When to adding oak chips to blackberry wine

[catfishhoward]

I'm trying wood chips for the first time for my blackberry wine, I have American Medium Toasted Oak, French Medium Toasted Oak and Hungarian Medium Toasted Oak. I used 4lb frozen blackberries to 17 cups water, per Winemaker's Recipe Handbook (purple book). I planted 55 blackberry plants last year and hope to have over 200 lbs by this summer so I need to have a good recipe by then. I was planning on testing different amounts of chips in 16 oz bottles so I have multiple to taste this summer.

My main questions is: I have just got the 1 gallon jugs down to 1.000 and need to rack the wine. The book says after I rack to leave in the 1 gallon jugs for 2 months to clear before back sweetening and bottling. Should I put the chips in now and leave the bottles alone to clear 2 months then bottle with no chips? Or, should I put the chips in now and rotate the bottles for 1 month and then leave them alone for the other month to clear before back sweetening and bottling? Would a chip the size of a sick of gum be big enough or to big for 2 months in a 16 o/z jar? I would appreciate any advise.

 

[Ty520]

IMHO, the sooner you get it in, the better so it has time to become more cohesive. I've started adding oak at pitch

I typically go with 0.5 ounces (by weight) of wood per gallon.

I use cubes that are about 3/8 of an inch.

I typically let it sit at about 1 month before pulling it

many people do not care for true "chips" because they are very aggressive - easy to overdo it, and can have strong tannins, and even be astringent.

What you described sounds more like a "domino"? chips are tiny and resemble garden or playground mulch, or what you'd put in a smoker