{"id":1525,"date":"2020-06-11T14:19:53","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T18:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/?p=1525"},"modified":"2026-03-22T06:58:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T10:58:17","slug":"6-month-progress-report-on-my-comparative-study-on-the-evolution-of-wine-aged-in-a-flextank-vs-a-second-year-oak-barrel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/6-month-progress-report-on-my-comparative-study-on-the-evolution-of-wine-aged-in-a-flextank-vs-a-second-year-oak-barrel\/","title":{"rendered":"6-Month Progress Report on My Comparative Study on the Evolution of Wine Aged in a Flextank vs. a Second-Year Oak Barrel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On December 3, 2019, I started a study to compare the performance of a <a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/flextank.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Flextank<\/a> vessel to that of a second-year barrel, each equipped with a demijohn-sized WineStix oak stave made from Allier French oak with a medium-plus toast level. Performance was to be assessed both quantitatively by measuring and analyzing pertinent enological parameters and qualitatively by tasting and evaluating the wine each month throughout the duration of the study. This study is expected to last a minimum of 12 months and up to 24 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please refer to my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/a-comparative-study-on-the-evolution-of-wine-aged-in-a-flextank-vs-a-two-year-old-oak-barrel\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">December 9, 2019 blog<\/a> for a full description of the study objectives, methods, and parameters to be analyzed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following\nare some conclusions based on test results and observations at the 6-month\npoint of this study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The barrel-aged and Flextank wines have very<br>similar chemistries except for some small analytical but imperceptible<br>differences that do not all translate to sensory differences yet.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Both wines have very similar sensory profiles<br>with the Flextank being just a little bit smoother owning to the lower acidity<br>(TA) resulting from the greater drop in tartrates. The Flextank sample also<br>measured lower tannins which, coupled to lower acidity, will indeed feel<br>smoother.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The lower acidity in the Flextank sample is<br>likely due to the significantly greater formation of tartrates although there<br>is no obvious explanation at this time. An analysis of tartaric acid and<br>potassium concentrations may shed some light as to why this happened. It is<br>possible that the barrel sample still has a greater amount of protective<br>colloids preventing further tartrates from forming.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Clarity, measured as turbidity (NTU), is analytically<br>\u2013 not visually \u2013 better in the barrel sample owing to its larger body and lower<br>center of gravity compared to the Flextank; this physical aspect of barrels hastens<br>faster clarification but, again, not visually apparent as the differences are<br>very small.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Flextank sample exhibited more SO<sub>2<\/sub><br>binding based on measured total SO<sub>2<\/sub> although dissolved oxygen (DO) and<br>free SO<sub>2<\/sub> analyses reveal similar behaviors in both wines. Over time<br>with future sulfite additions, it might be expected that the Flextank wine end<br>up with slightly higher total SO<sub>2<\/sub>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The barrel sample has slightly higher tannins,<br>as measured by a Total Phenolic Index (TPI), which suggests that the oak is still<br>contributing some tannins, and higher color intensity but only as measured by spectrophotometric<br>analysis, i.e. the higher intensity is not visually apparent as both wines have<br>the same brilliance of red.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Volatile acidity (VA) was greater in the barrel<br>and increasing at a faster rate than in the Flextank sample likely due acetic<br>acid bacteria manifesting their oxidative effects in the ullage.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When needing to retrieve samples from the<br>Flextank, it is much easier to work via the access port in the top lid, i.e., at<br>the threaded port for the green ported or solid cap.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>WINE ANALYSIS AND RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The table below shows measured parameters for the base wine on December 3, 2019 \u2013 what is referred to as time T0 \u2013 and for the oak-barrel and Flextank samples at the 3- and 6-month intervals, i.e., T0+3 and T0+6. The base wine is a Touriga Nacional from grapes from Lodi, CA purchased in the Fall of 2019 from <a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.juicegrape.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Musto Wine Grape Company<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"625\" height=\"102\" data-attachment-id=\"1532\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/6-month-progress-report-on-my-comparative-study-on-the-evolution-of-wine-aged-in-a-flextank-vs-a-second-year-oak-barrel\/table-1\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Table-1.jpg?fit=953%2C156&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"953,156\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Table-1\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Table-1.jpg?fit=300%2C49&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Table-1.jpg?fit=625%2C102&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Table-1.jpg?resize=625%2C102&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1532\" style=\"width:1017px;height:166px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Table-1.jpg?w=953&amp;ssl=1 953w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Table-1.jpg?resize=300%2C49&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Table-1.jpg?resize=768%2C126&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Table-1.jpg?resize=624%2C102&amp;ssl=1 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After 6\nmonths, both wine samples are visually the same with the same sensory profile\nand very similar chemistries except for several small differences described\nbelow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SENSORIAL AND VISUAL ASSESSMENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2382\" height=\"2560\" data-attachment-id=\"1530\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/6-month-progress-report-on-my-comparative-study-on-the-evolution-of-wine-aged-in-a-flextank-vs-a-second-year-oak-barrel\/flextank-tartrates-1\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Flextank-tartrates-1-scaled.jpg?fit=2382%2C2560&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2382,2560\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;1.9&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;SM-A520W&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1591803552&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;3.6&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;1000&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.1&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Flextank-tartrates-1\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Flextank-tartrates-1-scaled.jpg?fit=279%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Flextank-tartrates-1-scaled.jpg?fit=625%2C672&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Flextank-tartrates-1-scaled.jpg?fit=625%2C672&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1530\" style=\"width:250px;height:269px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Flextank-tartrates-1-scaled.jpg?w=2382&amp;ssl=1 2382w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Flextank-tartrates-1-scaled.jpg?resize=279%2C300&amp;ssl=1 279w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Flextank-tartrates-1-scaled.jpg?resize=953%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 953w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Flextank-tartrates-1-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C825&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Flextank-tartrates-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1429%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1429w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Flextank-tartrates-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1906%2C2048&amp;ssl=1 1906w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Flextank-tartrates-1-scaled.jpg?resize=624%2C671&amp;ssl=1 624w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Flextank-tartrates-1-scaled.jpg?w=1250&amp;ssl=1 1250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Both wines exhibit subtle notes of blackcurrant with just a hint of oak now detectable on the nose and palate but with still a touch of greenness likely due to underripe pyrazines. Both wines are fairly full-bodied with good body structure and light to medium color although the Flextank sample is just a tad smoother. Sample analysis and racking operations confirmed that this added smoothness is due to the &nbsp;lower total acidity (TA) in the Flextank sample due to the greater extent of tartrates dropping; interestingly, there was however no change in pH. Tartrates were expected based on my assessment of tartrate stability using the Concentration Product method, which predicts stability based on the concentrations of tartaric acid, potassium and ethanol, and pH. The difference in TA between the barrel and Flextank samples is only 0.29 g\/L (0.029%), but the difference in tartrates was significant. I will measure tartaric and potassium concentrations in both samples to understand better what happened; I would expect the Flextank sample to now have less tartaric acid and significantly less potassium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The visual\nappearance of both samples is the same, at least to the naked eye. However, an\nanalysis of turbidity (NTU) reveals that the barrel sample is clearing faster.\nThis was to be expected given that the barrel has a wider body and lower center\nof gravity than the Flextank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SULFUR DIOXIDE (SO<sub>2<\/sub>) AND\nDISSOLVED OXYGEN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From an\noxygen transfer perspective, it appears that the barrel and Flextank are\nbehaving the same, at least based on measured free SO<sub>2<\/sub> (FSO2) and\ndissolved oxygen (DO) paramters. But upon closer investigation, if we look at\ntotal SO2 (TSO2), we can conclude that there is less SO<sub>2<\/sub> binding in\nthe barrel sample, suggesting that the HDPE Flextank material reduces SO2\nlosses compared to the barrel. It would therefore be expected that wine aged in\na Flextank will have higher total SO<sub>2<\/sub> over time from future sulfite\nadditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>COLOR AND TANNINS <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From the spectrophotometric\nanalysis, we see that the barrel sample is exhibiting a slightly redder color\nbased on absorbance measurements at 520 nm, i.e., A<sub>520<\/sub>, which gives\nthe wine a slighter higher color intensity (IC) after 6 months, but nothing\nvisually apparent. Hue (H), which measures the ratio of yellow color to red\ncolor for assessing browning, is however the same, which means that the barrel\nsample is developing a bit more brown color as would be expected in barrel\nwine. As mentioned above, these differences are so small that they are not\nvisible to the naked eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The barrel\nsample also measured a higher Total Phenol Index (TPI) suggesting that the oak\nwood is still contributing some tannins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>VOLATILE ACIDITY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for\nvolatile acidity (VA), it is greater in the barrel sample and increasing at a\nfaster rate. This is likely due to acetic acid bacteria still capable of\noxidizing ethanol in the ullage due to evaporative loss in the barrel, this in\nspite of the barrel being topped up every two weeks. The drop in ethanol would\nbe too small to measure to make a definitive assessment, however, a measurement\nof acetaldehyde (for which I\u2019m not equipped to do) could have given some clues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ACCESSING THE WINE IN THE FLEXTANK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" data-attachment-id=\"1533\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/6-month-progress-report-on-my-comparative-study-on-the-evolution-of-wine-aged-in-a-flextank-vs-a-second-year-oak-barrel\/20200411_211604\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20200411_211604-scaled.jpg?fit=1920%2C2560&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1920,2560\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;1.9&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;SM-A520W&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1586639764&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;3.6&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;250&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.058823529411765&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"20200411_211604\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20200411_211604-scaled.jpg?fit=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20200411_211604-scaled.jpg?fit=625%2C833&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20200411_211604-scaled.jpg?fit=625%2C833&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1533\" style=\"width:133px;height:178px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20200411_211604-scaled.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20200411_211604-scaled.jpg?resize=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1 225w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20200411_211604-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20200411_211604-scaled.jpg?resize=1152%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1152w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20200411_211604-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C2048&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20200411_211604-scaled.jpg?resize=624%2C832&amp;ssl=1 624w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20200411_211604-scaled.jpg?w=1250&amp;ssl=1 1250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>In trying to minimize headspace (the space between the wine and the lid) and preventing leakage via the lid threads caused by wine expansion during aging, I have found it easier to access the wine (for sampling) via the port on the lid. I dabbed the lid gasket with a couple of drops of olive oil to ensure a super-tight fit on the Flextank. Then I placed a solid (i.e., no airlock) green cap with the threads wrapped in Teflon tape. I found the green cap to be easy to remove while allowing the wine to reach the very top.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On December 3, 2019, I started a study to compare the performance of a Flextank vessel to that of a second-year barrel, each equipped with a demijohn-sized WineStix oak stave&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/techniquesinhomewinemaking.com\/blog\/6-month-progress-report-on-my-comparative-study-on-the-evolution-of-wine-aged-in-a-flextank-vs-a-second-year-oak-barrel\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[126,93,128,124],"class_list":["post-1525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home-winemaking","category-product-reviews","tag-flextank","tag-home-winemaking","tag-oak-barrel","tag-winestix"],"yoast_head":"<!-- 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