aging cognac

[neil]

Next harvest I want to ferment some apples and grapes and make cognac and calvados out of it.
I was wondering what kind of barrelsI should use for that. French oak obviously, but with a char, toast or just plain wood.

Does anybody know how the french use to do it?

[der wo]

European oak, toast, but no char.
Some links with good info and pictures:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... -chile.png" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
http://woodenbarrelwarehouse.com/cooper ... el-making/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
http://wineandbarrels.com/gb/category/t ... arrels-34/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[MDH]

I'm going to keep posting this link everywhere

http://www.pediacognac.com/en/le-vieill ... lissement/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[der wo]

Excellent link. Thank you MDH!

[neil]

Thank you. Those are some very helpfull links.
Although I still can’t find the right kind of toast that is used for cognac. Heavy or light toast, it doesn’t say…

[MDH]

I personally would choose a middle ground beneath medium and dark.

[heartcut]

Nice. Thanks, MDH.

[neil]

I personally would choose a middle ground beneath medium and dark.

And it takes a new barrel with that toast to make it I presume?

[MDH]

As mentioned in PediaCognac, yes, new French barrels... Unlike charred barrels you cannot retoast as easily because you are working with darkened oak that still has integrity. With charcoal you can scrape it away to rechar for second use.

In Cognac, the barrel size matters. They will move it from small barrels to larger and then to demijons to stop the oak from overriding the subtle flavors of the grapes.

[rager]

Again im always learning something new here. carry on