MLF On Top of Oak?

[Boatboy24]

I'm planning on racking to secondary and kicking off MLF today. My intention was to do this with some French oak chips in the carboy. Any issues with having the oak in there during MLF? Thanks.

Jim

 

[ibglowin]

I would hold off on the oak until MLF is finished. The oak won't hurt it but it will be sitting up top (floating) making it harder to see how your MLF is doing (tiny bubbles forming) You will have plenty of time to oak.

 

[Boatboy24]

Thanks Mike. My original plan was to use oak powder for secondary based on the suggestions from Joeswine. I couldn't find the powder, so I thought the chips would be a good substitute.

Jim

 

[ibglowin]

Are these Chilean juices? If so I would recommend using at least oak beans or cubes over chips. The higher quality of your oak the better it will taste in the end.

 

[Runningwolf]

I agree with Mike on using a higher quality oak during the aging process but during fermentation I prefer to use a powder or chips and do my mlf at the same time

 

[Boatboy24]

Man, this place is invaluable. Thanks guys!

I usually use cubes for aging and/or a barrel, but didn't think that would be the best choice during fermentation.

 

[spaniel]

I would hold off on the oak until MLF is finished. The oak won't hurt it but it will be sitting up top (floating) making it harder to see how your MLF is doing (tiny bubbles forming) You will have plenty of time to oak.

I would wait too, just to change one variable at a time...but wouldn't the chips sink before you need to care about monitoring the bubbles of the MLF?

 

[ibglowin]

They could take a week or two depending on how much was added.

 

[manvsvine]

I add cubes durring mlf all the time.
Bubbles are not really an effective method of monitoring mlf anyway , it's possible to have mlf complete with hardly any detectable bubbles anyway .
Only testing such as paper chromatography can give you a real indication of mlf progress .

I put my cubes in the carboy , rack the wine off the gross lees into the cube carboy , add optimalo , pitch MLB and put the airlock on .
After 4 weeks I test for mlf status using paper chromatography . The cubes may have sank by this time.

So it's up to you , there is no technical obstical to oaking durring mlf . The oak won't impede progress.

I'd recommend using cubes or larger format oaks post primary and durring ageing

Chips and oak dust are not intended for post primary fermentation oaking , they are intended to add tannin and mask green flavours durring primary when there is active live yeast to metabolize and buffer the harsh fast release the small format high surface area of oak dusts and chips.

 

[Smartdog]

If you are going to use chips MLF should be fine as the whole process should take only a week or two. And then you rack again for ageing. One problem with chips is amount of contact time (unless you like a lot of oak). Cubes and spheres give you better control.

Some reuse their cubes and spheres, which is a problem if you add during mlf and do not want to go through it on the next batch.

 

[Rock]

If you are going to use chips MLF should be fine as the whole process should take only a week or two. And then you rack again for ageing. One problem with chips is amount of contact time (unless you like a lot of oak). Cubes and spheres give you better control.

Some reuse their cubes and spheres, which is a problem if you add during mlf and do not want to go through it on the next batch.

Mlf takes a lot longer than a week or 2.More like 4-6 weeks.Some times longer.