Aging in Oak Barrels Question

[HouseofLibra]

Hey there

I'm new to the forums, so first of all, hi everyone.

I'm also new to the world of aging with oak barrels. My question is, how full should the keg be?

The thing is, I purchased a small 12 L keg for starters, but I had originally planned on getting a 10 L ( it was all he had at the moment). I had already started a small 10 L batch ( on hindsight I should've made more). So now I have a 2 L headspace.

any comments would be greatly appreciated!

cheers

 

[jarheadjim]

Not to distract from your initial question but have you tried adding white oak slats to a carbouy of wine? Lots cheaper and gives your wine a great barrel aged taste. You can age it that way and wait till the moment you want to bottle it and have absolutely no sediment in the bottom of your bottle when you uncork it. I like to age the wine in the carbouy this way for a year or so and then bottle some bottles as I need them.

Jim

 

[gregbathurst]

Wineries keep barrels full to prevent any air coming in contact .They have to regularly top up the barrels because the wine evaporates. But that is big 225L barrels.

 

[WIP]

You want to keep it absolutely full, you can top off with a similar, store bought wine.

 

[HouseofLibra]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I figured the barrel would have to be topped off, and I will have to do it with a store bought, gotta do what you gotta do I guess. I imagine a smaller barrel would oxidize less because there is less surface area + less volume of unused space, but since there is less volume of wine, the chances of spoilage are still highly possible. I heard of people even putting marbles in their keg/carbouy to increase volume, but that's just getting crazy.

Jarheadjim: I have considered adding oak to a carbouy, but I wanted to try the real deal in a small batch for the first time. Plus it's just way more fun. Oak kegs are quite available and relatively cheap where I live. I'm thinking of getting oak pieces from the cooper for larger batches.

cheers

 

[RobWalker]

Alternatively, you can sanitize something like glass marbles that will sink, and add them to the barrell. As long as they're solid and won't impart any flavour, it'll fill up the volume and all you have to do is rack off