Cellar Craft CC Showcase Chardonnay: Yakima Valley

[RJB]

Well... this is not a hobby for short attention spans =:O
I am seeing acacia cubes slowly dropping to the bottom at the rate of about one every two days. Even saw one of them change his mind halfway down, and start moving up again - I gave the carboy a slight shake, and he saw the error of his ways, down to the bottom, sloooooowwwly.
Wine has cleared beautifully however.
Bob

 

[ibglowin]

More like the Ronco Rotisserie Oven......

Just set it and forget it!

(for a few weeks at least!)

 

[RJB]

Hi folks. Well, I put the acacia cubes into my Showcase Yakima Chards two weeks ago. I can now see about 35 on the bottom of the carboy, and prolly close to that number still at the top. Do they all sink, or do some simply refuse?
And any guidelines on how long to leave them there? The instructions have some vague comment about 2-3 months, can any of you more experienced folks comment?
FWIW... I have been keeping the carboy at about 75degF.
thanks in advance
Bob

 

[ibglowin]

Have you racked off the fines yet? have you degassed yet? is the wine clear?

I would leave them in until they all have sunk. Mine were all on the bottom in approx 3 weeks post fining but I also added them into the primary up front, then transferred them over to secondary.

 

[robie]

Don't know about acacia chips, but oak chips will eventually get water logged and sink. I'm sure any type of would will do the same.

How long - after fermentation and during aging, you should taste test about every week for the first few weeks; then every two weeks or so and remove them when the taste is what you expect. I would never trust leaving them in for a specific period of time without taste testing.

I know that with oak, once it is over oaked, there is not much you can do about it.

 

[RJB]

Per the instructions, after secondary fermentation had ended, I racked it from the secondary carboy into another carboy, did all the stirring, added the various agents, KC etc, more stirring, then added the wood cubes. The wine is very clear, with a light-coloured sediment (looks like moondust) on the bottom.

Acacia is a very large family of trees, hundres of acacia species are native to Australia, but I have never thought of acacia wood as being at all aromatic. Fact is, I have no idea what flavour it imparts, so am not sure how long I want to leave it there.

Hence the question.

Regards,
Bob

 

[ibglowin]

Here is a nice little article about the use of Acacia Barrels in wine making. It tells you exactly what it brings to the table.

 

[RJB]

Thanks for the link Mike, interesting reading. A totally different type of "acacia" from those which are native to Oz.