# What sort of oak ?



## hector (Jul 21, 2012)

Hi there ! 

I'm going to oak my red wine . 

My carboy mouth Diameter is 1 inch . 

What sort of oak can I use ?

I would rather use Cubes or Spirals . Is it possible to cut them into pieces ? 

If yes , what's the best way to do it ?

In fact , I have to do it because the wine Volume is 1.3 Gallon , splitted into two carboys ( one 0.8 Gallon and one 0.53 Gallon ) . 

Hector


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## joea132 (Jul 21, 2012)

I would use oak cubes. Below are the dosages I use. I had a great pair with old vine Zinfandel and heavy toast American oak this year. Tasted it yesterday and was floored. Always err on the side of caution with oak. You can always add more but never take it away. What kind of red wine is it? 

Oak Cube Dosages:

In general:

1 ounce is 34 cubes 2 ounces is 68 cubes 3 ounces is 102 cubes
So, from this we can calculate the following dosage rates:

“1 ounce per 5 gallons” dosage rate is: 34 cubes for 5 gallons
7 cubes (rounded-up from 6.8) for 1 gallon 2 cubes (rounded-up from 1.8) for 1 liter

“2 ounces per 5 gallons” dosage rate is: 68 cubes for 5 gallons
14 cubes (rounded-up from 13.6) for 1 gallon 4 cubes (rounded-up from 3.6) for 1 liter

“2.5 ounces per 5 gallons” dosage rate is: 85 cubes for 5 gallons
18 cubes (rounded-up from 17.5) for 1 gallon 5 cubes (rounded-up from 4.6) for 1 liter

“3 ounces per 5 gallons” dosage rate is: 102 cubes for 5 gallons
21 cubes (rounded-up from 20.4) for 1 gallon 6 cubes (rounded-up from 5.4) for 1 liter

*NOTE: that 2.5 to 3 ounces per 5 gallons is considered to be equivalent to “new barrel” extraction rates.


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## hector (Jul 21, 2012)

joea132 said:


> I would use oak cubes. Below are the dosages I use. I had a great pair with old vine Zinfandel and heavy toast American oak this year. Tasted it yesterday and was floored. Always err on the side of caution with oak. You can always add more but never take it away. What kind of red wine is it?


 
In fact , I'm going to make two red wine batches in October . 

Red grape wine , using table grapes and red Plum wine , using dark plums . 

For the grape wine , I'll use "Pasteur Red" as the yeast strain and for the plum wine , I'll use "Cote des blancs" . 

So , I need to boost the structure and body specially for the table grapes . 

As I said , my carboy mouth Diameter is just 1 inch . Can I add oak cubes directly or should I break them down into smaller pieces ?!

Hector


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## pjd (Jul 21, 2012)

hector said:


> As I said , my carboy mouth Diameter is just 1 inch . Can I add oak cubes directly or should I break them down into smaller pieces ?!
> 
> Hector


You will be able to fit them into the carboy. Oak cubes are about 3/8" square.


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## joea132 (Jul 21, 2012)

The cubes are small. Phil is right, about 3/8" cubed. Remember to leave room for the oak. Or just take wine out and drink it!


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## hector (Jul 21, 2012)

joea132 said:


> The cubes are small. Phil is right, about 3/8" cubed. Remember to leave room for the oak. Or just take wine out and drink it!


 
What do you mean by "leaving room for the oak" ?

Don't they absorb a little of wine ?

Hector


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## joea132 (Jul 21, 2012)

I don't mean to leave air in the carboy, that's a bad thing. What I'm saying is understand that they take up space before they absorb some wine. And they don't absorb as much as you might think. 

When you do add them, add them slowly and use a wine thief to take out a little bit of wine to make room if need be. It's not a bad idea to have a small bottle without oak in case you accidentally get too much oak in it. You can usually buy small bungs that fit in wine bottles to have a side batch. This way you can add the unoaked wine back into the main batch if you screw up.


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