Next Level Oak

[Figo]

I found this link at WineMakerMag and thought I'd share and also ask if anyone's tried / used this? It seems like a nice concept and I'd like to give it a try. I will have to give them a call on Monday because the two shops they mention on their website as retailers do not list this product ☹

 

[salcoco]

what link?

 

[Figo]

what link?

Hi,
If you click on the word "link" it should take you there, the color red really doesn't stand out well. Sorry for confusion

 

[rustbucket]

Great concept! The way that the oak staves are cut provides a lot of surface area for the wine to oak exposure. I also like that adding or removing staves is as easy as pulling a cork. Although, the cost is high compared to competing products, I can understand its justification based on the manufacturing steps that go into making and packaging the product.

@Figo, are you affiliated with this company?

 

[Figo]

Great concept! The way that the oak staves are cut provides a lot of surface area for the wine to oak exposure. I also like that adding or removing staves is as easy as pulling a cork. Although, the cost is high compared to competing products, I can understand its justification based on the manufacturing steps that go into making and packaging the product.

@Figo, are you affiliated with this company?

Hi
No, absolutely no affiliation with this company. I found this from Wine Maker Mag. I plan on ordering one of these when the next round of grapes and juices become available. I really hope this works as advertised. It seems so much more convenient then what I'm doing now - either using mesh bags (added cost) with chips / rounds or spirals.
Regards,
Robert

 

[DizzyIzzy]

I found this link at WineMakerMag and thought I'd share and also ask if anyone's tried / used this? It seems like a nice concept and I'd like to give it a try. I will have to give them a call on Monday because the two shops they mention on their website as retailers do not list this product ☹

Figo, I found your posting very interesting. I am going to call them on Monday to place an order for the newly-received Blackberry Jam wine receipe...........Dizzy

 

[Figo]

I look forward to hearing how it works out for you!

 

[Ignoble Grape]

I'm curious to see what you all think of it. I'm wondering about the joints, resusability, durability.

 

[skyfire322]

Based off the pictures, looks like it's all American oak, but since it's "made to order" I wonder if they can do French or Hungarian. Either way, this seems like it could be really handy!

 

[DizzyIzzy]

I look forward to hearing how it works out for you!

Richard, I will make a post to this thread when it's ready (probably some time this Fall)........................Dizzy

 

[Mike - Next Level Oak]

Hey everyone! This is Mike from Next Level Oak, just wanted to reach out and let you know I'm available if you have any questions or concerns. Anything in general please feel free to reach out! We are fairly new and I don't want to be a burden on these forums but I'm always available if you need us.

 

[NorCal]

Hey everyone! This is Mike from Next Level Oak, just wanted to reach out and let you know I'm available if you have any questions or concerns. Anything in general please feel free to reach out! We are fairly new and I don't want to be a burden on these forums but I'm always available if you need us.

Welcome. Very innovative. I’m a spiral fan, because of the cost effectiveness and quality of oaking it provides. I’m alway open to options.
What I didn’t see on your site is a recommended “dosage”. How many of sections does it take to give you second year barrel equivalent wine in a 5 gallon carboy?

 

[salcoco]

I have already purchased one of these and I have a couple off questions. Do you make a version with Hungarian Oak?
What is your suggested solution using the oak with a plastic carboy that has a larger opening than a glass one?

Good quality workmanship on the one I received and I can see it be very versatile for conventional carboys.

 

[Mike - Next Level Oak]

Welcome. Very innovative. I’m a spiral fan, because of the cost effectiveness and quality of oaking it provides. I’m alway open to options.
What I didn’t see on your site is a recommended “dosage”. How many of sections does it take to give you second year barrel equivalent wine in a 5 gallon carboy?

Thank you! I'm a fan of the spirals as well and had great results with them so I'm not going to say anything bad about them. We are still figuring out the dosage but the flavor can come out pretty quick on you. I've noticed that in my batches as well as other customers, which is fine but it's worth paying attention to.

For 5 gallon carboys you can use both large pieces. Originally we were going to make it one long piece but found it better to have two to connect different toasts. Hopefully we can get our hands on Hungarian and French oak and the combinations will be even better.

I also attached a picture for a little experiment I did. I used one oak piece and placed it into 1000mL boiling water for 1 minute and repeated it 5 times. You can see the color fade with time. We are playing around with dosage and whether or not it can be used twice.

I also attached some lab results from our toasts so we still want to see if improvements can be made.

I could talk for hours about this so my apologies!

 

[Mike - Next Level Oak]

I have already purchased one of these and I have a couple off questions. Do you make a version with Hungarian Oak?
What is your suggested solution using the oak with a plastic carboy that has a larger opening than a glass one?

Good quality workmanship on the one I received and I can see it be very versatile for conventional carboys.

Thank you! I remember your order and glad everything is working out for you! Any issues please let me know.

I am working on making a stopper for other fermentors...plastic ones as you said. I have a Fermonster lid I'm working with now and I'm also looking at the Better Bottle ones. It seems like the #10 stopper works for both but I just want to make sure.

I'm actually looking to source some French and Hungarian so hopefully in the near future I can add that. Before I do that I want to figure out the best way to toast them and send them out for lab analysis.

 

[Mike - Next Level Oak]

Also for anyone who wants to try us out use THANKS at check out for 10% off. It shouldn't be case sensitive.

We are thankful for the opportunity when anyone tries our product and hope we don't disappoint.

 

[pete1325]

I too am a fan of spirals. I bought a few of these from Mike, I haven't used them in yet but plan to do some racking/bottling today and will finally add them to a carboy. What attracted me to these were the attached bungs, no more tying fishing line to spirals hoping they don't fall in. Mike is a very helpful guy, always finding ways to improve the product and customer service. I do plan to buy again in the future. Keep up the good work Mike.

 

[Mike - Next Level Oak]

I too am a fan of spirals. I bought a few of these from Mike, I haven't used them in yet but plan to do some racking/bottling today and will finally add them to a carboy. What attracted me to these were the attached bungs, no more tying fishing line to spirals hoping they don't fall in. Mike is a very helpful guy, always finding ways to improve the product and customer service. I do plan to buy again in the future. Keep up the good work Mike.

Thank you! It's a very humbling experience when we started this and we don't want to disappoint. Any opportunity we get we are extremely grateful for.

If you have any issues feel free to reach out any time!

 

[winemaker81]

Food for thought -- I have an 11 yo 54 liter oak barrel .... long past having any oak character. I add whatever oak cubes I want to produce different flavor profiles in different batches, including mixing-n-matching different species and toast levels.

When experimenting with stoppers, consider a stopper that fits barrels, as every barrel has diminishing returns on the amount of remaining oak character.

 

[Mike - Next Level Oak]

Food for thought -- I have an 11 yo 54 liter oak barrel .... long past having any oak character. I add whatever oak cubes I want to produce different flavor profiles in different batches, including mixing-n-matching different species and toast levels.

When experimenting with stoppers, consider a stopper that fits barrels, as every barrel has diminishing returns on the amount of remaining oak character.

We will definitely make one for barrels...we're trying something a little different to maximize the amount of oak in a barrel but the stopper seems to be the easy part. Is there a preference for material? We use silicone as the rubber materials seem to have an odor that I was never a fan of when I made wine.