Equipment Update #3

The cooperage arrived last week. Sitting in my living room are three 225L American oak barrels from Nadalie USA, heavy to medium toasting with toasted heads. I ordered different wood and toasting patterns for each barrel to experiment with the oak flavoring. While the entire 1.5 tons will be aged in these three barrels for 12 months, we will reserve a small lot that will age an additional 6 months in a small French oak barrel.



I also ordered an 2 additional 600L (160 gallon) tanks for primary fermentation. The plan was to ferment in 1/2 ton poly fermenters. However, after much thought, I decided to go stainless to minimize spoilage during maceration and cold-soaking. That gives us a total of 560 gallons of stainless fermentation and storage space.