Cooperage is the art of building wooden barrels or casks to store different products, from grains and flour to alcoholic beverages such as wine or whiskey.
This is an ancient tradition that has endured until today, but it no longer enjoys its past popularity as fewer and fewer people show interest in this arduous work.
So, if you want to know more about this ancient and interesting work, read on.
Cooperage is a millenary art
Brief history of cooperage
It is known that the cooperage craft has been around since ancient times, in fact, the work of coopers (carpenters who made barrels) was greatly appreciated by the ancient Romans who sought new ways to store grains and, above all, wine.
Likewise, the process of making barrels hasn’t changed much.
On the contrary, despite technological advances, the techniques have remained almost the same for at least 2 millennia.
Also, although barrels were especially popular in ancient Rome, they most likely didn’t originate there but somewhere in present-day Greece.
At that time, barrels were devised as an alternative for storing all kinds of foodstuffs and materials that were often lost because of poor storage.
An example of this was seen in the amphorae, clay containers in which wine was stored.
These amphorae were fragile and broke easily. For this reason, artisans began to build wooden vessels, a material that was already very popular at that time due to its malleability.
Also, it was known at the time that the wood of the barrels improved the flavor of the wine and allowed the grains to remain in better condition for a longer period of time.
And, although the work was often done by slaves, the Roman artisans were the ones in charge of teaching the technique.
Thus, the process continued for several centuries until the Roman Empire collapsed in the Middle Ages and slaves (now free) expanded the cooperage practice throughout the rest of Europe.
In fact, cooperage was recognized as an art during the Middle Ages and the French became the foremost masters of this profession as they continued to experiment with different woods to improve wine production.
The arrival of cooperage in the Americas
The Spanish conquistadors were the first to introduce barrels in America at the end of the 15th century.
However, cooperage didn’t develop as an art until the late 16th and early 17th centuries when English settlers arrived in the New England region of what is now the United States.
As more Europeans arrived on the new continent, the need to store goods such as dried fish, grains, butter and, of course, alcoholic beverages such as wine, whiskey and beer grew.
So, you can imagine how profitable it was to engage in the cooperage business. In addition, there was an abundance of timber species in that region that were ideal for the job, such as:
- White Oak.
- Red Oak.
- Ash.
- Chestnut.
- Pine.
From colonial times to the 20th century
Cooperage techniques have been perfected over the centuries, especially during the 18th and 19th centuries.
The reason is that during those two centuries the number of distilleries increased exponentially and the trade of goods such as rum grew in the same way.
However, the cooperage boom went into decline during the first half of the 20th century, when barrels became overcrowded, which to a certain extent displaced the artisan coopers.
Because of this, the work of coopers has gradually become artisanal, as this profession is not learned in school and is almost always passed down from generation to generation.
However, this art can also be taught to apprentices who must be supervised for several years before they are considered master coopers.
Cooperage in the 21st century
Today, cooperage no longer enjoys the same popularity as it did several centuries ago, especially since there are fewer and fewer people interested in it.
However, master coopers aspire to get new generations interested in this arduous and noble art.
Important facts about cooperage
Choosing the right wood is essential for any woodworking job. Thus, the manufacture of a good barrel requires good materials.
Therefore, it is necessary to know the purpose of each barrel.
For example, for storing wine, you can use white oak wood because this wood adds very interesting notes to the beverage.
On the other hand, if you are looking to store dry materials, you could use ash wood or chestnut wood.
Ideal woods for storing high-quality wines
It is common for coopers to use oak wood; in fact, this is the most commonly used species in the manufacture of barrels.
Thus, the most commonly used variants of Oak are:
However, European oak is the most widely used for winemaking as it has low levels of tannins and therefore doesn’t corrupt the flavor of the beverage.
On the contrary, European oak adds body to the wine, while helping it to retain color and flavor better.
How is the right wood selected?
Selecting the right wood is based on variables such as the degree of shade to which the tree has been exposed during its growth, as well as the type of fiber and grain of the wood.
In addition, the tannin level is taken into account; these substances can alter or favor the flavor and texture of the wines.
Then, once the ideal wood for each use has been chosen, the tree is felled for subsequent production of the staves.
The staves are small pieces of wood with an elongated and rectangular shape that form the body of the barrel.
Yet, building a barrel is not a quick task. The staves must be dried naturally, i.e. exposed to the elements for at least 2 years.
This process of drying the wood in the open air is done with the objective of allowing the material to reach a natural maturation.
This allows the bitter flavors produced by the tannins to be released in contact with the wine or other beverages.
How is a wooden barrel constructed?
Now we’ll briefly explain the process involved in making high-quality handcrafted barrels.
In the hands of a master cooper, the construction of a barrel can take a little less than 12 hours.
However, the barrel-making process sounds easier than it really is. Nevertheless, let us try to sum it up in the following steps.
First step: stave harvesting
Once the staves are dry, they are numbered to know what position they’ll take in the barrel frame.
Second step: raising the barrel
Next, the staves are put together and held together with circular metal pieces in a process known as? ¨barrel raising“.
Here, the cooper quickly turns the staves (previously clamped with the metal) to apply heat and humidity.
Thus, the heat and moisture allow the staves to bend and take on the typical arched shape of the barrel.
Third step: by hammer and chisel
Then, aided by a hand tool consisting of a wooden handle attached to a rope, the staves are bent even more.
This tool allows the ropes to exert pressure on the staves with every turn of the handle, bringing them closer together and filling any space between the wood.
This ensures that the barrel has no leaks whatsoever.
Then, using a hammer and chisel, one or more circular pieces of metal are inserted to prevent the staves from separating.
Fourth step: firing process
Once the framework of the barrel is finished, it is time to fire its interior in a process called “barrel firing“.
In this process, a fire is set inside the barrel to roast the wood slowly and in a controlled manner.
The length of the toasting process will depend on the type of material to be stored in the barrel.
Thus, for example, if what is to be stored is wine, the firing process can take around 30 to 40 minutes.
In contrast, for whiskey, the duration of toasting is less than one minute.
Fifth step: sanding and making the lids
The final step of barrel making is the construction of the lid or cover, which is built once the diameter of the barrel has been measured.
After this, the edges of the lid are sanded so that the closure fits tightly.
But, why is the barrel fired?
The burning or toasting process inside the barrel is important because it provides additional flavor to the wine or any other beverage.
So, depending on the level of toasting of the wood, the alcoholic beverage will have a more or less caramelized or bitter taste.
Note: a master cooper performs all the above steps by hand and usually uses no industrial machine or any kind of glue to join the pieces of wood together.
Cooperage categories
Finally, let’s mention the categories into which this profession is classified according to the uses that the barrels will be put to.
Dry cooperage
Here barrels are manufactured to be used to store dry materials such as:
- Tobacco.
- Fruits.
- Vegetables.
These barrels are characterized because the staves are not so close together, which allows greater oxygenation of the stored materials.
Tight cooperage
Barrels manufactured for tight cooperage are barrels with the smallest possible space between the staves; designed to prevent humidity from entering the barrel.
These barrels are used to store materials such as:
- Wheat flour.
- Corn flour.
- Grains.
- Gunpowder.
Wet cooperage
This type of cooperage manufactures barrels to store liquids such as:
- Wine.
- Beer.
- Whiskey.
- Rum.
In general, these barrels are not very different from those made for tight cooperage.
However, they have been exposed to greater loads of heat and fire because the aim is to age beverages in them.