Oak suggestions for Merlot

[REDBOATNY]

Looking for oak recommendations for a 5 gallon batch of Merlot. American? French? Hungarian? med toast? I will probably use chips.
Thanks

 

[Elmer]

I am a fan of Med Toast Hungarian oak cubes.

but Heavy toast American is starting to win me over!

 

[acorn]

I used American medium toast chips on Merlot with quite a success. Haven't tried French and Hungarian yet, though.

 

[ShaunDanz]

I used both medium toast French and American in my Merlots and Cab/Merlots.

 

[roger80465]

I am finding I enjoy a blend of oak - a little medium and heavy French, Hungarian or American oak. I just think it gives the best of all worlds without one dominating. For my palate, it is just more interesting. I have been trying the blends of cubes available from Midwest Supply (no, I am not affiliated with them). I love all the blends they offer, but seem to favor the Down Under and the West Coast blends.

 

[knockabout]

I am finding I enjoy a blend of oak - a little medium and heavy French, Hungarian or American oak. I just think it gives the best of all worlds without one dominating. For my palate, it is just more interesting. I have been trying the blends of cubes available from Midwest Supply (no, I am not affiliated with them). I love all the blends they offer, but seem to favor the Down Under and the West Coast blends.

I wonder if they have stopped carrying this as they are out of stock on all the oak blends?

 

[JohnT]

Well,

I need to say that it all depends on what you are after...

The flavor components are greatly affected by both the level of toast and the size of the oak you use and is less affected by the variety of oak you use.

A light toast is more for that "raw wood" flavor. This is what I like to call "smelling a plank" (because that is what it tastes/smells like).

A medium toast brings more of the "vanilla" flavors. This is due to the fact that more of the natural sugars are caramelized into a compound call Vanillin (which is almost identical to the main flavor compound found in the vanilla bean. This "vanilla" flavor is mostly extracted from a layer of wood that is below the char layer. It is because of this that oak chips are perhaps your worst choice (being that they are too thin).

A heavy toast brings more of the vanilla flavor and also flavors of smokiness and chocolate.


My advice (for medium and heavy toasts) is to avoid using power, dust, or chips and go with oak cubes, beans, or mini staves (with oak, bigger is better!) and select the toast that most agrees with what you like.

 

[roger80465]

I wonder if they have stopped carrying this as they are out of stock on all the oak blends?

Looks like they have the Down Under blend, but that is it. I hope they get them back in. I really enjoyed the results.