Agreed. Additionally, increased temperature means a faster burn with your fermentation. I tend towards cooler (in the 60's) temps during fermentation to extend it past the 7-10 days it typically takes to ferment to zero in a 70-75 degree room.
Starting my first ever Merlot !
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Agreed. Additionally, increased temperature means a faster burn with your fermentation. I tend towards cooler (in the 60's) temps during fermentation to extend it past the 7-10 days it typically takes to ferment to zero in a 70-75 degree room.
So the Merlot is in 5 gallon carboy plus some in a small bottle for top off and I' ve purchased French Oak chips medium roasted. The wine is not clear yet. I plan a long aging so I didn't add any clearing agent. Is it a good time to add oak chips? I'm not. a big fan of heavy oak flavor but adding some complexity to the wine would be interesting. I think about adding 1 oz and leaving it for 2 months. What do you think? Last weeks I experiment with new recipes and new flavors so any help would be appreciated.
Oak chips give it all up in a couple weeks. That’s why you’ll see them added to the primary in most wine kits. For longer term aging in a carboy, think oak cubes, spirals or balls. They take about 3 months to give up all their oaky goodness.
I’m sure there’s a chart around somewhere to guide you on how much oak to add to get the desired effect. If not here, check morewine.com. You’ll fin something in with their products for sale.
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I agree with @jgmann67, cubes, staves, and spirals are better for bulk aging. Chips, shreds, and dust give up the oak too fast due to the greater surface area. I've save the chips for fermentation oak and buy a different product for aging. I like cubes because it's configurable, e.g., I can add as much as desired.
Recently I've been using 1 oz in 19-23 liters of wine for a light oak seasoning. If you use the chips, start with 1/2 oz and give it a couple of months. Stir the wine to homogenize the carboy, let it rest an hour, then draw a tasting sample. You can add more chips if it isn't enough.
The spirals are kind of expensive but really handy for aging in carboys. You can suspend them on some fishing line for easy removal. I have been using one medium toast French spiral in reds and I don’t think many would call it too oaky. I leave them in for a full three months.
That is one drawback to cubes -- removal is not easy. I probably use less oak than you, and once I add during bulk aging, the cubes stay in until I'm ready to bottle. I've left cubes in a neutral barrel for 12+ months. After ~3 months they are expended, so it doesn't make any difference.
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You can can (depending on your available tools) drill a small hole in oak cubes to thread the monofilament through. Treat them like beads on a string, with a small knot of monofilament on each side of the cube, keeping them separated so that you have consistent surface area.
That is absolutely brilliant!
Note that I probably won't do it as I have a method that works fine, but for folks that want to be able to remove the cubes, it's brilliant.
It is top notch winemaking tips like this that keeps me coming back! I will be doing this!
I’m still in the clearing stage so I’m not sure if I can use oak now or I need to wait until the wine is completely clear. I will try to use very tiny amount, maybe less than 1/2oz.
When your wine will be able to sit undisturbed for the length of time you plan to oak it… that’s when.
Here’s an article on parking that might be useful:
https://www.midwestsupplies.com/blogs/bottled-knowledge/how-do-i-use-oak-chips
I just toss oak cubes or other additions (e.g. fruit) in a mesh bag, tie the string and drop it in the bucket. You can get a 50-pack of disposable cold brew coffee bags (8"x12") for about USD $10, which will hold just about anything you might add. Easy to lift out and dispose. No mess, no fuss. You don't even have to clean the bag.
Great idea. Thanks.
