French vs American?

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intoxicating

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I experiment with developing recipes from various fruits adding either red or white wine for structure or vinous character. I am looking for which oak will add the "vanilla" flavors with a minimum of "chocolate" and no "leather". Also, which level of toast? In particular, I am currently working on a caramel apple that is UNREMARKABLE, and I want it to be buttery and chewy. It is just an unoffensive white, not mouthwatering apple and rich caramel. I also plan to make more mead.
 
What was your recipe for the caramel apple? I will be picking up the ingredients for mine this weekend or next. I'll be using sparkling amber DME and crystal malt to try and get a nice mouth feel as well as add the caramel flavor. This one will also get made with 100% apple juice and I am still thinking about using a vanilla bean, golden raisins and either french or american med. toast oak and may very well do half and half on the oak.
I had planned to make this as a cyser using honey to get the SG I want to start with but decided against that because I have 7 meads planned for the rest of this year.
 
Intoxicating,


The lower toasting levels generally contribute more toward the vanilla character. Hungarian oak tends to provide more of a leather character, although it's not exclusive to this type of wood. Check out this Stavin link along with the corresponding links for Hungarian and American oak for a brief description of toasting effects.


If you are planning on using Stavin cubes, I've personally noticed a caramel flavor coming from French Oak House Toast cubes and the vanilla notes coming from American or French Medium Toast cubes. The European oaks seem to be a little more subtle in regards to flavor introduction, but this will depend on how many cubes you're adding (I recommend going low - you can always add more).


- Jim
 

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