Wine Barrel - Recondition & Toast

For the home winemaker to recondition and toast a used wine barrel.

[@retiredboss4831]

Tony, I just revisited your video to brush up and remind me of barrel restoration. Over the past 4 years, I've redone 6 barrels of various sizes. I'm about to redo a 30 gallon French oak. Thanks, again!

[@tonycampanella4597]

That is one of the nicest comments I’ve ever received. Thank you so much for letting me know that! You are truly the boss !!! I’m interested in what tricks you have learned by doing so many. Anything that you could add to my method? Thanks again again for your note

[@danielduskovic1466]

Only video that actually had the content I was looking for, cheers for the upload!

[@tonycampanella4597]

Thank you for the kind words

[@donboggs3880]

I wanted to know how to take a large wood barrel apart, refinish it and then reassemble. You made this process so simple. I have an old axe I'll grind down a groove into and lots of copper pipe. I really appreciate this video!!! Thank you sir, I'm "ready, set and go" for this project. Great share.

[@tonycampanella4597]

Don Boggs - Let us know how yours turns out!

[@navymark101]

Great video Tony. I always wondered the difficulty in refurbing a barrel and you made it look like something I could do. I have a barrel set aside for some wine I'm making and if her insides look poor, I now know what to do...

[@retiredboss4831]

Tony, thanks for video, you inspired me to do a 10 gallon barrel and it turned out just right. Now 2 years later, I will be attempting a 60 gallon barrel soon. Thanks again!

[@tonycampanella4597]

Retired Boss - thank you so much for your note. Please let us know how you make out.

[@christopherwong6174]

Tony, excellent video! Thank you for a great visual explanation! Good Luck!!

[@jjangmes]

You are one serious home winemaker!

[@michaelvizzoca5318]

Awesome!! Well done brother

[@tonycampanella4597]

Thank you Michael - good to know I have a long lost brother out there. Check out my wine cork branding iron video. Thanks again!

[@johnduich4409]

Great video!

[@lordpelvis63954]

thank you

[@kluv1968]

Thank you Tony for a great video! Could you please send me a link to where I can get one of those “Cooper tools” to remove the rings from my barrels?

[@tonycampanella4597]

hammersource.com/picard-600gm-21oz-coopers-hammer-1x-2-8-crowned-face-13-8-x-1-4-grooved-straight-pein/ Check eBay also. If you search for hoop driver you’ll get a few options

[@user-yq1yq2hj4h]

Good video, thanks for sharing

[@jameszervos5879]

Great video! I have 3- 30 gallon Hungarian oak barrels and two of them have a musty ( bad wine) smell. Will this process remove that? They have been soaking in a strong sulphite solution for about a year. Also, does the wood need to be dry before sanding? I don't want to waste 30 gallons of Amarone.

[@tonycampanella4597]

Ok. Here’s what I suggest and it might sound crazy. Option 1 - do what’s in this video. Option 2 (the crazy one) - I had your exact situation once and went for this extreme option. I took the heads off the barrel and scraped the easy stuff off. Then I toasted it until it basically caught on fire. Like really on fire. I kicked it over and sprayed it down with a hose. Then I took the barrel apart and sanded the charcoal layer off. To me this insured that no bacteria could survive. The staves were definitely thinner. The wine came out incredible and had a distinct toast flavor to it. The problem was was the staves were so thin that the wine was actually reaching the outside when it penetrated the oak. Good luck and let us know what you end up doing and how it turns out.

[@tonycampanella4597]

James - if you look at my wine cork branding iron video on my channel, at the end it has my email address. If you have any questions further that you want to directly email me please do so. Otherwise you can post them here also. Thanks

[@wavydoom]

Really helpful!! Thanks a lot!

[@anthonysillett6678]

good attempt

[@mishauri]

well done! very helpful. cheers

[@vignoble2675]

Misha Dolidze Carefully whit the Brettanomyces this is not proper way , the wine barrels should not be repurposed this way , and even worst after 5 harvest .

[@tonycampanella4597]

La Viña y el vino. Done this on 4 different barrels - never had a problem with Brett or any other spoilage bacteria. No reason at all this would cause issue with Brett.

[@vignoble2675]

U are a cooper my friend your not pretending, I have seen œonologis that can not hold to staves together 👏🏽hey English is not my born language maybyi sound a bit rough I did not mean it that way , is just Han advice u know the microbiology and the capillarity of the oak at some point in time they are hosting bacteria well hidden and it only take one time whit the Brett , and then you loose the hall year of labor, well done the toasting try spraying distillate water while you toast so the stream gets well in to the poorsosity of the oak and kills ass many unwanted host that may be in there, you should try making one from the beginning, I’m sure you can. Actually if you call sSegun Moreau they sell you the staves ready to toast , just a thought , congratulations very interesting , let me know how was the wine and what time of grape you are using and how much time in the wood. Do you still fell that the oak is still have straint, still strong influence ?

[@tonycampanella4597]

La Viña y el vino - thank you for your kind words and advise. Happy New Year!!

[@pfroeser]

Very interesting… Did you also sand down the top and bottom?

[@jonmoeller9336]

I have a whiskey barrel and by mistake I let it dry out and now it is loose. I tried running water over the barrel and it did help but the boards didn't expand equally. Is there any fix to this? Thanks

[@tonycampanella4597]

Hello. I would try boiling water - ⅓ of the barrels capacity and then cork it once to put the water in. Usually if you give it enough time, barrels will seal. The hotter the water better at first. If you you want to try something extreme, take the head off and one joint at a time add river reed (it’s hard to find but you get a bundle from someone that sells barrels online)

[@nirnir-xu5vm]

can you make a video and teach us how to make red wine ? Thank you .

[@fariskirk1341]

So I followed directions, except I forgot to mark the head positions when first dissembling. It also is now long water proof. Massive leaks all over the place, and not all the pieces sit flush anymore. Any ideas?

[@tonycampanella4597]

Yes Faris. After soaking the barrel the staves should swell. 3 days tops. Where the heads meet the staves, you could pull the head off and then fill the croze (The area where the head fits into the stave) with a flour/water thick slurry and then reattach the head. It’s very common.

[@tonycampanella4597]

Here is a link that may help you

[@tonycampanella4597]

In terms of staves sitting flush against each other. When the hoops are somewhat tight and the heads are off you generally reach on the inside of the barrel and bang outward to achieve this. In the video it I believe you can see me doing this when I move the barrel to the garage.

[@fariskirk1341]

Tony Campanella No link, showed up. Thanks for all the input though!

[@jdphelps123]

You don't make / use any head dope for the grove to keep it from leaking after reassembling? Make a dough out of flour and water?

[@tonycampanella4597]

Hello. I generally do use a flour/water mix to seal the barrel. I didn't in this case because the grove was so deep but I think it's a good idea to do so.

[@jdphelps123]

Excellent video. You don't find that toasting with a fire like that imparts any smoke flavors into the wood? How are you gauging your test level during the that process? I know you said 20 mins, but would that be a medium toast, light toast, heavy toast?

[@tonycampanella4597]

J.D. Phelps - it’s just guess work for me in terms of time. It’s not like a toast on a barrel when it’s first made so I don’t think there is a formula. Also my fire is probably not as hot as one at a coopers. In terms of flavor there is no question you get a “toasted” type flavor.

[@mackenziebarry5301]

Have you ever considered half filling with corse sand and putting it on a roller for a couple of hours. Save having to dismantle the barrel?!?

[@tonycampanella4597]

Mackenzie Barry - I guess that would be like a rock tumbler. I’ve never heard that idea but I like it. If you have the apparatus to do this, please video the results.

[@mackenziebarry5301]

@@tonycampanella4597 when our meadary is fully fledged and using Oak barrels, this will definitely be on the cards.

[@pmd3670]

Would there be anything wrong with removing the heads and sanding off the gunk with the staves still in place? Maybe not as thorough of a job but still would do the trick , no?

[@tonycampanella4597]

It’s hard to sand the stages when the barrel is still together with the heads off because of the curve.

[@aacesmom]

Bark in the fire pot?

[@tonycampanella4597]

Hard wood in the fire pot.

[@tonycampanella4597]

KZbin may not allow a non KZbin link. Search for “flour paste wine barrel” and you’ll find it. Good luck

[@christopherwidener5358]

What was the tool called?

[@tonycampanella4597]

If you search for Coopers Hammer, you’ll find it.

[@peteristevski1320]

lara work but tumps up

[@tonycampanella4597]

Thank you

[@damienmatthews8364]

... or just pay the $$ to get it done professionally :) Normally barrels are not re-coopered this way.

[@tonycampanella4597]

Damien Matthews - obviously it’s not normally done this way. That’s why I put this online. Most people don’t have a place to bring this to or want to try it themselves. One thing is for sure - it works. My barrels are much better off when I’ve done this process than just leaving them alone.