Triangle wrote:Similar to above. In SA we're lucky with plenty of wine made here. I pickup broken barrels etc for this use.
I shave the staves all round with a planer. I remove all the previous toast/wine and outside oxidation. I'm using mine for red wine during ferments so I want clean oak with no contaminants.
Then cut them into manageable pieces but of equal sizes (I'll get to this) to suit demijohn size.......of course they swell when in use so don't get too excited with a tight tolerance!
Toast at 180 C wrapped in foil for medium - I'm aiming for vanilla medium.
Another option is a source of direct heat and light water misting (wine I don't want a char).
This part is all a bit of trial and error and lots of sniffing and smelling.
Measure all your cut pieces, work out total cm2 of each piece - easy if they're similar.
I then aim for 60-90cm2/litre to mimick a 200lt barrel.
Aussiedownunder01 wrote:Buy a 1//2 barrel from bunnies $100.00
Doubleuj wrote:Aussiedownunder01 wrote:Buy a 1//2 barrel from bunnies $100.00
I've seen these, how could you be sure they're oak though and not perhaps something else? Or treated with some chemicals for sale?
coffe addict wrote:Try ringing a local cooperage they often sell the offcuts at a fair price.
Dig Brinker wrote:Do they have a mail service in WA???? 8-}
Triangle wrote:If I get a chance over the next week I'll have a look around and see what I might be able to get my hands on. Can probably clean it up and send it off through courier relatively cheaply if you want. Give me an idea approx how much you need.
vqstatesman wrote:You might have better luck asking them for offcuts for firewood, they might be more responsive. One of the local places here in SA (Tubbies) sells their offcuts as firewood. Giant bag of 5KG or so was $5 last time I was there.
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