Oak species for homemade toasting?

[Robert R]

So I have this hairbrained idea to toast my own oak from my own tree. There's a Post Oak in my backyard that died last spring, and needs to come down anyway. Species is Quercus stellata, and it's in the White oak family. Slow growing, decay resistant. It's thoroughly dry, so is there any downside to turning some into cubes / chips, toasting in the oven, and trying some in my next red?

 

[Rembee]

Post oak sure does make for some good ole stick burning bbq! Lol

 

[CDrew]

Try it! Maybe just 5 gallons or so to make sure it has compatible flavor. You won't need much. But, post oak is the BBQ oak of choice at Franklin BBQ, so if you could oak wine with it and then say do a slow smoked brisket, you'd be living the dream!

 

[Robert R]

I'm not likely to run out of it, as post oak is one of the two dominant oak species in this part of Oklahoma.

 

[winemaker81]

Oak for wine is typically aged 1 or 2 years before toasting, so you may want to store some of the wood for a while before trying. Since it's white oak, it's probably ok, although I suggest you search on that. Some oaks, like red oak, will NOT produce a pleasing flavor.

@Mike - Next Level Oak sells oak products for wine -- he may be able to offer advice regarding aging.

 

[Mike - Next Level Oak]

@winemaker81 is correct on the red oak, DO NOT use red oak. I've tried toasting cherry and maple and they were interesting!

But to the question, I only buy staves that were seasoned for at least 1.5 years. Anything less is still considered "green" and not advised to use just yet. The stave mills also cut the oak in a certain direction for the staves and then there is whole science to the seasoning.

If I were you I would give it a go and try it out, save some for seasoning and try some now. World Cooperage has a nice graph for approximate toast temperatures that is pretty spot on but if you need that I can send it your way.

Have fun with! If you toast in an oven it will smell like your baking a cake haha

 

[Robert R]

I have a peach tree that hasn't produced well and thinking of taking it out. If I do, I'll save the wood to cure for smoking wood, might try toasting some eventually. I'd imagine many fruitwoods would add aromatics to wine and mead.

 

[Mike - Next Level Oak]

I'm sure fruitwoods will add something to the wines and mead, especially with mead. The maple wood turned out really well but the cherry wood I toasted was something else, wasn't bad but it didn't really give me confidence to use. A friend of mine is a head brewer and I think he played around with toasting wood from an apple tree. Then again he made beer from only using the green pieces in Fruity Pebbles cereal.