteria will turn the wine into vinegar. If these conditions are met, after 3-4 days the violent fermentation stops, the wort acquires the desired fullness, aroma and astringency, and becomes a deep dark color. If the color is not dark enough, the wort and pulp are allowed to play for a couple more days. Then the wine is separated from the pulp using a colander or press. It should be noted that it is easier to press this pulp than unfermented pulp. The wine is poured into cylinders or barrels almost completely and the process is then monitored, as for white table wine. Due to the rough taste of young red wines, they are aged for 2-3 months.

KAKHETI WINE

This sour and tart dry table wine has the color of strong tea. In Georgia it is prepared from local white grapes Rkatsiteli variety, when the grapes are as sweet as possible. The ridges are separated from half of the harvested grapes, then both halves are pressed together, 1-2% of the starter is added and placed in a tub for fermentation. To prevent the pulp from floating up, place a wooden circle on top. The pulp is mixed daily for 10 days. In the future, you need to monitor the temperature and everything is the same as for dry red wine.

Kakheti dry wine is aged for two to three months so that it loses its roughness and becomes softer. Bottles are filled to half the neck and stored at a temperature not exceeding +10C. Sediment in bottles is considered normal - these are natural tannins and coloring substances.

Oak tubs, vats, jellied barrels for wine and cognac aging from Krasnodar rock oak - its dense wood and its chemical composition received the approval of French winemakers.

Wine barrels require special care.

Wine, good wine, and oak have long gone hand in hand in signature winemaking. I'll tell you about aging wine in oak barrels(barrels) and I’ll say a few words about simulating this process: aging homemade wine using oak chips, or, in other words, oak chips.

What are barrels for?

I admit that the idea of old barrels filled with luxurious homemade wine, hidden in a secluded corner of your cellar, is very, very romantic. Romantic? - Yes. Practical? - No.
The main purpose of aging in a barrel is to add a characteristic subtle aroma to the wine, as well as micro-oxidation of the wine through the pores of the oak wood. Long aging in a new barrel will not add anything to your wine except for the pervasive smell of wood, which will drown out all other aromas. Unless you want your wine to taste and aroma reminiscent of sawdust, rather than , you should age the wine in an oak barrel from several months to a year - and no more. The period depends on the age and volume of the barrel itself. Although in Spain, for example, they love such wines...
French oak barrels from Nevers, Limousin or central France are the best money can buy. These barrels are, however, very expensive, but they are worth it, believe me. The thing is that French coopers expose the wood to all possible elements - sun, rain, frost and snow - all this eliminates excessively aromatic volatile substances from the wood. And only then barrels are made from this wood, aging in which can impart the finest nuances to the wine. The asking price is 600...650 euros per barrique (225l) “there”. Plus delivery, customs clearance...

Also, you can purchase products from Ukrainian coopers from us. Mainly - the Zhytomyr “bush”, formed after the collapse of the largest packaging plant, and products from the Olpol plant from Ivano-Frankivsk. There are also several private craftsmen in different cities of Ukraine.

I want to tell you a little about personal experience communication with Ukrainian coopers. I'll start with the Zhytomyr ones.

The first experience - with the cooper Seryozha, who sells on our highway at the exit to Krivoy Rog, every autumn, brought sadness to both me and my colleague. They returned the barrels and took the money: the size did not match, they were leaking.
The team with whom I later dealt (Borovsky and Co. 0) changed the barrel for me twice, now it flowed, then the size - instead of 225 liters, it was 170, and the third one in the end turned out to be from raw oak and also flows, although not in the same way as first. They refused to return the money, no matter how much I insisted, they only offered to change the barrels.

Here's their first barrel:

"Gorgeous"? Photographed just after my attempts to stop the leak using wax and a hair dryer. Unsuccessfully…

Then one local grandfather fooled around for six months, using a couple of 50-liter barrels, and did nothing.

And the last, fourth “master”, Vitaly Yemets, promised to make one 50-liter barrel in a week - I called in two weeks, not a “sorry”, nothing, as it should be, “I’ll definitely do it in a week.” Another week passed - nothing. And they don't pick up the phone anymore. Then they call back - “we’ll ship next week, we’re busy.” He sent “three devils”: if people are liars, then their barrels are like that...

In general, I no longer have anything to do with the Zhytomyr coopers. That's it... If anyone has an opposite opinion about the coopers from there, I'm happy for them. They were lucky. Or maybe I was just unlucky. Well, as it is, 4 negatives in a row says something. And those who have a choice have reason to think.

An oak barrel and aging in a barrel are concepts that are uniquely associated with wine.
An oak wine barrel is so extolled by producers and connoisseurs that even after it (the barrel) completes its service as a container for a drink, it has a use: somewhere the barrel turns into a table, somewhere into a bench; someone makes candlesticks out of wine barrels...

Barrels converted into tables in a wine bar

Meanwhile, the reason that the oak barrel became the most common storage container turned out to be, as often happens, chance. It seems that this incident was a happy one.

For centuries, the main vessel in which wine was stored was the clay amphora. It was also used for transportation.

About two thousand years ago, at a time when the Romans were actively conquering new territories and expanding the borders of their Empire, they carried with them not only weapons and provisions, but also wine.

In those days, there was no pasteurization, no one understood how to make water suitable for drinking.
Drinking wine was not only safer, wine guaranteed survival in situations where long marches had to be made and water sources were questionable.
Wine ensured the destruction of pathogenic microbes when drinking, gave strength to the weakened, and removed toxins.

For several millennia, since the times of Ancient Egypt, clay amphorae were used by troops and traders to transport wine over long distances.
Some peoples who lived in Mesopotamia used palm tree barrels to store and transport wine. But this was rather an exception: although a palm barrel was significantly lighter than a clay one, palm was very difficult to process.
Clay provided airtightness if the barrel was properly sealed.

The practice of widespread use of clay vessels for transporting wine continued in Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. However, as the empire expanded to the north of Europe, further and further from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, it became increasingly difficult to supply troops with wine.

Despite the fact that the Romans realized the advantages of palm tree barrels over clay ones, the difficulty of shaping palm boards into the required shape and the high cost left them no choice.

In skirmishes with the Gauls, Roman troops discovered that some northern European tribes used wooden barrels, usually made of oak, to store and transport beer.

For the Romans, this turned out to be a solution to the problem: oak was much easier to process, it was much easier to give oak boards the required shape, especially in comparison with palm, oak required less burning, which means it took much less time and effort to make a barrel.

These beauties are then used to make barrels

In addition, oak was widespread in the forests of Europe, and its dense fibers protected well from water.
The transition to a new material for making containers for storing wine was rapid: in less than 200 years, tens of millions of amphorae became unnecessary.

After some time, the Romans and their trading partners drew attention to the fact that the taste of wine, during transportation in oak barrels, acquired new extremely pleasant features. It becomes smoother and softer. And it tastes better.

Even a short firing of the barrel made the wine much more interesting: notes of cloves, cinnamon and spices appeared in the aroma, and caramel, vanilla or even butter appeared in the taste.

In the process of further use of oak barrels, traders, wine producers and the military discovered that the wine acquired more new features and notes the longer the period it was stored in the barrel. For this reason, some winemakers began to specifically age wine in oak barrels.

Winemaking technologies have been honed over centuries, so each stage is important for the formation of the right bouquet. Our lesson today is about the aging process. We will learn how best to age wine - in barrels or bottles; Are there any aging characteristics of different types of wine?

The bell rings - let's start the lesson!

What is wine aging and why is it needed?

There are several stages in the process of making wine. The wine material must be fermented, clarified, and then aged in order for the complex chemical processes that form the bouquet to go through.

Proper aging is a prerequisite for obtaining a high-quality drink. Compared to others traditional stages, exposure – the youngest. During Antiquity, and then the Middle Ages, wines were not subjected to aging everywhere and, rather, as an exception. The reason is simple - there was nothing to keep the wine in so that it would hardly interact with oxygen for years. And without such containers, the drink quickly turned into vinegar. Only the richest people could afford to store wine in tightly sealed amphoras or jugs dug into the ground, filling them to the very top.

Long-term aging of wine became possible in the 18th century with the advent of glass bottles. The idea of limiting the contact of wine with oxygen gained popularity in the 19th century, when Louis Pasteur conducted research on the interaction of wine with air. He found that excess oxygen promotes rapid oxidation, and wine can be stored for years in a tightly sealed bottle.

When excessive long-term storage any wine gradually loses its properties. Thus, the famous explorer of the ocean depths Jacques Cousteau once discovered an amphora with wine that was about 2000 years old. This wine tasted almost like vinegar.

It is necessary to distinguish between two stages of wine aging:

maturation in barrels,
aging in bottles.

Maturing and aging of wine are part of the aging process.

Maturing wine or aging in barrels

In order for the wine to mature, it is placed in oak barrels. In them, the wine is oxidized due to interaction with oxygen, slowly entering from the surrounding air through micropores in the barrel. As a result of ripening, wines acquire a pronounced varietal aroma and are enriched with phenolic compounds produced by oak wood.

Red and white wines respond differently to barrel aging.

In red wines, quite a significant amount of sediment is released, which decreases with subsequent aging. The wine darkens and acquires a garnet hue. The tart notes are smoothed out, the taste of the wine becomes subtler and more refined. All barrel aging processes benefit the taste of red wine.

When kept in barrels for long periods of time, white wines lose their fruity aromas and softness, and if you over-age a white wine, its taste will become rough and harsh. However, oxygen is necessary for the maturation of white wines. Therefore, winemakers practice frequent pouring and leave barrels for storage with the tongues facing up. This promotes an active flow of oxygen and saturation of the wine with it. Oxidation not only removes carbon dioxide from the drink, but also helps to precipitate substances that cloud the body of the wine: proteins, pectins, yeast residues.

Are all wines sent for barrel maturation?

Although aging in oak barrels enriches the taste of wine, not all wines require such a procedure. Young wines are not bottled at all. They contain few tannins, so they do not need aging - their bright and fresh bouquet deteriorates from prolonged contact with oxygen and oak tannins. Ordinary wines also do not go through the barrel stage. They are usually kept in steel tanks for 6–10 months and then bottled.

Table wines take only a short time to mature. The first year they are kept in large tanks and only in the second year they can be placed in barrels.

The fewer tannins in a wine, the earlier it should be consumed. Long aging and subsequent storage work best on wines with a high tannin content.

Features of barrel aging

If you are going to send wine for aging in barrels, you need to take into account some features of the technology.

Size matters

The larger the barrel, the slower oxidation occurs. And vice versa - the smaller your oak container, the more active the air exchange. Therefore, in traditional wineries, wine is aged in large volume barrels - from 400 liters. At home, it would be wise to take the largest possible size barrel that you can completely fill with wine material.

Standing or on your side?

If you want to age the wine for a long time, then it is better to store the barrel on its side, so oxygen exchange occurs with less intensity, and the oxygen content in the air chamber above the surface of the wine is very small.

Every year, a barrel of wine needs to be topped up so as not to increase the oxygen chamber above the wine and prevent the barrel from drying out. Fill the container with the best wine material you have.

Storage conditions

The optimal container for maturing wine is a French oak barrel. Products made from Slavonian or Caucasian sessile oak are also suitable.
The wine is poured into the barrel almost to the top, filling 90% of the volume.
The wood of a new barrel stores many phenolic compounds, which gradually migrate into the wine. Over the years, their number decreases.
Barrels are stored in dark basements at a temperature of 11 to 18 degrees; for red wine, the optimal temperature is 14–16 degrees.
The air humidity in the storage should be between 75 and 85%. The drier your cellar is, the faster the wine will evaporate.
For storage in a home cellar, it is better to install barrels on special grates that do not interfere with the movement of air and ventilation of the room.

Every year, up to 4% of the wine volume evaporates through the pores in a barrel, so after each new harvest, the barrels in which the wine continues to mature should be replenished.

Aging – aging wine in a bottle

The ripening stage does not take much time - from six months to several years, depending on the type of wine. Then the drink is bottled and carefully sealed with a cork stopper. With this form of storage, maximum isolation of wine from interaction with oxygen occurs. But this does not mean that all processes stop.

Slow oxidation and other chemical reactions continue in the bottle. As a result, the taste of the wine continues to change. This process is called “wine aging.”

During the aging period, oxidation is fueled not by oxygen supplied from outside, but by the oxygen already present in the wine molecules. It interacts with heavy metal ions and organic peroxides, which are also contained in wine. The process continues until the peroxides are completely processed and takes many years.

Tannins and coloring substances participate in oxidative reactions, being consumed as they occur. Therefore, the process of bottle aging reduces the tannin content, the taste of the wine becomes softer, more delicate, and reveals more subtle notes - floral, vanilla, spicy. Color saturation also decreases, brick shades come to the fore.

Wines in bottles can be aged for decades, and their taste will only improve from this. For example, vintage strong wines - port, Madeira - achieve an ideal bouquet after 20-30 years of aging in bottles.

Are all wines bottled?

There are no exceptions here - you can and should bottle any type of wine you receive: young or aged in barrels. Glass bottles with cork stopper create ideal conditions for long-term storage of wine.

Features of storing wine in bottles

Despite the apparent simplicity of the question, there are important nuances to it. Proper storage of wine in bottles is the key to preserving and developing its bouquet.

What bottles and corks are suitable for wine?

I am against storing wine in plastic containers. If you want to get a truly high-quality drink with a good bouquet, then take classic dark glass bottles.

They need to be sealed with cork plugs, which are considered best choice for long-term storage. It is preferable to choose corks made from Portuguese or Spanish cork oak.

To preserve the outer side of the cork plug, it is filled with sealing wax if long-term storage is expected. Cork plugs can also cause some problems. During long-term storage, the cork may crumble and the outer part may dry out. This leads to depressurization of the bottle and spoilage of the wine. To be fair, I note that this is only possible after a considerable period of storage of the wine in the cellar.

A more modern option is to use polymer plugs. They are neutral and do not affect the taste of the wine. In addition, they do not dry out over time and fit tightly to the neck. If you are not bothered by such a deviation from authentic recipes, then you can use polymer plugs.

Bottle storage conditions

It is best to store wine in a dark, ventilated room at a temperature of 8 to 12 degrees. In such conditions, the wine will continue to develop.

Bottles are stored in an inclined position so that the cork is moistened with wine. Otherwise, the cork may dry out and crumble, and this will spoil appearance and the taste of wine.

The main enemy of bottled wine is sunlight, so make sure that your bottles are not exposed to sunlight during storage.

Aging times for different types of wine

Different types of wines require different aging periods and conditions. Here is a small guide that will help you understand what and how to withstand.

Wine type	Characteristic	Barrel aging	Bottle aging
Young wines	Wines from the current year's harvest, immediately available for sale
Ordinary wines	Wines from the previous year's harvest, aged for 6 to 12 months in steel tanks		Up to 1–2 years
Table wines	Wines with short barrel aging	From 1 to 2 years	Up to 1–2 years
Vintage wines	Wines aged in barrels	From 1.5 to 4 years	At least 3 years
Collection wines	Wines aged in barrels and aged in bottle storage	At least 2 years	At least 5 years

Special mention must be made about blended wines. Blending is the mixing of different wines, which are combined to improve the richness of the bouquet. Blending is carried out after aging in barrel and before the wines are sent to bottle storage. Some blends must be stored in bottles for at least 3-5 years to fully harmonize the taste.

As a rule, aged red wines are blended.

Practical part

During the practical part of our lesson, watch a training video on how to properly bottle and cap wine.

Homework

Tell us how you store wine. Do you age it in barrels? Be sure to include photos.

In today's lesson you learned how to properly endure different types wines, we learned which wines need aging in barrels and which can do without it. You have learned how to bottle and cap wine for long-term storage.

The bell rings - the lesson is over. Thank you all for your attention!

Add hashtags to your homework projects. #craft_school #cosmogon

Storing wine in an oak barrel is a difficult process, requiring knowledge of certain principles and winemaking technology. A novice winemaker must carefully study the entire process and pay attention to many details in order to obtain a high-quality product that is safe and enjoyable to drink as a result of the winemaking process.

To give the wine a special quality, it is stored in barrels.

What you need to know about capacity?

The history of storing wine in an oak barrel consists of thousands of years of trial and error, disappointments and successes, and the perfection of technology. Market alcoholic drinks rarely offers wine stored, as tradition dictates, in a barrel. And if the buyer is lucky enough to find such a product, then its cost is quite high. That is why connoisseurs of good alcohol prefer to make it themselves. And only good wine can become a magnificent family tradition.

Barrels are also necessary for proper transportation of wine.

An oak barrel is perfect not only for storing wine, but also for proper transportation and preparation. This remark is true not only for a wine product, but also for cognac, brandy, chacha, whiskey, grappa or moonshine.

In order to successfully produce alcohol using oak barrels, the wood must go through a preparatory stage. If the preparatory stage is not carried out, the barrel swells, a leak forms in it, or it simply crumbles. New barrels impart bitterness and darkening to the wine; before pouring alcohol into them, they must be poured drinking water

. If this requirement is not met, the barrels will simply ruin the wine. The first preparatory step is to pour boiling water over the container. It should be noted that this is not an infusion, but a short-term scalding. A small amount of boiling water is needed, which is poured into the container, then the barrel is plugged with a stopper and shaken well. Open the plug and drain the boiling water. This must be done immediately. Next, the procedure is repeated 3-4 times, but the water needs to be cold. If you wash an oak barrel for the first time cold water

, it will deteriorate and become unusable.

All this is done so that the wood, having swollen, fills the rivets. This guarantees protection against leakage.

Practice shows that the washing procedure requires 3-4 rinses. But according to all the rules, it is necessary to rinse the barrel until the water becomes clear. Also, the liquid poured from the barrel should not have the taste or smell of wood. Next, you need to rinse the container again with boiling water, then rinse with warm water with the addition of soda. After that, another wash, a control wash. If the barrel is not used for a long time, it is fumigated with sulfur, which helps to avoid the appearance of wood pests and fungus.

Return to contents

How to store intoxicating liquid? Must be followed correctly.

temperature regime

The main condition for storing wine in barrels is maintaining the temperature regime. The optimal temperature norm is 12 0 C. Temperature fluctuations under optimal storage conditions are from 10 to 14 0 C. In cases where the ambient temperature increases, evaporation of alcohol vapor is observed, and when it decreases, the wine does not ripen properly.

If the environment is not suitable for a wine barrel or only partially suitable, processes that are incompatible with the aging of high-quality wine will begin to occur: excessive evaporation of vapors or “under-ripening”. When insufficient humidity is noticed in a room, basins and buckets of water are placed in it.

The first danger that can happen to a novice winemaker is the development of an acetic acid bacterial culture near the hole of the tongue. Wines that are stored with their tongue facing up are most susceptible to this risk. Some people usually do not notice the pathological process that occurs in wine, since this is a slow procedure. It is necessary to fumigate unused barrels with sulfur, and also clean the tongue frequently on a regular basis.

The second danger for the winemaker lies in the process of wine percolation. This problem should be eliminated at the preparatory stage by properly preparing the barrel for the first use. The preparatory method was described above.

Knowledge and observance of the basic laws of winemaking eliminates pathological wine processes. If you prepare the barrel properly and store the wine as intended, the result will certainly be a tasty and noble drink. The main thing in winemaking is the desire to enjoy good alcohol, without rushing or taking rash steps.