Fletch78

Recipes 

I think adding an oz of oak to a gallon of near-finished mead for two weeks is a recipe for a great cooking wine or vinegar for bbq sauce, E NC style.

When you say "oak" are you talking about powder, chips, or cubes? What kind of oak? What toast level?

Matrix4b

Recipes 

Well, I had light toast chips. I admit that I don't know that much about oaking but I heard that chips have lots of surface area and extract quickly. So maybe go with 1/4 oz and test it every day, take out immediately when you think that it is enough.

I used 1 oz light toasted chips in a 5 gal batch. Kept it in for 20 days.

Worked out great in my sweet show mead.

stromam

Recipes 

I just racked to my four secondaries last night. I did 3 gallons with one cup juice and one ounce zest of California navel oranges, and one gallon with 1 cup (no zest, it was impossible to get) of Mandarin orange juice. I think the mandarin one is going to turn out amazing.

The mandarin got 1 split and scraped Madagascar bean.

Two of the navels got 1 split and scraped Madagascar bean each. One of these will get an oak treatment after i reach the desired vanilla flavor.

One of the navels got 1 split and scraped Tahitian bean.

How often should I check these batches for vanilla flavor? Is this something I should check daily or weekly?

__________________
Primary #1: Nothing
Primary #2: Nodda
Secondary #1: Nothing again
Secondary #2: Even more nothing
Bulk Aging: League of Nations Imperial IPA (keg)
Bottle Aging: Banana wine, JAO Mead, Bohemian Pilsner
Drinking (bottles): Strom's Belgian Wit, Halfawiesen, Amarillo IPA
Drinking (keg): Corney Cream Ale

Fletch78

Recipes 

If it was me, I'd leave it until it looked like it needed to be racked again or bottled, then procrastinate another 3 weeks. And if the vanilla was too strong in the final product, I'd make a note of it and do something different the next time.

krud

Recipes 

I'm making mead from Buckwheat honey, what can I do to sweeten it up because I know it's going to finish dry! The lactose for a creamy feel sounds good, but I want something everyone who drinks mead will generally enjoy. Orange in Buckwheat? I've already fed it some lemon, and apple juice in small amounts for yeast nutrients.