🍷 Barrel hoop
Also known as: barrel hoop, cooper's hoop, barrel hoops, cask hoop, barrel ring
The ring that binds the staves of an oak barrel together and holds its shape.
A barrel hoop (cooper's hoop, cask hoop) is the ring that binds the staves of an oak barrel together. Staves are the long curved boards a cooper builds the barrel from. Without hoops they would simply fall apart. With them, the pressure pulls the boards tight and the barrel holds liquid.
Hoops go on in two rounds. The temporary ones come first. At the Silver Oak cooperage a barrel is raised from 32 staves, warmed on the outside to about 150 degrees Celsius, and a hydraulic machine draws the boards into a round shape. The staves have been dried in the open air beforehand, from 6 to 36 months depending on the cooperage, or the wood would split when bent.
The final hoops are hammered on after sanding. In a Kentucky cooperage a machine drives them with even pressure, while Cognac coopers assemble, bend, heat and hoop their casks. The heads sit in a groove and are held by pressure alone, with no glue.
The hoop is the plainest part of an oak barrel. Barrel toasting changes the taste, the bung closes the hole, and the hoop only holds the shape. Yet without it the rest would not hold together, even in a big foudre.
Facts
| Raw material | Oak staves, air-dried for 6 to 36 months 2 |
|---|---|
| Main use | Binds the staves together and keeps the barrel's shape 1 |
| Duration | Stave drying: about 24 months in one cooperage 3 |
| Temperature | Bending: outside of the barrel warmed to 300 F, about 150 C 3 |
How it connects to Wine
🍷 Barrel hoop → kind of → 🍷 Oak barrel ← packed in ← 🍷 Wine
Links
- Works with
- 🍷 Cooper
- Part of
- 🍷 Oak barrel
Frequently asked questions
What does a hoop do on a wine barrel?
It pulls the staves tight against each other so the barrel keeps its shape and holds liquid.
How many staves does a barrel have?
In the Silver Oak cooperage a barrel is raised from 32 staves.
When do the final hoops go on?
After sanding. They are hammered on, or driven by a machine with steady pressure.
Is it true that barrel heads are glued in?
No. The round oak heads sit in a groove in the staves and are held by pressure alone.
Why are staves air-dried before bending?
Drying for 6 to 36 months makes the oak flexible enough to bend without splitting.
Similar
🍷 Stave · 🍷 Bung · 🍷 Puncheon · 🍷 Pièce (Burgundy barrel) · 🍷 Foudre · 🍷 Barrel toasting
Sources
- Cognac Culture (Bureau national interprofessionnel du Cognac). Cognac trades: the coopers
- Kelvin Cooperage. New barrels
- Silver Oak. The Oak Journal: how American oak barrels are made