Bob Flook and Vic Vasquez have come up with a way to save money for vintners and save the environment at the same time.

They offer a barrel cleaning service that not only extends the life of barrels, but also helps to save trees, saves water and doesn’t emit any pollutants into the air. And unlike other methods of refurbishing barrels, nothing is added to or subtracted from the flavor of the barrels, and, in fact, it can renew the flavors of the barrels to when they were younger. It extends the life of barrels, saving hundreds of them from being converted into planters each year and reducing the need to cut down trees to replace them.

Flook and Vasquez operate Barrel Blasting, a division of Cryo Clean, Inc., and use dry ice emitted under high pressure to eliminate tartrate crystals and old wine residue, along with any other contaminants in the barrel, including yeast, mold, fungus and bacteria. The process has also reduced Brettanomyces, TCA and volatile acidity, Vasquez said, referring to conditions that can ruin the taste of wine.

Dry ice is non-pollutive, non-corrosive, non-conductive and non-explosive, and dry ice blasting is a process that has been approved by the EPA, USDA and FDA.

Visual inspection

The difference between Barrel Blasting’s process and conventional barrel washing methods is that they remove the barrel top and make a visual inspection of the entire barrel, rather than just peeking through the bung hole and using a flashlight. With conventional barrel washing using hot pressurized water, some of the barrel’s interior and bacteria hidden deep in the wood can be missed, and contamination can occur around the bung hole when the barrel is drained. In addition, as much as 25 gallons of water can be used for each barrel.

With Barrel Blasting, the barrel is inspected and if blisters are spotted, or excessive tartrates are noted, they can be scraped off.

“Tartrates aren’t bad,” Vasquez said. “It’s what’s hidden behind the tartrates that is the problem. People don’t realize how much hidden contamination there is behind the blisters and tartrates.” He once found eight pockets in one barrel that contained contamination that would not have been eliminated with conventional washing.

“You should see the amazement on a winemaker’s face when he sees what’s in there,” he added.

During their inspections, Flook and Vasquez have found all kinds of insects, larvae and even a black widow spider inside barrels. “Imagine what that would do to the flavor of wine,” Vasquez said.

Only the top of the barrel is opened. The bottom is not removed because that would compromise the integrity of the barrel and could cause leaks.

Do on-site cleaning

For jobs of 50 or more barrels, Barrel Blasting goes to the winery with its truck loaded with a compressor, an automatic Rajeunir (French for rejuvenate) machine and two or three coopers and assistants. For smaller jobs, barrels are brought to Barrel Blasting’s facility in Napa. The company charges $50 per barrel. A new French barrel today cost as much as $850 to $900.

Hundreds of pounds of food-grade dry ice in granule form, about the size of a grain of rice, are delivered to the site in large insulated bins, at minus 109 degrees Fahrenheit. About 15 to 25 pounds of dry ice are used per barrel

After a barrel is inspected and any excess tartrates and obvious blisters are scraped, the barrel is placed on the automatic blasting table designed by Flook and Vasquez and is rotated while a nozzle shoots out dry ice at between 70 and 120 pounds per square inch as it moves forward. That process takes about two and a half minutes.

The barrel is then transferred to another position where it is again inspected. After the automatic blast, blisters that may have been missed on the first inspection freeze and show up, and portions of the barrel are scraped again where needed. Then each barrel is given a hand blast lasting up to two minutes, depending on whatever additional contamination may have been found.

Vasquez said the entire process leaves very little residue, all non-toxic and no larger than a pile the size of a tennis ball, which is swept up and discarded.

The top is then replaced on the barrel, the rings replaced and the barrel filled with water to test for leaks. “We have only a 1 percent leak rate,” Vasquez said.

Not every barrel is cleaned. If they see that one is badly contaminated, they will call it to the attention of the winemaker, and it’s his call whether to continue, Vasquez said.

No effect on toast

Does the cleaning affect the toast? Not at all, he said. Only about 1/50,000th of an inch of wood is removed, leaving the toast virtually intact.

What does it do to the flavor? “It doesn’t give a new barrel flavor, but seems to give older barrels the flavors of a 2-year-old barrel,” said Mark Lyon, winemaker at Sebastiani Vineyards. “It’s re-exposing the surfaces.”

The blast creates a rougher texture which actually gives more surface, Vasquez said.

“What I like is that it cleans the tartrates and stains you find in older barrels,” Lyon said. “It’s like going to the dentist (to have teeth cleaned). You clean out the barrels, and it’s more hygienic.”

Jon Engelskirger, a consulting winemaker, started using Barrel Blasters when he was winemaker at Turnbull Cellars, and now uses them at Tres Sabores, the winery owned by his wife, Julie Williams. “With most other processes, like shaving and toasting, something gets added,” he said. “(With this) you can take 3 or 4-year-old barrels that are neutral and return them to (where they are) like 1 or 2-year-old barrels.”

Engelskirger also used Barrel Blasting to clean an old building where they were concerned about cork taint. “They did the inside of a room with wooden beams that had cracks, and mold growth. When they finished it smelled like I imagined a glacier would smell — a dry, clean smell.”

Don Baker, winemaker at Bighorn Cellars, used Barrel Blasting to clean 115 chardonnay barrels last August. The system was set up on the crush pad, which is distant from Baker’s office. “It was warm and all the windows were open, and all of a sudden I started smelling fresh toasted oak,” he said. “It smelled like new barrels. I stuck my head inside one and it smelled like a freshly-toasted barrel.”

Baker used the barrels for the 2007 harvest, and “initially I’m seeing some good flavors and aromas.”

He keeps on his desk a piece of wood containing a blister that was taken from a barrel, “and you should see the gunk and debris in it,” he said.

Saw an opportunity

Vasquez was selling dry ice blasting machines for the food industry, where they are used extensively, when he met Flook who was doing contract cleaning with dry ice. They saw an opportunity in the wine industry and talked with winemakers to determine the feasibility and see what was needed.

They started Barrel Blasting in 2003 and the first year cleaned eight barrels. “People were concerned about what this would do (to their wine),” Vasquez said. “But by the third year we had results — it did not add any unwanted flavors.”

They’re running tests on phenols and are looking at the long-term effects of the process on the taste of wine.

They also are working with Robert Tracy, Ph.D., of BevTrac Mobile Quality Systems, to determine the effectiveness of the treatment on reduction of wine spoilage microorganisms, including Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus. Tracy said he will compare samples of wine from the same barrels before and after the treatment, and expects to have results later this year.

Flook and Vasquez say the process also can be effective in cleaning wine presses and crushers, barrel rooms, caves and storage.

At present they are working with about 80 wineries in California and a few in Oregon, and Vasquez said they are considering franchising the concept. He added that they hope to open a facility in Australia in 2008, and are looking ahead to opening in other wine producing countries, including Chile and those in Europe.

For information, go to www.barrelblasting.com.