Wood cooperage

What Makes Oak the Best Tight Cooperage Wood ... 

Just as cooperage wood, cork boards should be stored away from soil or spore-containing dust if air-drying and seasoning is desired. 

The chief advantage of wood for containers is that many common species are free from harmful contaminants. For this reason wood had widespread use in the food and beverage industries, but it has now suffered severe competition from corrosion-resistant metals, plastics and paper products. Oak had a very extensive use in tight cooperage in the brewing industry, and its use for barrels still survives in the maturing of whisky and brandy and in the wine industries. Wood is particularly useful where acetic acid is present as this acid is corrosive to most common metals. 

Masson, G. et al.. Demonstration of the presence of carotenoids in wood quantitative study of cooperage oak, J. Agric. Food Chem., 45, 1649, 1997. 

Formaldehyde analysis has been used to detect and measure oak extract in wines aged in wood cooperage and to correlate the amount of extract with the aging effect (27). Tannins and phenols of oak (and redwood and cork) are predominantly nonflavonoid-hydrolyzable tannins (Table XI), and they add to the otherwise relatively low and... 

The relationship of modern wine styles to aging wines in wooden barrels is described. The physical and chemical characteristics of different woods lead to the conclusion that white oak is best for wine cooperage. European cooperage oak samples had 161% of the extractable solids of North American samples and 154% of the phenol per unit of extractable solids, but American oak contributed more oak flavor to wine per unit of extract. Data are presented on the density and extractable phenol content of summer and spring oak wood, the characteristics of rapidly vs. slowly grown oak, the surface per unit volume effects of container size and shape, the variability among trees in flavor and extract content, the analysis of wood extract in wine, and the depth of penetration of wine into staves. 

This shift from wood to stainless steel cooperage has been general and a factor in changing production practices around the world, particularly for red wines. A wine well protected from oxidation in an impervious tank will not change rapidly in tannin content. If it was vinified so as to be too tannic for acceptance by the consumer, it is likely to remain... 

In the United States, woods which have been used for tight cooperage include white oak, red oak, chestnut oak, red or sweet gum, sugar maple, yellow or sweet birch, white ash, Douglas fir, beech, black cherry, sycamore, redwood, spruce, bald cypress, elm, and basswood (2, 3, 4). In Europe, cooperage for wine or brandy has been made from... 

Still other woods are used for tight cooperage in the orient such as Albizzia odoratissima in Ceylon and Burma (8) and Cryptomeria japonica in Japan (9), but what their effect would be on European-type wines is not known. 

After one eliminates all those woods that are less suitable, not readily available, poorly tested, or suitable only in larger sizes, the white oaks remain. Hankerson (2) states that white oak combines in about ideal proportions the characteristics desired in tight cooperage. Brunet (5), Huber and Kehrbeck (6), Veiga (7), and others consider oak best for wine cooperage although the relative merits of different oaks are subject to more discussion. 

Commercial white oak furnished 90% of all tight cooperage in the United States as early as 1908 (3). Tight cooperage reached its maximum production in the United States in 1929 at nearly 107 million m3 of wood consumed, dropped until 1952, and then rose slightly to about 26 million m3 in 1962 (33). Present production is believed similar. These figures illustrate the decline in the use of wooden cooperage, but they also indicate that, with less demand for barrels and their use primarily for premium products, the oak used can be restricted to the best. The situation in Europe appears similar. 

Port wine has been produced for centuries. Its winemaking procedures, based on traditional methods, include stopping must fermentation by adding grape spirits, making lots of wines when desired, and letting them age in bottle or in wood cooperage. 

Doussot, F., De Jeso, B., Quideau, S., and Pardon, P. (2002). Extractives content in cooperage oak wood during natural seasoning and toasting Influence of tree species, geographic location and single-tree effects. ]. Agric. Food Chem. 50, 5955-5961. 

By necessity, many wineries, especially newer ones with new wood cooperage, have had to induce the fermentation. The fermentation usually takes place near the end of, or immediately after, the alcoholic fermentation. However, it has been known to wait until warmer temperatures of the spring and summer. 

In the Interior Valley, the majority of the cooperage, as noted earlier, is stainless steel, coated metal, or concrete. The majority of tanks, except wood cooperage, consist of large sizes. 

A problem common to many wineries in this area is an overabundance of new or almost new wood cooperage. It is often not possible to allow the wines to remain in wood to achieve the level of maturity desired by the winemaker. Rather, it is necessary to remove the wine prior to it becoming too astringent and having too predominant an oak aroma. In lieu of a long wood aging cycle, a number of wineries are bottle aging their wines for an extended period of time prior to release. 

Throughout history different types of wood have served many purposes. The tough, strong, and durable white oak, for example, was a well-proven raw material for ships, bridges, cooperage, barn timbers, farm implements, railroad ties, fence posts, flooring, paneling, and other products. In contrast,... 

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