[rrussell]

I am curious as to what everyone else is using to oak their red wines with. I have been using medium French cubes but am thinking about trying others. Ron.

[PAwinedude]

I have had a lot of luck with these

http://www.infusionspiral.com/

two per 6 gallon carboy.....tie both together with fishing line and then drop in carboy while bulk ageing. These will extract oak for approx six weeks. You can check the level of oak by every couple weeks.....

hope this helps

[Dean]

For me it all depends on what wine I'm making and what I'm trying to accomplish. There is no favorite for me, since they all have so many different nuances.

[Bartman]

I'm with Dean - there are many different shadings of flavors and palates that will complement one type of wine better than another. Plus, there are different degrees of toasting that affect the oak profile as well. That said, I generally prefer French Oak, as it gives more of that classic "oak-y" flavor I think of with wine.

[ASAI]

Among my useless unverified knowledge from internet research I will pass on the following:
Originally, wine wasstored in oak barrels because they were the cheapest to manufacturer. The only draw back was the oak left a bad taste in the wine. Maybe the marketing department can turn the minus into a plus?
During the cooperage process, the barrel is palced over a open fire and sprayed with water to soften the wood for bending. The amount of "toast" reflects the skill of the cooper.

[Wade E]

That oaking was probably how it started but Im betting that after awhile it has just turned into an option instead of a skill flaw. I Too am with Dean and use what I think will bring forward or contribute to the wine I am making. I have pretty much all of them in cube form in my arsenal and wouldnt even think of changing this with the exception of changing to barrels.

[joeswine]

I on the other hand have found a capability in using powdered oak or chestnuts as a tannin agent,there accent is quick to assimilate in to the wine ,I can control the taste and that to me is the most important factor in processing the product,you can start off lite and add as required,at least thats my why............I can do this throughtout ,fist ,second and thrird handingly ,but not before finding and bottleing.......

[Wade E]

My friend has started using this oak dust and loves it, he was introduced to this by his friend who is a major wine maker and pretty much is the head of the AWS in Ct. This may be my next oak purchase before getting barrels probably.

[DancerMan]

Originally Posted by Wade

My friend has started using this oak dust and loves it, he was introduced to this by his friend who is a major wine maker and pretty much is the head of the AWS in Ct. This may be my next oak purchase before getting barrels probably.

Are you talking about something like the oak dust that comes with some kits? Would you use this dust just during fermentation?

[Wade E]

its not the same as the stuff in the kits and much more finely ground. I just did some more research on this as I didnt go into depth with my friend on this and read it doesnt replace oak as it doesnt give any oak characteristics. Its main purpose is to remove vegetal overtones in the wine and recommended to use this before barrel aging. Maybe my friend is using another product as this was all I could dig up on the internet although it came in different toastings????????????? Need to do some more research on this, why would it have different toast levels if it doesnt give off characteristics?