Part 2 of the Quarantine Quad Series called "Ask Ryan" continues with Ryan Monkman of FieldBird Cider, Ontario Canada answering questions from Cider Chat listeners on working with oak barrels.

Listen Part 1 of the Quarantine Quad Series

Ryan addresses:

Stacking Oak Barrels

At FieldBird they call climbing up stacked barrels: Monkey climbing, where they uses e barrels as a ladder.

Managing Head space in a barrel

Using a solid bung for a full seal and not a bung with airlock

How to sanitize a barrel that’s been sitting for 6 months untreated.

First smell barrel - if not funky you likely are ok
Find out if it will hold water.
- Can take 2-3 days for water to absorb into the staves.
- Avoid chlorinated water or find a way to dechlorinate the water (Do reverses osmosis to remover the chlorine)
  - TCA - is formed when oak is mixed with Chlorine
  - Also known as cork taint

The Gold Standard for cleaning an empty barrel is steam.

A winery may have a gamajet that is used to clean the barrels via steam.
- Turn on for 15 minutes

Burning sulfur sticks or barrel disks in empty barrels to protect barrel from oxygen which deters spoilage from occurring.

Light on the sulfur on fire and seal the barrel
- Hang the sulfur and avoid drop the disk of sulfur into the barrel

Lighting sulfur disks to put into barrels

More caustic ways to clean oak barrels

In the US - Scotts Labs has oak restorer that can be used to clean barrels.
A caustic cleaner to mix with water
- Citric acid and 300 ppm sulfur (Potassium metabisulfite - KMS)
  - KMS is water soluble. - should taste like lemon water hold unpleasant aroma out of wood and knock back the population of spoilage
  - Ryan has had to do this up to 3x to clean out the barrel
  - If using KMS - use 600 ppm - because 1/2 of KMS is sulfur

Avoid used Sodium Metabisulfite because is can cause instability in the cider and the sodium sticks around.

A Cooper can re-cooper a barrel, but this might cost more than a new barrel and should be a last resort

Contact for Ryan Monkman at FieldBird Cider

website: https://www.fieldbird.ca/
Instagram
- FieldBird https://www.instagram.com/fieldbird.cider/
- Ryan Monkman https://www.instagram.com/rgmonkman/

Mentions in this chat

Stories in Ciderville - send in fiction and nonfiction essays to read out loud on Cider Chat to ria@ciderchat.com
Full Juice Magazine Spring Edition
September 1-6, 20202 England Cider Tour

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