Oaking meads

I know that some of the folks on here oak their meads, at least occasionally.
My questions are;
What flavours do the various varieties of oak (smoked, toasted, French, English, etc...) contribute?
What's the preferred form, chips, cubes, something else? And how do you prepare the oak for adding into the secondary?

Primarily used for tannin addition, but northern brewer has some good descriptions on the flavors that the different varieties impart. Cubes and spirals work most efficiently. You could steam them, soak them in sulfite solution, but tbh you'd probably be fine tossing them in as is... Just don't overdo it and take them out/rack off when you get the desired contribution.

Oak generally comes in 3 toast levels:

Light toast: Contributes a lighter fruit/floral subtle notes.
Medium Toast: Contributes a medium a bit of a rounded almost vanilla/carmel flavor.
Heavy Toast: gives a bit of a smokey taste and more like a scotch flavor.

Oak types that I am aware of are:

American Oak- Most Common
French Oak- 2nd most common
Hungarian Oak

I am not sure the differences between them.

Forms of oak:
Chips- This is a very common form to used but seen as a bit one dimensional in it's addition. Reported to infuse quickly.

Cubes or Beans: This is cut cubes of oak that are sometimes from a used oak barrel that is chopped up. It is toasted on one side sometimes.. Due to the one side of toast it is reported to imbue a more complex flavor. I have no experience.

Spirals- This is a toasted spiral that is toasted first and then cut to give more area for infusing. Has the same effect as the cubes. I have no experience with this either.

Oaking types do vary, there is a post somewhere on this but here is what I use: I use oak chips in a hops bag and dropped in the carboy. Sometiems with a few glass marbles in it to make it sink to the bottom. I toss it in for about a month, 1 oz for a 5 gal batch. From what I understand of the cubes and spirals all you do is rinse the dust off of them prior to putting in. Do not boil as it will release the very flavors you want infused into the mead.

Oaking will, in general, smooth out a mead and make it have less of a bite. It will also shorten minimum aging time by about 20% from what I have seen.

Hope that helps. There is no difinitive guide and the amount of oak and duration is entirely up to you. Some like a hint and others like it woody. Shrug. Do some tests and find your preference.

Happy mead making.
Matrix

My braggot has been oaking with medium French cubes for almost 3 months now. After the first month it imparted a definite noticeable complexity and richness that wasn't there before. It was both subtle and dramatic at the same time--I sort of think of it as similar to the difference between cheap jug wine and a decent bottle of aged Cabernet. My last tasting at about 3 months did not seem to indicate much change from the previous taste at 2 months, so it's probably about done. I am going to let it sit for a little while longer (maybe to the 4 month point) and then either rack or bottle--haven't decided yet.

Excellent, that was the info I was after--thank you!

When I use oak, I rack onto it and leave it until bottling. An additional racking just increases risk of oxidation.

SagamoreAle said:

When I use oak, I rack onto it and leave it until bottling. An additional racking just increases risk of oxidation.

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I rack on to the oak as well. But I do take out the oak and let it settle more and the mead does tend to clear more at that point. But yes, it should be close to the final stage before bottling or bulk aging as you can get. Sometimes I wait until it actually is ready to bottle/bulk age before I oak. Then I oak it for the time that I want and take it out, then let it settle a couple of weeks prior to bottling.

Not much chance of oxydation in Colorado. Less oxygen. And also, I feel that Mead is less delicate to this sort of thing than wine. So overall, I don't really worry about oxydation. I haven't really tasted a difference in the mead personally. I am not sure if it is differnet in lower altitudes with more oxygen and humidity.

Matrix

I do some oaking as well with some of my no-boil beers, and various meads that i think it will go well with. I soak my Oak in either water or some JD. I havent gotten the chance to use toasted oak yet but i have been using chips and plan on doing a toasted/ Charred oak mead soon. I always start oaking them right in the primary where it sits for about a month, then remove the oak quickly wash it and put it back into the secondary when i rack it. I Oaked a standard dry mead and its still aging, but i oaked an Elderberry Mead that i opened a couple days ago and it is turning out very good. it needs a couple more months of aging but has some nice vinous notes working synergernically with the wildflower mead notes. I am currently Oaking a Bochet and even in the secondary it seems to be reducing some of the heavy alcohol bite along with a light coloring of the mead. I think Oaking is always a good idea if the oak flavors will compliment that flavors of the mead you are making.

Another for is OakMor powder like they use in winemaking kits. Its nice to add to the primary, it adds its flavors in a couple of days and sinks to the bottom just in time to rack. Then if you want more oakiness any other form like the chips, beans or staves work well. Spirals seem to be more expensive, simple staves work well and beans. I like adding staves in the secondary as they extend from the bottom of the carboy to the top and are always surrounded by the mead and not lost in the bottom of the carboy covered by the lees. We just toss ours in as is, if you try to steam them or soak them in KM you are just leaching away your oak flavors. Staves are also easy to remove from the carboy, rinse off the lees and put back in if you really want to, but if I want more oak I just add a new stave to get more oak faster.

I am also going to start making some extra mead with each batch to completely rediculouslly overoak - to be used as toppers when we want a little more oak flavor in a mead that is near complete or at bottling.

WVMJ

I've been contemplating throwing some oak chips in my bochet (brewed 1/3/14, stepped additions, ask if you are actually interested in the specifics of the recipe).
Anyhow, I'm thinking I'll rack it onto some French oak chips for 2 months before bottling. I think it will lend some great flavors.
This website was very helpful in determining which type of oak to use:
http://www.bjcp.org/mead/Oak_and_Mead.pdf

Obviously, I cannot speak as to the results yet, but I think this will be the right combo.

If you look in my "Oak Experiment" thread, I have a series of tastings on a time course for medium toast cubes of all species. Cubes are thought to be the best in terms of complexity likened to a barrel.

I have been using chips that I put inside a preforated tube that I just hang from the bung on the carboy. It is sooooo much easier than trying to load a bag or trying to remove one from a carboy.

I added french oak cubes to my bochet about a year ago and it worked out very well. It's very port like, but not as sweet but still with the roasty caramely flavors. It's about 2 and a half years old now and I'll have to restrain myself to keep from drinking it all before I have a chance to make more. lol I sent in a bottle to the Mazer Cup mead competition last week that will be taking place in March. I'm curious to hear feedback from others on it.

You've all missed one more method of oaking guys... oak ageing in an oak cask! I literally just started my oaking yesterday adding 15litres of traditional sweet 7% mead to my oak cask. I was excited when I bought it but now I am even more excited by the prospect of what will yield from my lovely barrel! Only time will tell

amaycock071 said:

You've all missed one more method of oaking guys... oak ageing in an oak cask! I literally just started my oaking yesterday adding 15litres of traditional sweet 7% mead to my oak cask. I was excited when I bought it but now I am even more excited by the prospect of what will yield from my lovely barrel! Only time will tell

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Well, yes but a cask is not really on the affordability level of most home brewers. We tend to be a rather broke lot and go for the less expensive methods. I would love to have a bunch of oak casks to age my mead in but I don't think that I could one let alone the 20 or so that I would want.

Matrix

wow I can just imagine having 20 lined up all neatly in a row. That would be a beautiful sight to behold! I could only afford mine as I liquidated part of my last hobby into this one and thought why the hell not.

But maintaining casks is a challenge, isn't it? . Are they not likely to harbor spoilage organisms after use and then ensuring that they don't dry out and leak when not in use, and on top of that ensuring that the wine inside is not evaporating leaving you with too much ullage and so at risk from oxidation.