Hope everyone had a fantastic New Years holiday! Ours sure came in with a bang (weather wise). A good 18" fell over New Years Eve into New Years day. I saw a snow plow get stuck...not something you see everyday!
Now to the seasoning of wood topic, it definitely doesn't have anything to do w/adding a little salt and pepper, but it does have relation to the beverages that age inside a finished barrel, i.e. wine, spirits, etc.. Just like a fine wine or whiskey has to age and mature before it can meet your wine bar or liquor cabinet, so does white oak need to take a time out before it can be ready to be made into a barrel.
Typically white oak stave blanks (rough sawn) are stacked into staggered piles to allow both water and air the ability to reach through the entire pile. 12 to 48 moths is the typical aging time (48mos. being on the extreme side). During that time, some say that the rain or precipitation leeches out excess tannic acid, while others say it's the different temperatures in the freeze/thaw cycle that help to mellow out the "greenness" (I might have made that word up?) or harsh acidic tendencies in the wood.
Some stave suppliers or cooperage's go so far as to sprinkle collected rain water on their piles of white oak, and some places like Australia, irrigation systems are used because of the excessivley dry climate.
Overall the main reason to age/season white oak is to allow the harsher chemical compounds found in the wood to leech or mellow out while leaving the more desirable compounds like vanillan. If it was not aged or seasoned properly, your end product might taste like a resinous rubber tire!
All of the wood used in our barrels are aged for a minimum of 18 months.
Wishing a great weekend to all and hoping that it doesn't feel like the -20below windchill it happens to be here!
Talk soon,
~ Heidi
Friday, January 7, 2011
Monday, December 27, 2010
Post Christmas, Pre New Year
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
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.
----------------------------------------------------------------
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
Monday, December 13, 2010
New Blog
Hi Folks,
It's almost a new year and therefore, time for a new blog and new posting's! Unfortunately, the new blog was a must as a hacker completely spammed out my previous email address, and thus I must start afresh.
We woke up to -21 degrees this morning in Osage, MN, quite the ice box! Luckily, we don't have to huddle up to our toasting and charring area to keep warm!
We only moved to Osage in the beginning of October so here's an update on our contact info:
54473 State Hwy 34
Osage, MN 56570
Ph: 218-573-2020
Fax: 218-573-2024
heidi@blackswanbarrels.com
http://www.blackswanbarrels.com/
It's almost a new year and therefore, time for a new blog and new posting's! Unfortunately, the new blog was a must as a hacker completely spammed out my previous email address, and thus I must start afresh.
We woke up to -21 degrees this morning in Osage, MN, quite the ice box! Luckily, we don't have to huddle up to our toasting and charring area to keep warm!
We only moved to Osage in the beginning of October so here's an update on our contact info:
54473 State Hwy 34
Osage, MN 56570
Ph: 218-573-2020
Fax: 218-573-2024
heidi@blackswanbarrels.com
http://www.blackswanbarrels.com/
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