Clean barrels and barriques with dry ice
Inside the barriques, during their use, faeces, tartrates and solid wine storage material are deposited, leading to a waterproofing of the wood. This no longer allows the wood, inside the barrels, to yield, release the “toasted”, the famous “barricato”, a mix of aromas and tannins.
Normally a barrique maintains its integrity for no more than three years, then it is so isolated, coated, that it no longer performs its function; so it must be restored.
In the past, to restore the barriques, the “axing” method was used with the use of an ax: a light layer of wood on which the tartrates had deposited was eliminated, to make the barriques usable again and make the wood still virgin. In this way, the part of wood characterized by the typical toasting was also removed. The toasting is a flame inside the barrel that “toasts” “burns” the wood, thus allowing to give the wine that more delicate flavor, typical characteristic of the “barrique”.
Bacteria are also deposited in the barrels (Brettanomyces and lactic bacteria) which bring a musty and bad taste to the wine; to remove the risk of this bad taste you can use chemicals.
To carry out these two operations, combined or individually, DRY ICE can be used.
With a nozzle with compressed air that shoots dry ice pellets, or 3 mm granules, inside the barrel or tonneau (larger barrel with a capacity of about 500/600 liters) there is a double function: to remove the feces, the tartrates and to remove a thin layer of wood. The first operation is more delicate, the second is more intense. They can be carried out at the same time, obtaining cleaning and removing a light layer of wood (1/2 mm. 1mm) to give the wine new roasting when it is placed in the barrel or tonneau.
The whole operation can last from twenty to thirty minutes, it depends on several factors: the time it is no longer used, how dirty the barriques are, etc.
MEC CRIOS can manually clean even a single barrel or barrique (they can have a capacity ranging from 20 -50 -100-110 hl.) For very large barrels 2.5 meters high and 2 meters long (110 hl) it is also used four hours. The operator must enter the barrel with a diving suit, masks and respirator, an external aspirator is also introduced to allow you to work safely and not to come into contact with the fumes of the wine or even with the CO2 that is shot at the inside of the barrel.
Normally, the cleaning of the barrels is carried out in an automatic system: inside a confined cabin, the barrique is inserted and locked by means of a clamp that transports it to the various cleaning phases, by means of an automatic nozzle system which moves on four axes. The course is managed by an electronic program. All that is removed and placed inside for cleaning is then carried out. The cabin is confined, soundproofed and anti-intrusion and is used in compliance with all accident prevention regulations.
The operation can last from 15 to thirty minutes.