Using oak

[banannabiker]

I have read several times where some winemakers put Oak chips into their wine for flavoring. I understand that this gives roughly the same effect as againg in an Oak barrel. I always enjoy a Chardonay that has an oak flavor.

What I am not sure about is how the oak is put into the wine. When they make whiskey-I understand they burn the inside of the barrels so that the whisky actually oaks in a charcoal barrel rather than an oak barrel. Is that what happens with wine? When you add oak, do you put "charred" or "uncharred" oak into the carboy?

Thanks for the help.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Uncharted medium toast and usually American though I am experimenting with French chips. This is what I use. Never knew anyone who uses charred oak chips.

 

[Rocky]

I think you may mean "toasted" instead of "charred?" You can buy a variety of oak in various forms and levels of toasting. A good place to start is "medium toast" either Frencch or American oak cubes. I put them in the carboy during secondary fermnetation but I believe some people put them in after fermentation is complete.

Try this link: http://www.finevinewines.com/XProdListMain.asp

 

[roblloyd]

I have done medium toast French and Hungarian cubes or some of both in some batches. While similar they are different enough to try. Get both types of cubes or chips and make some tea with it and see what you like before adding to the wine. A little goes a long way and is easy to do in a carboy.

 

[joea132]

Whiskey barrels are typically charred and some people do put wine in used whiskey barrels. Most wine barrels are toasted to three different levels, medium (house) , medium plus, and heavy. Additionally there are different kinds of oak, American, french, and Hungarian. Each imparts different flavors. See this thread below.

When you decide what you want you'll need to choose what kind of oak you want and the toast level of that oak. You can buy oak in dust form, chips, cubes, or barrels. I have used cubes before and plan on barrel aging my next batch. The biggest consideration is not to over-oak. You can always add more but you can't really take it out once it's in.

www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=12989

 

[ibglowin]

I have thrown many a "charred" cube of oak into my wine. Some are almost a deep reddish black. A chardonnay would normally get a lightly toasted oak. You get more vanilla notes out of the lighter toast.

 

[robie]

Also, the oak used for wine making is white oak only.

 

[banannabiker]

lots of oak

Thanks one and all for the replies. One of my hobbiles is woodworking, and I also have a portable sawmill. I have cut thousands of board foot of oak, and have a good supply that is in my shop-which is also where my wine is. I did put some oak 'sticks' (about 3/4" square and 4-5 inches long) into my carboys, after making sure it was smooth, clean, and very dry...but it was not toasted. I will probably pull it out now and check the flavor of the wine to see how it was affected. The two batches that i 'oaked' are elderberry/blueberry, and grape/cranapple, and have all been in secondary fermentation for 2-3 months.

I guess I will find out if it was a mistake or a good thing, but I can recognize the advantage of buying toasted cubes because they are good and dry as well as giving a level of consistency that won't be possible by a hap-hazard method.

If it turns out well-or if it makes a mess-I will let you all know.

thanks again for all the helpful info

 

[applelover]

barrels

Since you all were talking about oak and barrels. I just bought a 10 gal.oak never been used 1960 barrel. It still looks new and has never been used. No openings anywhere. Should I, and how would I go about cleaning the inside of it? I usually make Applejack in a old whiskey barrel, but want to try my hand at my Great-great Uncles grape wine. Thank You.

 

[robie]

Since you all were talking about oak and barrels. I just bought a 10 gal.oak never been used 1960 barrel. It still looks new and has never been used. No openings anywhere. Should I, and how would I go about cleaning the inside of it? I usually make Applejack in a old whiskey barrel, but want to try my hand at my Great-great Uncles grape wine. Thank You.

If never used, hopefully the inside of the barrel is only dusty. Does it smell OK inside? It might still has some charred (black) saw dust inside, which only needs rinsed out.
I would rinse it well, then condition it. The Vadai Barrel site has a link on how to do that, just in case you need a refresher.

Once conditioned and still freshly wet, put a standard Kmeta sanitizing solution in it for 30 minutes or so, then rinse it really well. Then fill it with wine right away; don't let it dry back out.