Chips vs. Cubes

[masta]

No it will not from what I have experienced from the many kits I have made with this type of oak.


The length of time in the primary is not along enough to impart a heavy oak taste even with the extra surface area. This sawdust product also lacks in the toasting as with chips or cubes.


Oaking wines seems to be an art and I for one have not mastered it as of yet...but I will continue to work at it!

 

[Waldo]

If I am understanding everything correctly I am reading here then for one to obtain a really oaked presence to their kit wines they would benifit greatly from bulk aging with oak cubes after clearing and stabilizing?

 

[masta]

You got it podner! The trick is to find the right oak and toast and amout of contact time to achieve your goal.

 

[jojo]

masta - I just stabilized a batch of cranberry and added oak cubes. It would make a differenceto wait until the batch cleared?

 

[masta]

jojo,


Are you asking if the cubes can be left in the wine for an extended period of time? Depending on how long your wine is in contact with the cubes will determine the final oak flavor added. Looks like the cubes will continue to impart oak into the wine over an extended period of time so it might be best to taste test it every few weeks.


I went to the manufacturer's site and found some info which i posted below.


What would I use for 5 gallon glass carboys to get good oaking results? I usually bulk age both chardonnays and reds for 10-12 months.
For new barrel extraction rates, the recommended ratio is 1.5 - 2 lbs of Oak Cubes/Beans to 60 gallons, (i.e. @ 2 - 2.5 oz. for use in a 5 gallon carboy). We always recommend that you start with the lighter ratio for first time use, as you can always add more oak after 8 weeks. We recommend a minimum contact time of 8 weeks to allow for the full integration of the oak flavors. Also, as you will be aging the wine on the Oak Cubes/Beans for a year or so, you may even want to bring the ratio down a little lighter.


source: http://www.stavin.com/faq.htm

 

[jojo]

Thanks masta. I have the wine on cubes and will wait the 8 weeks, testing every other week to be sure. Actually I was wondering if there was any difference letting the contact begin during secondary or after stabilization. It sounds like contact time is contact time. I've never oaked a batch before. I imagine racking would include rinsing the cubes before putting them into the newer carboy.

 

[Waldo]

You are correct jojo. You want to rinse the cubes wellbetween rackings. Probably not necessary but after rinsing I give mine a light spraydown of meta before I add them back to my carboy.

 

[peterCooper]

Should I oak my cranberry apple? I have some heavy american and medium
french on order from George. It looks like Il' be stabilizing and fining in
about a week - 10 days.

 

[peterCooper]

Oh, its a scratch wine so I have plenty of time.

 

[Curt]

Peter,


You can oak any wine that you get a hankering to and are brave enough to try.

You might risk covering up a good bit of the delicate apple taste in your combo though. The cranberry is rowdy enough to hold it's own in most any fight.

 

[bilbo-in-maine]

I can't remember if you did a 5 gallon batch Peter. If so, you could oak a
portion as an experiment and still leave however many bottles you might
choose unoaked as pure fruit wine.

 

[peterCooper]

It a 6.5 gallon batch. Silly me, I put in 6 gallons of apple juice in and
didn't figure the cranberry,raisin, current mixture, the bentonite and
other things which brought the volume way up. I still have about 6.25
gallons after transferring to secondary.

I'll be able to get a full 6 gallons without topping up when I rack off of the
lees when the darn thing stops fermenting. It's been going for 14 days so
far and getting 1 bloop evey two seconds still.

I can't test the SG because I broke my hydrometer three days ago. I have
another coming when George can get it out. I bet he's busy a this time of
the year. Three days ago the SG was 1.010 so I imagine it is below 1.000
by now. I wanted this to be a pretty dry wine so I'm not planning to
sweeten it back up.

If I have enough left over after racking I'll experiment with a 375ml bottle,
a little a sugar and a pinch of yeast to carbonate. Anyone tried with a
single small bottle to give me a rough guide to amounts?
Edited by: peterCooper

 

[NorthernWinos]

For 6 gallons we use 1 3/4 cup [14 oz by volume]sugar and one package of EC-1118 Champagne yeast.....so do the math....Think if you just want to do a smaller amount...lets say....take 3/4 of a gallon of wine.....1.7 oz of sugar [dissolved] [I think that is 10.2 teaspoons] and 1/8 package of yeast [rehydrated]....I think there is about 2 teaspoons of yeast in each package, but you could weight it out on a diet scale. If you want to do even a lesser amount just divide and check the amounts......Check all these figures...or ask Masta....he is good at sums.


We get a lot of bubbles and lees in the bottles, and have to disgorge them.....We tried a batch once with less sugar and put a few [un-re hydrated] grains of yeast in each bottle and got no bubbles...so it was a good lesson.


Be sure to use beer bottles and crown caps, or champagne bottles with crown caps or plastic stoppers and wire...lots of pressure in there.

This is the Site we used to get started.....


http://honeycreek.us/makingsparklingwine.htm


Good luck with the Apple bubbly...it's the best!!!!Edited by: Northern Winos