Diamonds in barrel

[tonyt]

Today I am racking wine out of my 3 year old barrel. It has been in the barrel for 3 months. This was the RJS Valpolicella Repassa. This is probably the 10th batch of wine to go through this barrel. As I rinse it and lots of wine diamonds are coming out. I have never experienced this before with a barrel. I can't be sure that I will get all of them out since I cannot see you in the barrel. How important is it that I get a hundred percent of the diamonds out of the barrel? And any suggestions on doing so.

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[tonyt]

Maybe everybody is watching the Olympics?

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[ibglowin]

That barrel is toast. You should not use it anymore but send it to me for recycling…….

 

[tonyt]

I rinsed it about 10 times till only a few flakes came out. Then sanitized and refilled it with new wine. I guess our cold weather down here (60 is in kitchen at night) was enough to cold stabilize. Mike I assume your toast comment was tongue-in-cheek? I've never had this happen in a barrel.

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[ckvchestnut]

I'm not a barrel expert but from what I've read the diamonds shouldn't be absorbed into new wines and 2 you could scrub and rinse them out? Still wondering of something could be done with those? Lol petrify them or something!

 

[ibglowin]

Mike I assume your toast comment was tongue-in-cheek? I've never had this happen in a barrel.

Very normal Tony. My cellar goes down to 55 for the winter months and sometimes as low as 50 if we get arctic cold. Every time I rotate the wines in the Spring/Summer months I have some amount of diamonds in the barrel. I just use a high pressure wash from the garden hose to rinse them out. They come out easily for me.

I suspect as you already guessed your (much) colder than normal Winter weather has caused this never before seen phenomena in your barrels.

You can still send me the barrel is you wish!

 

[Runningwolf]

I agree with Mikes use of pressure from garden hose. Use the hottest water you can. It won't dissolve them but it will help break them down and release them from the sides.

 

[tonyt]

Thanks guys. I rinsed as well as I could with hot water. Next rotation I will take it outside to the garden hose as suggested.

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