Questions on using oak chips

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damdaman

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I have 3 gallons of pyment that I'm going to rack onto oak chips. I've never used oak before but hope it will add some nice complexity.

I have both light toasted american oak chips and medium toasted american. Which would you guys recommend using? How long do you usually boil them? How many chips per gallon?
 
None! Blah!

I used to not mind oak in a wine. Then I we t to paradise springs winery in Clifton Virginia... Their wine maker has some sort of obsession with oak, be ause that wAs all I could taste, it was beyond overpowering. Since then I can't stomach any wine with oak.

Don't let me discourage you though. Others here like using oak and seem pleased with the results.
 
I use oaks in my meads when I'm in the mood. It adds some nice complexity. Either light or medium is a good choice.

If you've got metabisulfite in your pyment then you don't need to boil the chips ahead of time. If I'm adding to beer (meaning: non-sulfited beverage) I steam them for 15 minutes.

I toss in a handful of chips into my 5 gallon batches.

If you consider the surface area of the inside of an oak barrel, you can probably add as many chips as you want without worrying about over-oaking.
 
None! Blah!

I used to not mind oak in a wine. Then I we t to paradise springs winery in Clifton Virginia... Their wine maker has some sort of obsession with oak, be ause that wAs all I could taste, it was beyond overpowering. Since then I can't stomach any wine with oak.

Don't let me discourage you though. Others here like using oak and seem pleased with the results.

It must me mentioned that Mead is not wine. And although it has more in common with wine than beer it still should be treated differnetly. That said, It can be easy to over oak a mead. I have not checked out the link above but timing is a key here.

I like to use oak chips, I usually don't go more than a month on it. And that is only 1 oz with a 5-6 gal batch. For a 3 gal, 1 oz is still good but I would go about 3 weeks at most. This should impart good flavors without going overboard. The light toast wont be noticeable in the flavor but will make the mead smoother. The medium toast will impart a bit of earthy flavor with some light carmels and the heavy toast will impart a smokyness that scotch drinkers really like. How do I know this: well I did a triple toast test. I did 3 batches exactly the same with oaking each differently. I encorage all to try it so that they can develop their taste on it. And KNOW what each is contributing.

After the test, I decided that Light toast is for fruity flavors, Medium for some more earthy and spice flavors, and Heavy if I want to lower the apparent sweetness of it and have a bit of that smoke flavor that scotch has, or a good whisky.

Matrix
 
I've been wondering about oak chips too, and can't quite seem to find the answers I'm looking for.

I was going to use light and medium oak chips in different 1g batches of Apfelwein, but... not sure about the quanity, how long to leave on, and ... with boiling (to sterilize, I presume?), do you dump in the liquid also, or discard it?
 
No need to boil. Cover with a small amount (1oz) of vodka/whisky/etc if you are paranoid, but as long as your mead is finished you don't have to worry about contamination too much.

Quantity depends upon how much "oakiness" you want to impart and the size and condition of your chips. I would start at around 1/4-1/2 oz per gallon to start with. Taste after two weeks to see where it's at. Taste periodically until you reach your target level of oak.

Personally I like medium toast because there is a larger variety of toast levels in medium (some chips are dark, some are light, some are in-between) which should give a little more complexity. But experimentation is key.
 
I've been wondering about oak chips too, and can't quite seem to find the answers I'm looking for.

I was going to use light and medium oak chips in different 1g batches of Apfelwein, but... not sure about the quanity, how long to leave on, and ... with boiling (to sterilize, I presume?), do you dump in the liquid also, or discard it?

Really the only thing I would do to the oak chips is rinse dust off of them. That's all. Keep in mind that if you mead is finished, like the bk0 said, you wont need to worry about sterilization of the oak chips. Your mead is at anywhere from 10% to 17% ABV. That's enough to kill any infection organism. While I like the tasting idea, I have found that 6 weeks for 1 oz for 6 gal is plenty of time for chips. If I go more than a month it's rare. 4 weeks is what I would start at unless you are going for really oaky flavors. I don't really mess around much with quantity, just time. Vodka and boiling is not necessary as well. Boiling will loose some of the essence you are looking for and vodka would just be an extra addition that's not needed.

A lot of problems that happen with mead are simply just overthinking the situation and not letting it age. Suprising how much aging smooths out some of the minor errors. My advice, just relax and enjoy brewing. Brewing mead is a lazyman's hobby, it's so forgiving on timing. And takes in all honesty very little work, just waiting.

Matrix
 
So I'm looking at Brother Adams missives on mead in which he casked his honey in oak barrels used for aging sherry for seven years before he uncorked (unbunged) and served. How, pray tell, do we replicate that?
 
One question in regards to the use of oak with mead, is it re-useable or after one batch do you toss it.

Thirsty Vine
 
One version you guys havent talked about is oak powder, comes in untoasted white and med toast. We add about 11 grams/gal when we mix up everything in the primary, it sinks to the bottom by the time you transfer into the secondary, you can add more or less. No infections doing it many years like this. Then if we want more oak we add either chips or beans or even my favorite in bulk aging a toasted oak stave that goes from the top to the bottom of the carboy so its always exposed, also no infection just adding any of the different oaks directly. Timing has also been a big issue, some well known winemaking writers say most of the oak comes out in a couple of days, most people thinks it takes months, you will have to figure that one our on your own.

WVMJ
 
One question in regards to the use of oak with mead, is it re-useable or after one batch do you toss it.

Thirsty Vine

Actually, I only use the oak chips once. Mostly because I have differnet batches and different flavors that I don't want mixed. I personally think that their may be more flavor to be extracted there but realistically it isn't worth it. So, No, only used once, personally.

The second part of your question is do I toss it afterward. No, I save the chips for smoking meat with. The essence of the mead and the oak smoke can mix for some great flavors. So I keep them in a zip lock after drying them off and use them for grilling later.

Matrix
 
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