I’ve always found it interesting the number and use of barrels aboard square rigged sailing ships back in the age of sail. Everything in the ships hold was stored in barrels, including stave and hoops for making even more barrels. The ship’s cooper was constantly either knocking up or tearing down barrels. Fascinating stuff.
It's a tough profession I've recently gained a lot of respect for. That used to be a major occupation! Crazy how the times change (just not for the wine or whiskey industry).
Nice video! The toasting and charring is so interesting to me. The flavor impacts those variables can have are profound (and are rightly treated as trade secrets by the professionals)
In 1986, I toured two of France's top vineyards, Chateau Pétrus and Chateau Cheval Blanc. At one of them (forget which now), I saw two men HAND CRAFTING barrels. They had none of the machinery shown here. They used hand held 'draw shave knives to taper the individual planks. Pretty friggin amazing that by hand, they could make them water tight. Purely by hand, they could produce two barrels per day.
Actually, it's not that difficult. Wood, even oak, is a fairly soft material; if there are any fit flaws somewhere, they will shrink when putting on the hoops. Also, in traditional technology, special leaves are used, laid between the boards; they also provide a tight seal due to crumpling. And finally, the wood swells with liquid, so first the barrel is prepared - steamed, or filled with water for several weeks, which causes the wood to swell and close all the cracks.
My friend, you are way too dismissive! And I believe wrong on a few points. If you pay close attention the stave widths are not at all uniform but just as all else in nature, random. Within a range of course, but it is quite remarkable to me that even with the help of some pretty cool machines (that have been developed to do nothing else than build barrels by the way!) that each cooper is able to build several barrels each day. And each of those barrels are held together only by the very specific and uniform bevel angle of each and every stave combined with the enormous pressure exerted when the galvanized steel hoops are pounded down around them. Only the two round headboards ever get any `flagging` or the dried and flattened reed from the cattail plant, not leaves. You may have also noticed a flour/water mixture being spread like grout into the groove ( the croze) which the head fits into. But other than some flour puddy, some water plant reeds and an occasional wooden dowel pins to keep the head boards stable, but these barrels are held together by an ancient woodworking complement of the stave bevel cut versus its specific elliptical pattern. That is the only thing besides a whole lot of human sweat energy holdingthese barrels tight. It's also amazing to me that although not the same thing as the golden mean, there is an important mathematical relationship at the heart of using barrels in the liquor business. The internal surface area of the barrel which will dictate the power of the oak influence on the beverage contained is based on square centimeters, while the volume of the liquid in the barrel is measured in units of milliliters cubed. This has the effect of causing different sized barrels to have rather drastically different effects on aging. These large puncheons are roughly double the size of the typical barrique style wine barrel. Some winemakers use these puncheons along with the smaller sized barrels but they are used much more frequently in the the much longer aging regime of ports and whiskys (Scottish not American) and maybe even some brandies. Bottom line is it IS difficult and there are several factors that make this task Amazing to me. Granted, I have spent 40 years now trying to figure out how to use these things to try and make delicious beverages (mostly wine) and although I've developed a lot of opinions, I realize that I don't really know much and I'm constantly surprised and or humbled when I open up and taste something that has been aged in one of these amazing containers!
Old feller in Yorkshire still makes all by hand, no machines at all, theres a vid of him on here somewhere under handmade barrels, and yes the dimensions,angles and curves are a well kept secret, the piece of paper in the vid with the sizes etc is pixelled out lol
I'm sure they have worked out the most efficient way to construct a barrel. But there sure is a lot of installing and removing the hoops. Just when I think surely this has to be the final fitting they get knocked off with another round of processing and new bands pressed on. They sure look good and its impressive they don't leak, just held together by, you guessed it, more hoops. LOL.
After steam heating the wood must be allowed to cool of properly , otherwise it will spring back. They cut the groves for the bottom and top and install them afterwards,so the hoops has to go of to get these in to the grove. I think the removal and reinstalment of the hoops have something to do with coping with the wood drying an shrinking also. The general rule for oak steaming in boat building is one hour per 25 mm 1 " The baking time may vary depending on steam temp .... Oak is very nice to heat form (keeping it's new form very good )
@@perstaffanlundgren thank you for the technical insight. Knew there was a reason they don't appear to rush the job with full-on automation, just couldn't put my hand on it.
20+ years ago, made one small barrel. Getting the quarter sawn board to make into staves was the hardest. Did it, wasn't the best looking but I liked it. Watched some videos then where they used steel cables to draw it in. Interesting.
Millenia old technic in a new fashion craft, impressing as it's allways been, all in pure oak. It impresses me that nothing has changed in the skill itself.
I once spent in the company of 4 other soldiers 6 hours in a wine cellar in the Moselle region. We were tasting wine straight from the 1000 litre barrels. Needless to say we weren’t sober when we left at 4 in the morning to go back too our tents. I do not recommend finding your way around tents in the dark having consumed so much wine. The hangover was impressive. As we five were all Senior NCOs the junior ranks made the most of our suffering. Great night though.
Interesting insight into the start of the massive unseen triangular trade in barrels between Scotland, Spain & Portugal and Kentucky. Living in Scotland I've realised that apart from the Islay malts all whiskies are just water and ethanol coming off the still and don't get their colour and flavour until they're stored in the barrels.
I wish we could get some quality like this in the United States without it costing you your first born these are some very nicely built barrels and show their quality
Very interesting video love this technology... To think before all of this automation this was all done by hand.. There is still a lot of hand human interaction but very interesting..
A bit of age-of-sail barrel lore. Ordinary water became undrinkable after long storage. The most-prized water came from the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The area had been populated with cedar trees during the last Ice Age. As they died out, the trunks became part of the soil. Streams running from the area were stained brown by the buried cedar, known as "Cedar Water". The tannic acid and other chemicals kept the water drinkable for years. The only downside is that it stained sailors' teeth brown.
Its hard to imagine anyone putting a 10 hour day in making barrels asking themselves: "Does my life have any value? What's my purpose?" It's the gift of using our bodies to do hard, useful things that last.
This was official job of my father long time ago and he used to do that almost alone, every part of it without high tech machinery. Most of demand was for bigger sizes about 5' diameter and 6~7' tall but once a while he had order for even larger or smaller sizes. Most of them was for use alcoholic beverages (mostly wine) and sometimes used for different purpose or even decoration and outdoor advertisement which does not need to be sealed and was much easier to make and cheaper. The sealed one was made of oak and others from different type of woods. I helped him couple of summer break when I was in high school and know theorycally how it was made but not enough knowledge how to actually make them. .
I'm sure that with such mechanization, the skill to make them by hand is now a lost art. In 1986, I toured two of France's top vineyards, Chateau Pétrus and Chateau Cheval Blanc. At one of them (forget which), I saw two men HAND CRAFTING barrels. They had none of the machinery shown here. They used hand held 'draw shave' knives to taper the individual planks. They mostly used a fire with (presumably moist) wood planks to bend the planks. If I remember right, the planks were at least partially bent INDIVIDUALLY before assembly It was amazing that by hand, they could make them water tight. They produced two barrels per day.
Sehr interessantes Video, allerdings fehlen etliche Erklärungen bei bestimmten Arbeitsschritten. Von mir gibt es einen Daumen nach oben. Very interesting video, but a number of explanations for certain work steps are missing. It's a thumbs up from me.
Excelente para los que no vivieron la época de los que no vivieron los buenos momentos de su buena parte del trabajo de un buen lugar donde siempre nace una buena jornada. Excelente amigos
very interesting! i can think of worse ways to make a living. do skilled manual labour, seeing an actual, tangible, beautiful barrel. sounds like a job worth going to. coopers before the industrial revolution would be astonished, to say the least. well presented. thx
Looks like to only one concerned for going deaf was the young lady at 11:42. Couldn't see anyone else with some type of earplug/muff. OSHA Intensifies !!
Plus aucune magie de la fabrication, nouveau boulot : serviteur de robot ! le Monde tourne très mal, quel est le sens de tout ça ? vivement le Grand Boycot, qu'on retrouve la Belle Verte...
@robertlangley258 If you take care of them well and keep them full all the time, they will last long, long time. What may kill them are half empty barrel.
Belle vidéo d'un savoir faire, car même avec des machines cela ne retire en rien la valeur d'un travail ancestral. Ces pièces vont sublimer nos vins sans compter la beauté de ces fûts rangés empilés dans les caves.
Thank you for not having background music on this great video. Most are doing it now and it is really taking from the content. GREAT!!!
I so agree and have complained about music drowning out dialogue, many times.
An explaination of what is happening at each step, and how it's important to the barrel would be helpful. Some are obivious, others not so much.
I’ve always found it interesting the number and use of barrels aboard square rigged sailing ships back in the age of sail. Everything in the ships hold was stored in barrels, including stave and hoops for making even more barrels. The ship’s cooper was constantly either knocking up or tearing down barrels. Fascinating stuff.
It's a tough profession I've recently gained a lot of respect for. That used to be a major occupation! Crazy how the times change (just not for the wine or whiskey industry).
Even drinking out of them! Cheers!
Magnificent! Can't get over the mix of automation & handcraftship.
Beautiful wine barrels. That is quite an involved process. I hope you all get paid well for your expertise. Thanks for sharing this process with us👌
Nice video! The toasting and charring is so interesting to me. The flavor impacts those variables can have are profound (and are rightly treated as trade secrets by the professionals)
THANK YOU for just the normal sounds of production and no annoying, non value adding music.
This is an art that I hope never dies.
Gracias por todas las técnicas y experiencia de este bello oficio que realizo
It's no wonder these valuable items are used over and over. Brilliant.
In 1986, I toured two of France's top vineyards, Chateau Pétrus and Chateau Cheval Blanc. At one of them (forget which now), I saw two men HAND CRAFTING barrels. They had none of the machinery shown here. They used hand held 'draw shave knives to taper the individual planks. Pretty friggin amazing that by hand, they could make them water tight. Purely by hand, they could produce two barrels per day.
Actually, it's not that difficult. Wood, even oak, is a fairly soft material; if there are any fit flaws somewhere, they will shrink when putting on the hoops. Also, in traditional technology, special leaves are used, laid between the boards; they also provide a tight seal due to crumpling. And finally, the wood swells with liquid, so first the barrel is prepared - steamed, or filled with water for several weeks, which causes the wood to swell and close all the cracks.
@@deadcxap755 Interesting. Thanks for the details
Yes, and using a gun to apply modern sealant. Then it's easy to be leak proof. I'm a bit disappointed with them to be honest @@deadcxap755
My friend, you are way too dismissive! And I believe wrong on a few points. If you pay close attention the stave widths are not at all uniform but just as all else in nature, random. Within a range of course, but it is quite remarkable to me that even with the help of some pretty cool machines (that have been developed to do nothing else than build barrels by the way!) that each cooper is able to build several barrels each day. And each of those barrels are held together only by the very specific and uniform bevel angle of each and every stave combined with the enormous pressure exerted when the galvanized steel hoops are pounded down around them. Only the two round headboards ever get any `flagging` or the dried and flattened reed from the cattail plant, not leaves. You may have also noticed a flour/water mixture being spread like grout into the groove ( the croze) which the head fits into. But other than some flour puddy, some water plant reeds and an occasional wooden dowel pins to keep the head boards stable, but these barrels are held together by an ancient woodworking complement of the stave bevel cut versus its specific elliptical pattern. That is the only thing besides a whole lot of human sweat energy holdingthese barrels tight.
It's also amazing to me that although not the same thing as the golden mean, there is an important mathematical relationship at the heart of using barrels in the liquor business. The internal surface area of the barrel which will dictate the power of the oak influence on the beverage contained is based on square centimeters, while the volume of the liquid in the barrel is measured in units of milliliters cubed. This has the effect of causing different sized barrels to have rather drastically different effects on aging. These large puncheons are roughly double the size of the typical barrique style wine barrel. Some winemakers use these puncheons along with the smaller sized barrels but they are used much more frequently in the the much longer aging regime of ports and whiskys (Scottish not American) and maybe even some brandies.
Bottom line is it IS difficult and there are several factors that make this task Amazing to me. Granted, I have spent 40 years now trying to figure out how to use these things to try and make delicious beverages (mostly wine) and although I've developed a lot of opinions, I realize that I don't really know much and I'm constantly surprised and or humbled when I open up and taste something that has been aged in one of these amazing containers!
J’aurai encore put regarder des heures, chapeau et aussi chapeau pour les vieux tonneliers, merci
Fascinating. I’d like to see how barrels were made before power tools, when they were made completely by hand.
Old feller in Yorkshire still makes all by hand, no machines at all, theres a vid of him on here somewhere under handmade barrels, and yes the dimensions,angles and curves are a well kept secret, the piece of paper in the vid with the sizes etc is pixelled out lol
I'm sure they have worked out the most efficient way to construct a barrel. But there sure is a lot of installing and removing the hoops. Just when I think surely this has to be the final fitting they get knocked off with another round of processing and new bands pressed on. They sure look good and its impressive they don't leak, just held together by, you guessed it, more hoops. LOL.
Don’t anger the hoop mafia !!
After steam heating the wood must be allowed to cool of properly , otherwise it will spring back. They cut the groves for the bottom and top and install them afterwards,so the hoops has to go of to get these in to the grove.
I think the removal and reinstalment of the hoops have something to do with coping with the wood drying an shrinking also.
The general rule for oak steaming in boat building is one hour per 25 mm 1 "
The baking time may vary depending on steam temp ....
Oak is very nice to heat form (keeping it's new form very good )
@@perstaffanlundgren thank you for the technical insight. Knew there was a reason they don't appear to rush the job with full-on automation, just couldn't put my hand on it.
There are more efficient/modern methods of making barrels than shown in the video.
There are several videos on CZcams showing different methods
The band's hold it together while it's been made. There's no nails in this job.
20+ years ago, made one small barrel. Getting the quarter sawn board to make into staves was the hardest. Did it, wasn't the best looking but I liked it. Watched some videos then where they used steel cables to draw it in. Interesting.
That is an amazing video. Those are some very talented and hard working people!
Millenia old technic in a new fashion craft, impressing as it's allways been, all in pure oak.
It impresses me that nothing has changed in the skill itself.
Excellent video. I’d love a more detailed explanation of how that machine mills the staves and how they fix leaks.
I once spent in the company of 4 other soldiers 6 hours in a wine cellar in the Moselle region. We were tasting wine straight from the 1000 litre barrels. Needless to say we weren’t sober when we left at 4 in the morning to go back too our tents. I do not recommend finding your way around tents in the dark having consumed so much wine. The hangover was impressive. As we five were all Senior NCOs the junior ranks made the most of our suffering. Great night though.
This manufacturing unit is 'Tonnellerie Billon' from France, since 1947 :)
Works of art. It was a very highly skilled job to do them by hand.☘️👍
Interesting insight into the start of the massive unseen triangular trade in barrels between Scotland, Spain & Portugal and Kentucky.
Living in Scotland I've realised that apart from the Islay malts all whiskies are just water and ethanol coming off the still and don't get their colour and flavour until they're stored in the barrels.
That's right.
And the higher the ""Angels share""....the better and more valuable the all spirits become.
Love to be an Angel🤣🤣🤣🤣
Cheers
from Germany
I think that depending on the local water source used, the chemical composition will be slightly different.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing.
Main motto of that company : "if you're not taking apart of what previous guy built - then you're not doing it correctly"
Nice video... I'm passionate by tonnellerie. Regards from Curitiba - Brazil.
vraiment super de voir cela . du beau travail 👍👍
A fine art that has been taken to the next level 😊
Amazing. Thanks for the look.
I wish we could get some quality like this in the United States without it costing you your first born these are some very nicely built barrels and show their quality
Very interesting video love this technology... To think before all of this automation this was all done by hand.. There is still a lot of hand human interaction but very interesting..
6:02 Smooth move! 👍
A bit of age-of-sail barrel lore. Ordinary water became undrinkable after long storage. The most-prized water came from the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The area had been populated with cedar trees during the last Ice Age. As they died out, the trunks became part of the soil. Streams running from the area were stained brown by the buried cedar, known as "Cedar Water". The tannic acid and other chemicals kept the water drinkable for years. The only downside is that it stained sailors' teeth brown.
Wow, that was really interesting! I didn't know how much goes into the making of barrels. I'd imagine they'd be pretty expensive?!
I knew how expensive they were … now I know why. 😂
I enjoyed that and no poxy music in the background
Its hard to imagine anyone putting a 10 hour day in making barrels asking themselves: "Does my life have any value? What's my purpose?" It's the gift of using our bodies to do hard, useful things that last.
In regards to the bunghole, is there a teepee for it? If so, who makes the teepee for the bunghole?
This was official job of my father long time ago and he used to do that almost alone, every part of it without high tech machinery. Most of demand was for bigger sizes about 5' diameter and 6~7' tall but once a while he had order for even larger or smaller sizes.
Most of them was for use alcoholic beverages (mostly wine) and sometimes used for different purpose or even decoration and outdoor advertisement which does not need to be sealed and was much easier to make and cheaper. The sealed one was made of oak and others from different type of woods.
I helped him couple of summer break when I was in high school and know theorycally how it was made but not enough knowledge how to actually make them.
.
I'm sure that with such mechanization, the skill to make them by hand is now a lost art. In 1986, I toured two of France's top vineyards, Chateau Pétrus and Chateau Cheval Blanc. At one of them (forget which), I saw two men HAND CRAFTING barrels. They had none of the machinery shown here. They used hand held 'draw shave' knives to taper the individual planks. They mostly used a fire with (presumably moist) wood planks to bend the planks. If I remember right, the planks were at least partially bent INDIVIDUALLY before assembly It was amazing that by hand, they could make them water tight. They produced two barrels per day.
Dude.. the double spaces makes it really hard to read your text.
ان الله لكم حسيب ورقيب اتقو الله هذا فسق وفجور صناعه برميل خمبر
@@qaisralasdi. . . چرا کانال عوض کردی؟ . .
.
Sehr interessantes Video, allerdings fehlen etliche Erklärungen bei bestimmten Arbeitsschritten.
Von mir gibt es einen Daumen nach oben.
Very interesting video, but a number of explanations for certain work steps are missing.
It's a thumbs up from me.
Excelente para los que no vivieron la época de los que no vivieron los buenos momentos de su buena parte del trabajo de un buen lugar donde siempre nace una buena jornada. Excelente amigos
What an incredible process and skill! I wish they had shown where the wood comes from and what kind of trees, and how they’re chosen and harvested.
Canada White Oak.
Much easier to just soak the wood in liquid ammonia, shape barrels, let ammonia flash off. Barrels will also be tighter after ammonia is recycled.
very interesting! i can think of worse ways to make a living. do skilled manual labour, seeing an actual, tangible, beautiful barrel. sounds like a job worth going to. coopers before the industrial revolution would be astonished, to say the least. well presented. thx
That was a barrel of fun! 😁👍🛢
Muito interessante, otimo video.
Only drummers need apply!
That is fascinating ❤ These are true craftsman.
Trabalho lindo 👏👏👏
Was soll denn da bitte verrückt sein? Das ist hochinteressant!
quel travail remarquable
Thanks for all 👍
I wonder how much they cost. Must be a lot with all the work that goes into them. And how long to they last?
Some narration voice over of each step would have made the video more enjoyable .
Super !
MERCI !
Super coopers! Lots of board feet of oak utilized here.Whiskey or wine?
imagine the time it took in ancient time to make one BY HAND starting by shaping every single piece of wood....................
Nice to see that cooperage is still a very hands-on trade.
9:57 😅😊😊😊😊p
Cette année n'eurent pas besoin 😅
Yes. Yes. Yes. I appreciated that about this.
Magnifique !
A little narration would be appreciated. How much to these cost?
미친기술이다
Ini bukan tehnik gila ngomong sbrg ini lah tehnik yg jenius pintar menciptakan drum dari kayu bagus sejak abat ke 18
the art of how to make something over complicated to the point of insanity.
Looks like to only one concerned for going deaf was the young lady at 11:42. Couldn't see anyone else with some type of earplug/muff. OSHA Intensifies !!
New or old, they are expensive to buy. For ornaments, landscaping or for down spouts. Wonderfully made.
Very labor intensive and cool process - the bottom looks difficult to install - wonder what a barrel costs, anyone know ?
225 litres = between 1,000 & 1,700 Euros
well impressed
What’s a big barrel sell for? 500 USD?
Approximate cost - 800 eur. Just to give you an idea. obviously depends on a barrel size and type
An interesting video, but it would have been more informative if there had been a voice-over explaining the processes a bit.
No, it was fine the way it was done.
There was a brewery in Yorkshire that had a guy making and repairing their barrels, no machinery or glues or sealants, no idea if its still going on.
How much are they sold for is my question and how many can be made in a day or in an 8 hour shift Eagle
So crazy and what a crazy channel, what kind of crap youtube is suggesting unbelieveable
Modern Cooperage facility, a lot different from when I was a child.
Άξιοι!
GOOD
Empty barrels, most tumble
The girl wearing ear protection. 😁
Good video but I sure wish they explained what they were doing, applying, coating , gluing, etc.
me imagino hacerlo con 500 años sin tecnologia o electricidad
12:05 Monster conga!
Plus aucune magie de la fabrication, nouveau boulot : serviteur de robot ! le Monde tourne très mal, quel est le sens de tout ça ? vivement le Grand Boycot, qu'on retrouve la Belle Verte...
I've never seen a real cooper use glue or sealant. And when do they make the _giant_ barrels?
Please tell me he didn't use silicone cartridge to seal the lid !?
Whatever he did, it was what the customer ordered.
@@d.jensen5153
Shure
very slick ideas. What do they cost each?
Approx 800 eur ;)
Zag dit 60 jaar geleden in Amsterdam elke dag, toen alles op handgranaten.
What is with that cauld for the ends?! Won't that foul what ever is aged in the barrel?
How much do they charge for the barrels?
11:44 - warehouse 7
Personne ici pour s'apercevoir que les images ont été mélangées au montage et que l'on a perdu l'ordre logique des étapes ?
A bon j'ai regardé jusqu'au bout j'ai pas l'impression que les images soient mélangées
Where is this at?
Muita tecnología
where was the crazy bit? I missed it....
Why do giants need barrels? And what do they do with them?
🎼 Roll out the barrel ..
Wonder what they charge for one of the big barrels and how long they can last.
They start at about 1,000 Euro.
@@markforan4812 .....I hate having to look shit up on Google.
@robertlangley258
If you take care of them well and keep them full all the time, they will last long, long time.
What may kill them are half empty barrel.
@@fivemega1 ....thanks that makes a lot of sense.👍👍👍
Some narration would have been nice. Not knowing anything about this process, I didn't have a clue what was going on or why.
Riesige Fässer sind was andres als diese kleinen Pütscher
Ok. And which techniques were crazy?
Belle vidéo d'un savoir faire, car même avec des machines cela ne retire en rien la valeur d'un travail ancestral. Ces pièces vont sublimer nos vins sans compter la beauté de ces fûts rangés empilés dans les caves.
Какая цена у такой бочки?
interesting.
Are the names (sizes) still the same? ie Firkin 😊