oak barrels and MLF

[chefse...@gmail.com]

Hi everyone

As I slowly head towards my first commercial batch of cider here in Australia I am trying to clarify my processes a little.

I would like to do two things...

Age in Oak barrels for a time (I love the character oak brings to cider)

Promote MLF in my ciders (I have to this point used commercial bought MLF cultures. We seem to get very acidic fruit here and MLF helps to round off my ciders very well).

I have read Dr Lea's PDF on barrel care, which was really helpful, but would like some clarification on a couple of points.

Firstly, the sterilisation process of the barrels between batches. I have read about MLF living in the wood of the barrel and 'infecting' the new batch each time. Will this not be affected by the sterilisation process? Or does the bacteria survive this? I would eventually like to realise some of the 'old horse' characteristics wild MLF would bring to the cider. This is something not common in Australian ciders at the moment.

Also, what does 'sweetening' the barrels mean? I have read this but not sure what it is referring to.

Can anyone advise how long I might keep the cider in the barrel to oak it. To this point I have only been using oak chips into small test batches of cider (20 litres). I realise this will depend on how oaky you want the cider, but any rough guide would be great as I am trying to determine whether I will need a further storage container to let the cider finish ageing (I am aiming for about 6 months for ageing). Will I need to take it back out of the barrels and store in stainless steel to finish ageing before bottling?

Lastly any further advice on the subject would be fantastic, as this is a new process for me and I want to get it right (especially for my first batch to launch our Cidery with!!)

By the way, only cider varieties being used, if that makes any difference (Bulmers Normans, Yarlington Mill, Improved Foxwhelp, Michelin, Kingston Black, Browns Apple).

Thanks in advance.