Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday. We had a postcard perfect Christmas here, with the snow covering the trees just enough to look like a layer of sparkly white frosting.
To help those who are interested in learning more about barrel making or barrels in general I'm going to start posting better and/or little known facts about the trade. Hopefully it will be informational or at least a bit of a refresher for some.
Today I'll start with the medullary ray. The medullary ray is a thin layer of the tree almost like a plastic barrier that is woven perpendicular to the growth rings. Therefore, barrel wood is quarter sawn to keep the barrels water tight. The medullary ray greatly slows down the penetration of liquid inside the barrel, be it wine, whiskey, beer, etc...
Other than white oak there are several types of hardwoods that also have medullary rays, but no other species has tylosis which acts as open and close valves in the xylem and phloem tubes within the structure of the tree.
Please feel free to post questions or comments.
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I'd also like to send our thoughts and prayers to Ralph Erenzo of Tuthilltown Spirits and his family. We wish you a full and speedy recovery.
Happy New Year to all! Best of luck in all your endeavours in 2011!!
~Heidi
Very interesting. That's something I don't remember them teaching in forestry school.
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