WineXpert ? about step #2 on my French Chardonnay

[lherndo]

My chardonnay came with two pack of oak chips which are floating away. I'm now on day #2 and it's fermenting along nicely. I'm supposed to rack on Day 7 when my SG gets to the right #.

Do I move the oak chips into the carboy or do they just last for the first 7 days?

Also, I'll be using the Battonage method of stirring the lees for a longer period before the second rack. Do I only stir the lees that form from after its moved to the carboy or do I need to intentionally transfer some from the bottom of the primary fermentation bucket?

Thanks.

 

[ibglowin]

First, welcome to the FVW forums! Glad you found us!

Some other forum member may chime in as well here but I would move the oak from primary into secondary when you transfer. I would also just make this first racking a sorta quick and dirty rack and transfer pretty much everything except what sticks to the bottom of the primary when you transfer. You want as much volume and as much viable yeast to help you ferment to dry. The next racking you will get rid of the oak and gross lees.

Once again welcome!

 

[lherndo]

Thanks so much for your fast reply. Makes perfect sense. I'm really hoping for an oaky buttery chardonnay with a full mouth feel. Hopefully that battonage will work.

 

[v1rotate]

I'm not sure I'd transfer the oak to the carboy. Here is what Tim Vandergrift has to say about battonage:

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<t>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Our kits tend to have a softer, more complex flavour profile than
you might expect. We achieve this partly by carefully choosing our oak styles
and the protocols for using them. By including the oak in with the fermentation
(instead of after) we get a much softer profile, which includes some butter and
vanilla notes, as opposed to woody or smoky characters.
Now you can’t do
malolactic on the kits. It will end in tears if you try. However, there is a
technique called ‘battonage’ that will help fatten up the finish of the wine,
and give it a rich, creamy mouth feel. Here’s the deal:
· Make you kit up as
normal, and rack to the secondary carboy on day 5-7 as directed.
· After ten
days, ignore the instructions about fining and stabilising. Instead, add
one-quarter teaspoon of metabisulphite powder to the wine, and gently stir it up
with a sanitised spoon.
· Get all of the yeast sediment in to suspension,
make sure it’s nice and cloudy, but don’t splash or agitate.
· Top up with
some decent Chardonnay wine (this is better than using water for this
technique). At three or four day intervals, go back and stir the yeast up again.

· Repeat every three or four days for a month.
· Let the wine settle for
two weeks, rack it into a clean, sanitised carboy, and follow all the remaining
instructions on schedule, omitting no detail however slight.
By stirring the
yeast into suspension repeatedly you get the benefits of the amino acids they
carry, along with a host of compounds—principally mannoproteins, which give they
creamy aroma and mouth feel.

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy your
kit.

Cheers,
Tim Vandergrift
Technical Services Manager
</td></tr></t></table>

Welcome to the forum, Iherndo. Let us know how the kit turns out.

 

[lherndo]

Since I got different answers on the oak I called Wine Expert and she told me that the oak is pretty well used up after 6 days and will fall to the bottom. If any of it is still floating around during racking and goes over to the secondary to not worry about it, it will eventually drop to the bottom just like the lees. So that answers that.

As for the battonage method, that's the exact instructions I've printed and have attached to my instructions.

 

[Wade E]

I too would say the oak has done what it needed to do and gives it fast due to surface area. If it were cubes or spirals I would say carry them over to carboy as they dont give up quite as fast