Used Wine Barrel Treatment

[oakgriff]

Scored the head of a used wine barrel from a fiend today. After splitting it apart you can clearly see the penetration of the wine and...some other discoloration on the side opposite the wine staining. What is that from?

The barrel is A&K Cooperage Baccus series with a medium plus toast, American white oak. No char.

My main question is what kind of treatment is recommended. Should I toast the wood again?

After reading though some of the experiments done by MichiganCornhusker and KiwiDistiller I think I'm going to do a deep char on all side but the wine stained one. I really want to maximize complexity of flavors, and I really want the wine to add some fruitiness to the profile. Oak aging I have done in the past has always come out...single note I would say. What is recommended procedure for getting more full profile? Using multiple sticks with different toasting and char levels? What have you all done to achieve this?

I'll use these suggestions and throw some of it in with a cornflake sugarhead run this weekend, as more of an experiment with it before I use it on some AG runs.

[kiwi Bruce]

I've found that the head staves are less charred that the body staves in most cooperage, to stop leaks, so they have a lot more tannins to extract. You'll be OK with this in any cornflake sugarhead or for that matter any US style whiskey, give it a good burn and most of the locked flavors will be released to your spirit, use caution on a single malt though. The color on the out side could just be from water if it was stored outside before you got it. Used bourbon staves look a hell of a lot worse that this, I still use them, no sweat.