Aging Barrel
An aging barrel is a barrel used to age wine or distilled spirits such as whiskey, brandy, or rum. Specialty beers are also sometimes aged in barrels which were previously used in aging harder spirits, thus imparting characteristic and distinctive flavors to the beer; lambic beers are aged in used wine barrels.
When a wine ages in a barrel, small amounts of oxygen are introduced as the barrel lets some air in (compare to microoxygenation where oxygen is deliberately added). Oxygen enters a barrel when water or alcohol is lost due to evaporation, a portion known as the “angels’ share”. In an environment with 100% relative humidity, very little water evaporates and so most of the loss is alcohol, a useful trick if one has a wine with very high proof. Most wines are topped up from other barrels to prevent significant oxidation, although others such as vin jaune are not.
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Tags:Wine, Winemaking, Aging, Barrel
