Oaking a Blackberry Mead

[CoastalEmpireWine]

I have one gallon of Blackberry Mead in the carboy. I have two different packages of oak. I have a 3oz package of medium toast american oak, and a 3oz package of medium toast french oak. Which of those two would compliment my blackberry mead the best? Also how much should I add to a one gallon batch?

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Both would work great. Asking how much is like asking us how much ketchup you want on your hotdog. You could start off with an ounce, make sure you stir it up before you taste test it, sometimes people just taste the top where the oak floats and its very oaky while the bottom wine might not have any until your oak sinks. WVMJ

 

[CoastalEmpireWine]

Let it sit in there for about a month before tasting it? Or is that something you would want to check every 2 weeks?

 

[CoastalEmpireWine]

Also, if it is going to be a sweet mead, will oaking still help? Or is that something you should only do to a dry wine/mead?

 

[seth8530]

Oak can go into sweet meads/wine. It just has to be in the right context. I think it would go well with a blackberry mead personally. To find out what kind of oak you like you should look up the characteristics of that oak type and their toast levels to determine which traits you find favorable before adding them into your wine.

 

[CoastalEmpireWine]

I liked the characteristic of the french medium oak. Hoping maybe to get a vanilla flavor out of it

 

[seth8530]

I would say that would be a good choice. Might not come through as strong as you might want because of the blackberry but still a good choice by my mind.

 

[CoastalEmpireWine]

Yea but even a subtle hint im sure would enhance it

 

[seth8530]

Yea but even a subtle hint im sure would enhance it

True true, not to mention the oak will add a lot of other characters to your mead.

 

[CoastalEmpireWine]

Yea I'm sure it will. Only one way to find out.