People who produce wine, cognac and other alcoholic beverages need huge vessels to age the product. An excellent option is an oak barrel; you can buy it or make it yourself. Quite often the question arises, how to make an oak barrel with your own hands? Let's look at the manufacturing process in more detail.
Do-it-yourself oak barrel at home is an excellent solution.
For example, let’s take a large barrel with a volume of 25 liters. Where to start the process? The initial stage of making a barrel is the procurement of material. It is necessary to choose a suitable foundation in the spring.
Now you can start making individual parts for the barrel, the first thing you need to do is make the rivets. Perhaps the most difficult thing is to split the harvested wood into rivets so that there is practically no waste.
The split is carried out in two directions:
- Radial (the split is carried out at the core of the deck itself)
- Tangential direction (core not affected)
The shape of the staves will depend on the type of barrel. Well, now you can put the pinned rivets in a dark and cold place (for example, a basement) and cover the top with sawdust. The wood must dry out throughout the summer. In the fall, you can safely start making a barrel.
Hoop
The hoop allows you to assemble all the prepared rivets for the barrel into one whole. A regular barrel should have 4 hoops. Two of them are located in the center of the barrel; these are fart hoops; those on the edges are morning hoops. In case the barrel is quite big size, between the extreme and middle hoops there may be additional hoops, they are called neck hoops. It is advisable to make hoops from stainless steel, since iron, although durable, rusts quickly.
The thickness of the hoop for a 25 liter barrel should be 1.5 mm, and the width should be approximately 3 - 3.5 cm. The larger the volume of the barrel, the wider the hoop.
In order to make a hoop, strips must be cut from steel required sizes. You need to punch holes at the ends of the strips and fasten them with special rivets. To make the hoop easier to put on, one edge should be forged.
Assembly
Assembling the barrel begins with the smallest hoop, 3 rivets are inserted into it, secured, then the rest are added, then a larger hoop is placed on the rivets. Then all the elements need to be closed more tightly; this can be done with a hammer.
Making the bottom
The bottom can be made using a whole piece of wood base, or wide boards. In order for the bottom to be attached to the barrel, you need to slightly loosen the hoops at the bottom, slightly lifting them up. After which the bottom is placed inside the barrel, and the hoops are lowered into place. The barrel is ready!
So, making oak barrels with your own hands takes a significant amount of time, but you can be confident in the quality of the product and also save money.
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Today there are not many masters of cooperage left, but the tradition of making pickling in tubs, or storing honey and wine in barrels has remained in Russia to this day. It often happens that for one reason or another it is not possible to acquire wooden containers. Then you can make an oak barrel with your own hands. Even if this is not the easiest task, however, if you set yourself a clear goal and follow all the features of the technology, you can make quite decent wooden containers for storing food and drinks. We will talk about how to make an oak barrel with your own hands below.
Making blanks
To make a container, you first need to select the material. If you want to store beekeeping products inside, pay attention to linden or aspen raw materials, plane tree. Honey is stored quite well in barrels made of poplar, alder wood, and willow. An oak barrel is ideal for pickling, fermenting or soaking.
If you have figured out the raw materials, you should choose an old tree. Its lower part is best suited for rivets. During preparation, be sure to make sure that the block is a couple of centimeters larger than the size of the future barrel. This reserve is needed for sanding the edges.
The wood must be damp. Initially, the block splits into 2 parts. To do this, use an ax and a small log, which is gently tapped on the butt. Each half splits in two again. It is necessary to ensure that the separation occurs radially. Do the same with each subsequent half - the number of blanks depends on the diameter of the oak barrel. It’s easy to prepare raw materials with your own hands, the main thing is accuracy. Please note that blanks may have different widths, but it's not scary.
The rivets are dried indoors, where there is good natural ventilation. The period is at least 1 month, and ideally even about 1 year. After drying, it is processed with special tools. It could be:
- plow;
- sherhebel;
- plane.
Processed first outside rivets, be sure to check the degree of curvature using a pre-prepared template. It can be cut from a thin piece of wood, attaching it to the finished product. After all the outer surfaces have been processed, you can proceed to the side ones. They are also leveled according to a template, and after processing they are jointed. The inner surface of the riveting is processed with a plane.
Rings
Both steel and wood can be used to make hoops. The latter option is less durable, so it is better to immediately give preference to metal. For hoops, hot-rolled steel in the form of a tape is used. Its width is about 3-5 cm, and thickness: 0.16-0.2 cm.
You need to take measurements at the place where the hoop will be stretched. After that to a certain value add the width of the strip, doubled. Using a hammer, the workpiece is bent to take the shape of a ring, and then holes are punched or drilled in it and rivets are placed. The material for them is mild steel wire, the diameter of which is 0.4-0.5 cm. One of the inner edges of the hoop must be flared with the pointed end of a hammer.
Subtleties of assembly
Making oak barrels with your own hands requires patience. However, the result is worth the time and effort. So, to assemble a barrel for pickling, you need a flat surface. To obtain finished barrel need to:
The skeleton does not need to be boiled or steamed before pulling, although there are those who insist on this. There are times when the workpiece may crack. Then experienced coopers replace it with a new one.
Bottom
To make the bottom, first you need to cut a groove from the bottom at a distance of 4-5 cm from the edge of the end; its dimensions can be 0.4-0.5 mm. For this purpose it is used special tool- morning. Using a chisel, you need to make a chamfer of 0.1 to 0.2 cm on both sides of the groove.
The bottom is made from a special shield. It is assembled using metal pins or nails. Having drawn a circle, you need to step back from it by 1-1.5 cm and cut out the future bottom. After this, it is cleaned with Sherhebel, and chamfers are cut along the edges. As a result, the thickness of the rivets there will be no more than 0.3 cm. This ensures complete tightness of the structure.
To do the fitting, loosen the bottom hoop and insert the bottom. It is inserted into the groove from one side, and from the other it is adjusted with a hammer to the desired level by lightly tapping. If the movement is tight, you can loosen the hoop a little more; if it moves too loosely, it is better to tighten the hoop.
Next, the hoop is stuffed again, and the barrel is checked for leaks. To do this, pour some water into it. If there is a leak between the rivets, you need to reduce the bottom a little. If water seeps through the bottom or groove, you will have to disassemble the frame and narrow one of the blanks.
Before installing the second bottom, make a hole in it, the diameter of which is no more than 3 cm, and make a plug for it. Correct sizes It is assumed that it will be slightly larger than the thickness of the bottom and will not protrude beyond the frame. That's the whole sequence that needs to be followed to make an oak barrel with your own hands.
Repair
Can it be repaired? old barrel? Of course. If in it for a long time was stored alcoholic drink, it is worth disassembling the structure and removing a layer of about 2 mm thick from the wood. The drink does not penetrate further into the wood. After this, the rivets are processed and reassembled.
You can repair an oak barrel with your own hands, even if it is leaking. To do this, you need to repeat the same manipulations as when making containers - adjust the hoops.
This is what it is, cooperage. You can make wooden products yourself, but this requires a lot of time and effort. But is it worth spending them if today you can order online on the website of the Russian Bondar company?
Making barrels is called cooperage. Cooperation is an entire art that arose back in Ancient Greece. People needed vessels of large volume, and the most in an accessible way Making a large vessel with your own hands turned out to be just making barrels.
Initially, barrels were used to transport and store water, wines, and vegetable oil. Since those ancient times appearance The barrels haven't changed much. This simple design turned out to be so simple and convenient that it is useful and is very popular to this day. Despite the abundance of new materials and the emergence of new technologies, for some branches of human activity nothing better has been found than an ordinary wooden barrel.
How did wooden barrels appear?
The history of the barrel began with the fact that ancient people hollowed out niches in the trunks of large trees with their own hands. To make their task easier, they initially chose trees with hollows. Most likely, an observant person took note of how animals used natural hollow volumes - our smaller brothers built houses for themselves in them and stored food supplies there.
Among other things, people at that time collected honey from wild bees, that is, they were engaged in beekeeping. Wild bees, in turn, inhabited the same hollows of large trees. However, in order to get the desired honey, one often had to go deep into the forest, and there were various dangers lurking there, and it was simply inconvenient. In addition, candidates are picked up delicious honey Sometimes there was a lot from a particular hollow.
To make the honey of wild bees more accessible, people resorted to a trick and began to cut out parts of the tree trunk in which the hollow with the honey harvest was located. Part of the trunk was placed closer to the house, and then things happened to this section of the tree. significant changes. A modest hollow hive was transformed into an apiary of impressive size. Over time, caring apiary owners even made a roof for the bee house with their own hands. It was made from bark or a trimmed sheaf of straw.
After a young bee colony emerged, it was moved to a new hollow. However, it was not always easy to find a new hollow of a suitable size, so the owner of the apiary had to hollow it out with his own hands in a thick log.
However, the service life of a hive is far from eternal - over time, the hollow begins to crack. To save a valuable section of a tree trunk from complete destruction, people resorted to new tricks - they began to use a metal hoop. The invention of such a hoop is a huge step forward; a new design combining wood and metal can already be called cooper’s utensils. To tighten a section of a trunk with a hollow or a niche hollowed out with your own hands, they also used ropes, strands, wire or a wooden hoop.
The diameter of the very first barrels directly depended on the thickness of the tree trunk. It was not possible to make the container wider than the tree trunk. However, when people learned to tighten a barrel using metal and wooden hoops, ropes, strands and wire, it became possible to make vessels from wood of absolutely any diameter.
Later, such a useful invention as a barrel turned out to be indispensable in some industries. For example, huge containers were simply necessary in leather workshops.
Why choose oak for making a barrel?
When the need arises to purchase or make a barrel with your own hands, the question arises: what type of wood should you prefer? To make barrels, the following types of wood are used: kedo, juniper, linden, pine, aspen, spruce, and, of course, oak.
In this article we will tell you how you can make an oak barrel with your own hands. But first, let's talk about the features of using oak in cooperage.
It is worth noting that a tree such as oak is used much more often than any other deciduous trees in the manufacture of barrels. And this is quite natural - the consumer qualities of this type of wood are much better than those of other trees. Let us list some features of working with a tree such as oak:
- cutting oak is quite problematic, but chopping this type of wood is a pleasure;
- You will probably have a question about how you can make a barrel from such a durable tree, but cooperage masters are helped by such an important property of oak as the fact that after steaming it becomes incredibly elastic;
- but after drying, oak, on the contrary, changes its shape only minimally, waves and cracks practically do not form, and this fact is another advantage of oak;
- however the most important property such a type of wood as oak is the presence of a special preservative component in it, this component prevents the wood from rotting, having an antiseptic effect;
- oak is not at all afraid of moisture; under its influence, on the contrary, it only becomes even more durable.
The wood of oak, which fell into the river and remained in the water for a long period of time, has unique qualities. After all, in water, wood is saturated with iron salts. Such wood lying in a pond is called “bog oak”. Bog oak especially durable.
Thanks to all the qualities listed above, this type of wood, such as oak, has long been recognized as the best raw material for making cooperage utensils. It is the oak barrel that will serve you faithfully for decades.
It is worth noting one more interesting fact regarding oak barrels. The composition of such wood contains some specific components; it is thanks to these components that, as a result of oxidative processes, a unique pleasant aroma– vanillin aroma. It is thanks to this property of oak wood that it is used to make barrels for cognac. Cognac from oak barrels takes on this pleasant aroma. Among other things, a type of wood such as oak promotes faster leavening of the dough.
Even if you put a barrel made of oak in a damp basement, bury it in the soil or leave it in the rain - all these negative environmental factors will in no way affect the amazing positive qualities barrels based on oak wood - like this unique properties this powerful tree has.
Making an oak barrel with your own hands
Now, having learned all about the benefits of oak barrels, we will finally figure out how to make such a container with your own hands. We present to your attention a master class on making a barrel based on oak wood with a volume of 25 liters.
Manufacturing process oak barrel begins with the procurement of material. Suitable wood should be brought from the forest in the spring, cut into acceptable pieces, then taken to the basement and covered with sawdust. In a basement in this condition, your wood should dry out throughout the summer months.
As soon as the wood has dried, we proceed directly to preparing the parts for our future barrel. We take a block of wood, approximately half a meter in diameter and 42 centimeters in height, and split it into four pieces as carefully as possible.
After this, we also dismember the quarters: by gently tapping the butt with a mallet, as in the picture with number 1, we make 14 blanks. Blanks are made for rivets; the thickness of each blank should be approximately three centimeters. Please pay Special attention When making blanks with your own hands, the split must be radial, otherwise cracks will form in the wood in the future.
After the workpieces are ready, they should be processed on each side with shavings. This is necessary so that they turn out a little concave. This process can be seen in the photo with number 2.
To make an oak barrel we will need two mounting hoops. In this case, the diameter of the middle one should be slightly larger. The most important thing in the design is the so-called shutter hoop, which is responsible for the quality of the future barrel. The shutter hoop should be handled with the utmost care; under no circumstances should you hit it with a sledgehammer.
Using staples based on hoop iron, we attach three rivets to the shutter, as was done in the picture with the number 4. After this, we fill the entire perimeter of our barrel with the blanks made earlier, and then immediately put on the middle hoop - at this stage we should get the same the same as in the picture number 5. For this stage to go like clockwork, it is necessary from the very beginning to accurately calculate the width of all the blanks, based on knowledge of the diameter of our future barrel.
Once the two hoops are tight, you will need to tighten the remaining piece of the barrel. Professional coopers have a special tool for this purpose called a yoke. However, many craftsmen resort to cunning, inventing and making their own tools for tightening the barrel.
After the barrel is well tightened, it is necessary to lower the upper hoop as low as possible. In the figure with number 8, a special chisel with a groove is used for these purposes.
Next, the barrel needs to be dried. To speed up the process, you can place the barrel not far from the stove, if you have one. However, this stove should be heated for two hours every day, but no more.
P After two weeks of drying, work on the barrel can be continued. Using a straight plow, you need to thoroughly clean the entire outer part of the barrel.
After this, it is necessary to make permanent hoops to replace the mounting hoops. In our case, these are four painted steel hoops of two different sizes.
Replacing hoops is done as follows:
- first remove the middle hoop;
- after this, place a permanent hoop at a height of ten centimeters from the bottom of the barrel;
- then you should trim it using electric jigsaw both sides of our barrel, as shown in photo number 9;
- Next we install two more hoops on top.
Having done all this, we align inner side the barrel using shaped plows, as in the picture number 10. After this, you need to make a groove around the circumference inside the barrel. The depth of this groove is approximately 5-6 millimeters.
The bottom of the barrel can be made from pre-prepared boards. The connection is made using nails without heads, which must be stainless and galvanized. To prevent our barrel from leaking, the ends should be lined with cattail strips - here’s a little trick.
The difficulty that someone who wants to make an oak barrel with their own hands may encounter is the question of how to calculate the size of the bottom. You can do it like this:
- fix a point next to the groove;
- Approximately estimate the radius of your barrel in this place;
- after that, using a compass, lay out 6 such radii along the groove;
- In order for the beginning and end of the path to fall exactly on a fixed point, the radius will have to be selected using trial and error methods;
- The resulting size is indicated using a compass on a shield, which we lay out from pre-prepared boards for the bottom of the barrel, as in the figure with number 13.
After this, you should cut the boards along the sketched circle using circular saw. Next, we clamp our bottom and, using a plow, make a jump along the entire perimeter of our barrel.
By the way, it is useful to put a white roll pre-soaked in water in the groove; this is also a little trick that will prevent your barrel from leaking.
And finally the keg is ready!
You can also watch how master oak barrels are made.
Nowadays, a barrel not only has a practical function. Today, they are used for storing liquids or anything else. warehouses, in wine cellars and so on. IN decorative purposes they began to be manufactured relatively recently. If handled skillfully, they can be used for decoration. garden plot, as well as in the form of furniture: chairs, tables, bar counters, etc.
Even a well-worn barrel can be restored and used for other purposes. This, of course, requires a fair amount of imagination. You also need to take into account its condition so that the material does not become too dry over time, otherwise all efforts will come to naught during the first time of its operation. There are actually a lot of ideas on how to turn such a container into something more functional or beautiful. For example, in the garden you can create a mini-flowerbed on it, and on several levels. Or make interesting table or a bench. You can even organize a fountain in them, but it won’t last long if the wood is not properly treated: under the influence of water, it can quickly lose both its aesthetic appearance and its strength. Some craftsmen adapt a barrel for a washbasin: to do this, a sink is inserted into the upper part, and a pipe is installed inside the barrel.
How to make a wooden barrel with your own hands
Before you start making a barrel with your own hands, you need to decide on the material. Is it usually used for this purpose? DIY barrel
Before mounting the barrel, you must first make the frets. These are wooden planks that are cut from a tree trunk. They can also be made by splitting wooden blocks. Sawn, as a rule, is stronger than split logs because it is not always possible to split the log correctly, and because of this, some of the strength may be lost.
It has long been customary to fasten frets into a single structure using metal hoops, which are made of durable sheet steel. To make the barrel even more durable, you can additionally nail them. The number of hoops depends on the height of the barrel, but, as a rule, there are at least three.
The last step is installing the bottom. After it is installed on the owl, a hoop is put on to secure it, which is also additionally nailed for greater strength.
How to make a bar at home from an old wooden barrel
In fact, there are a lot of options for barrel minibars. This can be an option with a front door, or one opening from above, or with an open door. internal space with shelves for storing drinks. Which one is considered the best is difficult to say. It all depends on taste preferences.
barrel bar Before you start making a bar from a barrel, you need to strip the old wood. This needs to be done both inside and outside. Before this, you need to remove all the hoops, except the one that holds the bottom. They are then put on quite simply, and you can move them down to the desired level using a hammer. Then the edges are aligned on both the bottom and the other side. We leave one part open for now. Next, the hoops are processed special composition so that the metal does not become rusty later. If a front hole is needed, mark its location and cut it out.
It is a product designed for storing and transporting products. Apples, mushrooms, and tomatoes are salted and soaked in them. They sauerkraut and pickle watermelons and cucumbers. There are several types of barrels. Even though they differ in shape, their purpose is the same.
- A tub is an ordinary barrel of a familiar shape.
- Kubelchik are cone-shaped barrels.
- Sudzina - elongated barrels.
Barrels first appeared in Rus' in the tenth century. They were made by coopers. It is interesting that the technology for creating barrels has remained virtually unchanged over the past centuries. Despite its apparent simplicity, manufacturing is quite complex and labor-intensive process. Pickling barrels are commercially available, so most people purchase these products when the need arises. But you can make a barrel yourself. This will take a lot of time, but will save money. In addition, by making a barrel yourself, you can be 100% sure of the quality and environmental safety materials. You will learn how to make a barrel yourself from this article.
Making a barrel with your own hands: choosing materials
The basis of any barrel is wood. Therefore, the durability of the product will depend on the quality of the selected material. In addition, different tree species have their own unique qualities, which can be both beneficial and negative. Linden and oak are best suited for making barrels.
Oak barrels are used to preserve the taste of pickles and for their preservation. Thanks to the tannins contained in this tree, the products in the barrel are preserved longer and are saturated useful substances. The most common oak species used in cooperage are Russian, Ukrainian and Slavic.
Linden, unlike oak, does not have any effect on stored products. Linden wood is absolutely neutral. But this also has its advantages. Products contained in linden barrels retain their freshness and natural taste. In addition, linden is a natural antiseptic, which ensures longer storage of products. In terms of manufacturing, wood is also more convenient than oak. Its structure is softer, and, as a result, it is easier to process.
Aspen is considered the most unsuitable tree for making barrels. This tree gives foods an unpleasant taste that occurs as a result of storage. The fact is that aspen produces resin over a long period of time. For the same reasons, it is not recommended to make barrels from coniferous species tree. In order for barrels made of pine, spruce and cedar to become suitable for storing food, they must be soaked for a long time. But even after such a procedure, a positive result cannot be guaranteed. Once you have sorted out the choice of material, you can move on to the next stage.
Making a tub for pickling at home: making rivets
Before manufacturing these products, it is necessary to determine the height and diameter of the future barrel. This will allow you to accurately calculate required amount rivets. Having decided on the dimensions of the product, you can begin making rivets.
To do this, take a wooden block slightly longer than the future barrel (approximately 2-3 centimeters). The chock is cleared of bark and placed upside down on a solid base. Now it needs to be divided into parts. This can be done in two ways: split or saw. Experts recommend splitting the workpiece. This allows you not to destroy the structure of the wood, which, in turn, guarantees the durability of the product. The wood from which you are going to make rivets must be dry. Then the products are more reliable, in addition, dry wood better processed.
If you want to make a barrel according to all the rules, the wood intended for staves must be dried for several months. The process must take place in a natural environment. Sun and wind will make the wood stronger. So, let's move on directly to the splitting. Notches are made at the ends of the chock. Then they take an ax, rest its tip against the notch made and, using light taps on the butt, split the workpiece. Please note that the more fibers there are in the wood structure, the more staves you will get. Their recommended thickness should not exceed 20-25 mm.
Then the rivets are planed until they are given the required shape. This aspect directly depends on the shape of the future product. It is recommended to make rivets for the tub rectangular shape, and for a barrel, an oval one, narrowed towards the edges, is more suitable. Next important detail when making barrels it is a hoop. Such elements are located at the top, bottom and middle of the barrel. They can be made from wood or metal. Best suited for these purposes stainless steel. This is enough durable material, which is practically not subject to corrosion. Steel is cut into strips no more than 2 mm thick. Before starting assembly, the rivets must be steamed. This will make the wood softer and more pliable. This will make working with it much easier. After preparing the material, you can begin assembly.
Pickling barrel assembly technology
Rivets are inserted into the vertical hoop, their ends are fixed using a clamp or other fastening devices. To begin with, you can fix three rivets, and then attach all the others to them. If you calculated everything correctly, the blanks will fit like a glove. Then the middle hoop is filled, and only then the bottom hoop.
After assembling the frame, the bottom of the barrel is inserted. Used as a bottom round blanks, sawn or hammered together like shields. When making them, the boards are overlapped and fastened with staples. Insert the bottom into the frame as follows. The outermost hoop is loosened, the bottom is inserted and tightened again. Depending on the design, the barrel may have two bottoms, one of which will act as a lid. In this case, the hoop is loosened from the other end of the barrel and the procedure is repeated. After this, the surface of the barrel is processed with a plane. This is necessary in order to give the product a more presentable appearance, as well as to eliminate all irregularities.
The final stage of making a pickling barrel
After the barrel is ready, you need to harden it. There are many ways, but here we will look at the simplest and most effective. This is roasting. This is how our distant ancestors hardened their products, and, oddly enough, this method remains very relevant today. This option is also suitable for cases where the barrel will be used to store alcohol. The aroma of burnt wood will give wine or moonshine a richer taste and aroma.
This is done as follows. The barrel is placed on its side and sawdust is placed inside it. Sawdust is best fruit trees, for example, cherries. The sawdust is set on fire and the barrel is rolled, this allows the entire inner surface to be evenly processed. Please note that the sawdust should smolder, not burn. Breeding open fire inside wooden product, may cause a fire! In addition, you should not use special liquids to light fires. They include chemical substances, which are absorbed into the surface of the wood. If the barrel is intended for storage food products, then the firing option is not suitable. In this case, it is best to treat the surface of the wood with wax. Thus, the wood will share its healing properties with the products.
After hardening, the barrel should be checked for leaks. To do this, it is filled with water. If the product leaks, do not be alarmed, this is quite normal. The tree will swell and stop flowing. This check takes about 1 hour. If after this time the barrel starts to leak, it means that the rivets are not seated tightly. IN in this case it is necessary to find and seal the existing cracks. Experienced coopers recommend using reed stems for these purposes. They are inserted into the cracks and compacted with a knife.
Preparing a barrel for salting
As mentioned above, oak barrels are best suited for storing pickles and marinades. Currently, those housewives who use food storage wooden barrels, they prefer oak. This type of wood helps protect marinades from mold. In addition, oak contains tannin. Thanks to this substance, salted cucumbers or tomatoes remain crisp and juicy for a long time.
It is recommended to treat the barrel immediately before use. This is a very important procedure, on which the quality of pickles and other preparations will depend. Only strict adherence to all tips and recommendations will allow you to delight your family and friends with delicious and juicy home-canned products.
Regardless of whether you made the barrel yourself or purchased it already ready product, the container must be thoroughly washed. This way, you will get rid of the sawdust that remains after making the barrel. In addition, in new products, the concentration of tannins is quite high. And if you place food in such a barrel, it may have an unpleasant taste. In addition, the characteristic oak smell will interrupt the natural taste and aroma of the products. Rinsing the containers must continue until the water is clean and the smell disappears.
After this, the barrel is usually soaked. The time for this procedure can vary from a few days to 1 month. It is recommended to change the water in the barrel every two days. Some people spend it after soaking additional processing ferry. To do this, the barrel is filled halfway with water with soda diluted in it. Steam is then released through the hose.
Before placing food in a barrel, the inside of the container must be doused with boiling water. This will prevent the wood from absorbing the smell of stored products. Thus, it becomes possible to use the barrel for multiple purposes. And you don’t have to be afraid that the pickles will smell like last year’s cabbage. If products are placed on long term storage, it is recommended to fumigate with sulfur. This will kill all microbes and guarantee long-term storage of pickles.
When using the barrel for the first time, it is necessary to use more salt when salting. This is due to the fact that some of it will be absorbed by the wood. Optimal conditions for storage are maintained in cool rooms. A cellar or basement is best suited for these purposes. But the storage temperature should not be below zero! Sub-zero temperatures Suitable only for meat, cranberries and cabbage.
It is not recommended to place the barrel on the ground. This may cause mold to form. Therefore, it is best to sprinkle the ground under the barrel with sawdust. They will absorb moisture. And place the container itself on a special stand. After each use, the barrel must be thoroughly rinsed with water and steamed. Then it is recommended to dry the container, while avoiding direct sun rays. Drying a barrel in the sun can cause it to dry out.
Some housewives fill the barrel with water between seasons. This is fundamentally wrong. As a result of exposure to moisture, mold and mildew form. If there is no need for a barrel, then the best way its storage will be to keep the container in a cool place. And always empty!
There is one more nuance in using barrels. If the container is intended for storing alcohol or homemade marinades, the container must not remain dry for a long time. If the purpose of the barrel is to store solid products, then it is not recommended to wet it. Only by following all tips and recommendations for storage and operation wooden barrels, you can achieve a positive result. The container will serve you for a long time, and the marinades stored in it will retain their juicy taste and appetizing appearance. If the process of making a pickling tub with your own hands seems long and tedious, you can buy a finished product from the Alkopribor company. Attentive consultants will help you choose the ideal container for you, which will serve for many years!