Clear before Oak or Oak before Clear

[zadvocate]

I am making a rose bucket for Christmas. It is almost done fermenting. I want add some oak. I am going to use Super Kleer then age. My question is should I wait to use super kleer and oak it now for a few weeks or clear it now and then let it oak for a few weeks. I don't know if oaking will add any haze to the wine.

 

[salcoco]

clear the wine first

 

[Mismost]

clear the wine first

Not disagreeing here, but would like to learn the WHY.

We can and do add oak both primary and secondary stages, so why does it matter? I'm always trying to learn!

Thanks

 

[FTC Wines]

My system for big Reds is: oak powder in fermentation, oak chips in secondary, then oak spirals as the wine clears & is getting closer to bottling. Never made a Rose type of wine. Roy

 

[zadvocate]

My reason for asking is that I want to clear it and bottle at mid December and I didn't know if the oak would cause any Haze

 

[ceeaton]

Well, you said in the first post you planned on using Superkleer. If you oaked and left it behind with the Superkleer when you racked, you'd be fine, then you could add more oak after racking. But if you used a spiral or cubes, you might bring some of the Superkleer from the original container into your new racked container if you transferred the oak from one container to the other. So I think you'd be best off clearing, then oaking once it is racked off of the clearing agents. At times I think sediment in my bottle is from the clearing agents when I'm using an accelerated schedule to get it in the bottle.

I do not believe the oak will cloud your wine, no matter what form you use (chips/cubes/spirals/staves/oak barrel).

 

[zadvocate]

Thanks that makes sense appreciate it.

 

[jgmann67]

Well, you said in the first post you planned on using Superkleer. If you oaked and left it behind with the Superkleer when you racked, you'd be fine, then you could add more oak after racking. But if you used a spiral or cubes, you might bring some of the Superkleer from the original container into your new racked container if you transferred the oak from one container to the other. So I think you'd be best off clearing, then oaking once it is racked off of the clearing agents. At times I think sediment in my bottle is from the clearing agents when I'm using an accelerated schedule to get it in the bottle.

I do not believe the oak will cloud your wine, no matter what form you use (chips/cubes/spirals/staves/oak barrel).

Agreed - think of it this way - by waiting until after it's clear to add oak, you get to skip the step where you have to rinse your oak for reuse at your final racking.

If you're clearing now, bottling in December really doesn't give you much time. Enough to get all the oak has to give, sure. But, your wine might still be gassy or you might not be satisfied with the taste. Be flexible - bottle your wine when it's ready, not when you are.