Many people cherish barrel-aged wines and beers, given the amount of flavour and aroma a small barrel can contribute to your final drink. After purchasing your wine barrels for sale and adding your wine inside, the wine starts to take in some of the different chemical compounds found in the wood, including lactones responsible for floral flavours and aroma, simple sugars or caramel and phenolic aldehydes or vanilla. Over time, the wine takes in all the rich flavours and nutrients from the wood, producing a smooth, tasty drink. Before you decide to shop for wine barrels for purposes of barrel-aging your favourite drink, consider first the following useful tips.

Type of wine or beer

Is any wine or beer suitable for barrel-aging? Probably not. Usually, barrel-aging is suitable for beers and wines that have a high alcohol percentage content plus stronger flavours that are able to withstand, and not be engrossed by, the different flavours present inside the wine barrels.

Type of barrel

After having opted to age your wine in a barrel, the ensuing question to contemplate is what type of barrel to purchase. When shopping for barrels, you have two options: used or new. For new barrels, it is important to treat and clean it prior to use, getting rid of any bacterial organisms that may present inside the wood barrel. New barrels should be swelled with hot-water treatment. The same also applies to older barrels. As a result, all joints are likely to be tightened to avoid the likelihood of wine seepage as well as to avert spoilage problems. On the other hand, if you are purchasing a freshly emptied wine barrel, cleaning isn't often necessary, courtesy of the sterilizing effects of the previously held wine or spirit in the barrel.

Racking and bottling

Once your beer or wine has fully aged inside the barrel, make sure that you rack or transfer the drink from the wine barrel into a germ-free, sanitized vessel. Allow the drink to sit for three to four days. This is done to let any thick wood specks or residue that might have been soaked up from the wood staves to settle at the bottom of the vessel. Then, you can distil your beer and bottle your tasty barrel-aged wine for consumption.

By observing these three aspects, you will have covered the basics of purchasing wine barrels. You can be guaranteed some barrel-aged sweetness at last!

For more information, talk to a professional like Simon The Plantman.